The Jetson Wagon was the tempo automotive for the Chili Bowl Nationals midget automotive races. The automotive is known in auto racing circles.

Flea Ruzic was cruising round his hometown of Springfield, In poor health., a number of weeks in the past in his 1989 LTD Nation Squire, displaying a pal some historic websites. Largely, they have been experiencing the cush of the 34-year-old station wagon’s thick padded velour upholstery and the glide of a automobile as huge as a lounge and longer than many garages.

Ruzic, a 49-year-old former race driver who’s now a grasp fabricator of open-wheel race vehicles and elements, was having a good time till the lights of an Illinois Secretary of State Police automobile flashed from behind.

“Usually, the Secretary of State Police guys are (bleep)holes and slam the e book at you,” Ruzic mentioned, recounting his “go to” with the officer:

“Know why I pulled you over?” the officer requested.

“As a result of I don’t have a seatbelt on? As a result of my pal doesn’t have a seatbelt on?”

“Nope. It’s as a result of the license plates on this factor are three years expired.”

“Should you’re going to write down me a ticket,” Ruzic instructed the officer, “then you definitely’ve acquired to signal the visitor e book.”

“A automotive with a visitor e book?” the officer requested.

Ruzic tried to elucidate that the automotive was up-to-date on its registration however it didn’t appear proper to place new license plates on such a traditional.

“I want you’d instructed me one thing completely different than that,” the officer mentioned, trying on the Nation Squire and its oxidized blue paint, fading faux wooden grain, a badge on the correct fender saying “Police Interceptor” (oops!), and a windshield banner figuring out it because the “Jetson Wagon.”

“What is that this factor?” the officer requested.

“It’s an ’89 station wagon,” Ruzic mentioned. “Officer, this automotive is relatively well-known.”

The officer didn’t appear impressed, and Ruzic braced himself for a quotation.

 “Should you’re going to write down me a ticket,” he instructed the officer, “then you definitely’ve acquired to signal the visitor e book.”

“A automotive with a visitor e book?” the officer requested.

Ruzic instructed him the historical past of the wagon, that many well-known folks in American auto racing had pushed it and the way it had turn into a crowd favourite at dust tracks throughout the Midwest.

“I’m telling you, this automotive is known,” Ruzic mentioned. “It’s been to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s home. Ryan Newman has pushed it.”

The officer should have been a racing fan as a result of he signed the visitor e book and never a ticket, then instructed Ruzic, “You recognize what? Simply get the (bleep) out of right here!”

That’s the most recent story within the lifetime of a well-traveled wagon whose adventures are mirrored in its patina, together with its personal Twitter account (@jetsonwagon).

Dale Earnhardt Jr. with the Jetson Wagon

Jetson Wagon proprietor Flea Ruzic, and Flea with Earnhardt. 

Meet Rip Jetson

Ruzic purchased the wagon for $500 in 2016 after a pal, Kansas Metropolis-area race driver Tucker Klaasmeyer, seen an internet itemizing on the market at a close-by title/mortgage enterprise.

“Tucker despatched me an image of this station wagon and I mentioned, ‘Man, that’s (bleeping) cool. Purchase it! I’ll pay you for it on the race subsequent weekend,’ ” he mentioned.

Paperwork Ruzic discovered after shopping for it makes him consider the earlier proprietor had been deported to Mexico. All that mattered to him is that the wagon was within the palms of somebody who appreciated it and deliberate to drive it to race tracks and have enjoyable with it.

The wagon is a late-’80s land yacht that chugs gasoline, leaks oil and transmission fluid, and spews character with its turbine wheels, energy home windows and door locks, tilt steering wheel, third-row going through seats, AC that blows chilly (for now) and a speedometer that wants a conversion chart.

“When it says 35 mph, meaning you’re going 45,” Ruzic mentioned. “Fifty means 54, and it’s about proper when it’s at 70. I’ve acquired it calibrated so once you’re at freeway speeds you don’t get pulled over. However as soon as it will get previous 75 it begins getting gradual once more. When it says 80, you’re truly at 77.”

Ruzic named the previous Nation Squire the “Jetson Wagon” based mostly on his alter ego from his racing days. He usually would enter races as a driver named “Rip Jetson from Cornbelt, Iowa” when he most popular his actual id not be identified. 

“I didn’t wish to sign up and suck and everybody would understand it was Flea driving,” he mentioned. “The Jetson factor, nicely, that sounds quick. And the Rip half, there was a dash automotive racer named Rip Williams. I assumed Rip was a badass identify.” 

(Aspect word: Ruzic received’t disclose his given identify, apart from to say it’s a fourth-generation identify and he acquired uninterested in folks at household gatherings shout it and have he, his dad and granddad all reply without delay. So, he’s been generally known as Flea since he was younger.)

The Jetson Wagon grew to become so standard on the tracks that racers would ask to borrow it for any variety of causes — to make burger runs, or shuttle race automotive elements, or simply pleasure rides. Ruzic confirmed up at one monitor with a full dash automotive body strapped to its roof, thus the crease within the baggage rack.  

It has been used as a tempo automotive on the prestigious Chili Bowl Nationals midget races and a race-week rental automotive for NASCAR star Ryan Newman on the annual occasion in Tulsa. It’s essentially the most photographed Nation Squire in racing, having turn into the focus for photos in dust monitor victory lanes and the famed yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Folks will see it on the street and take photos,” Ruzic mentioned. “I get messages from folks on a regular basis.”

The keys are at all times in it

For anybody who’d wish to drive it, the keys are at all times on the ground close to the motive force’s seat. Ruzic doesn’t concern the Jetson Wagon will probably be stolen as a result of racers and race followers usually are a good-hearted crowd.

“About all people is aware of the keys are in it if you wish to take it,” he mentioned. “I don’t assume you’re going to steal a station wagon like that and get away with it. Any individual’s going to seek out it.”

All he asks is that whoever takes it indicators the visitor e book. And, after all, leaves the keys on the ground.

Not lengthy after Ruzic purchased it, there was a lot curiosity within the wagon that a number of folks within the racing group requested to purchase it.  It spawned an concept: Ruzic would promote the wagon for the $500 he paid for it to somebody who’d maintain it a few months and move it on to a brand new proprietor for $500, and on and on.  After a number of years, hopefully with a wealthy historical past and a full visitor e book, he would get the wagon again, public sale it and donate the cash to charity.

The public sale half hasn’t occurred, however the Jetson Wagon has delivered reminiscences and stained the driveways of a number of well-known figures in racing.

Casey Shuman along with his new child daughter; Karsyn Elledge at a fast-food drive-thru, the place the automotive’s window would not roll down.

The Jetson Wagon can haul loads of passengers, or a dash automotive body.

When race driver Casey Shuman owned it, he drove his spouse and new child daughter dwelling from the hospital in it. Shuman introduced the wagon to the Chili Bowl Nationals, the place younger midget-car driver Karsyn Elledge fell in love with it. Her dad, Jimmy Elledge, purchased the wagon and Ruzic drove it to their dwelling in Mooresville, N.C.

“As soon as I noticed it, I instructed my dad that we needed to be the following folks to personal it,” mentioned Karsyn Elledge, whose uncle is Dale Earnhardt Jr. “I used to be freshly 16 and I had a pleasant jacked-up Jeep with good wheels and tires, however more often than not I selected to drive the wagon. It was a blast; my dad and I did some good burnouts. It felt such as you have been in a time machine. The motive force’s window didn’t roll down, so each time I might undergo a drive-thru I must open the door.”

The day she took possession, Elledge couldn’t wait to indicate it off to Dale Jr.

Effectively usually imitated by no means duplicated. Jetson wagon pacing the sector for 4 abreast. @ripjetson9 @jaxspeedway @WorldofOutlaws pic.twitter.com/X3egwW5wS4

— Scott Lengthy (@slong1313)
April 30, 2021

“We introduced it by Junior Motorsports first as a result of we knew Dale was going to find it irresistible,” she mentioned. “He has an appreciation for previous vehicles, and he thought it was fairly cool.”

The Elledges owned the wagon practically two years, then handed it on to NASCAR driver J.J. Yeley, who additionally had seen it for the primary time on the Chili Bowl.

“Everybody within the sport is aware of the automobile, and to see it at one of many largest races was a fairly cool tip of the hat for the Jetson Wagon,” Yeley mentioned. “It was superior to have a nostalgic, head-turning automobile.”

Yeley’s daughter, in sixth grade on the time, needed him to drive her to highschool in it.

“Right here we’re within the Jetson Wagon, dropping her off within the automotive rider line,” Yeley mentioned. “It’s not the cleanest, coolest, latest automobile, however she was so enthusiastic about it. Once I had it, you wanted to ensure it acquired a quart of oil each different tank of gasoline as a result of it had a leak. You by no means wanted to change the oil as a result of it by no means spent sufficient time burning it.  It was at all times contemporary, going within the high and popping out the underside. It’s not a shiny new penny, however it began each time I wanted it and it ran wonderful.”

On its third 302

Others who owned the Jetson Wagon have been race monitor promoter Roger Slack and open-wheel race crew proprietor David McIntosh.

Every individual was inspired to do one thing that improved the wagon throughout their possession.  The Elledges changed the unique horn with one which sounded just like the Dukes of Hazzard Common Lee. Yeley added some Mexican horse blankets to the seats and had traditional pinstripes painted on the entrance, again and sides of the wagon, the ultimate contact being a picture of cartoon character Elroy Jetson above the left taillight.  

“The paint’s so used up on the factor I used to be apprehensive it wouldn’t stick,” Yeley mentioned. “I washed it 4 or 5 instances earlier than I took it over to be pinstriped.”

The Jetson Wagon is again in Ruzic’s palms, the odometer studying 23,000 miles (you’ll be able to add a “1’ in entrance of that quantity), operating on its third 302-cubic-inch engine since he purchased it in 2016. He estimates he has spent about $12,000 on his $500 acquisition.

“Initially it could do burnouts, however with all of the motor adjustments it ended up with a vacuum leak that no one’s been capable of finding,” Ruzic mentioned. “I believe it’s operating on seven cylinders now.”

 Star open-wheel driver Kevin Thomas Jr. scans the monitor on the Illinois State Fairgrounds. The wagon on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

 

That doesn’t appear to matter, nor does the transmission that slips a bit when accelerating to cruising velocity.

The Jetson Wagon remains to be on the street, bringing pleasure to race followers who acknowledge it and good reminiscences to these fortunate to have owned and pushed it. That’s at all times been Ruzic’s goal, that it have a optimistic affect.

His final objective stays unmet. He’d nonetheless wish to public sale it for charity, however life and the calls for of his enterprise, Millennium Parts, have stored him too busy.

“I’m good at doing stuff however horrible at capitalizing on it,” Ruzic mentioned. “It’s been to Charlotte, it’s been to Indianapolis Motor Speedway and had its image taken on the bricks. Dale Jr. sat within the automotive, Ryan Newman used it as his rental automotive and it paced the Chili Bowl. It was Casey Shuman’s little lady’s first automotive trip and it went to a father-daughter dance.”

Is there worth in that, even for a well-traveled 1989 Nation Squire? Hopefully.

In any case, the Jetson Wagon’s story was ok to flee a ticket from one among Illinois’ hardest cops.