Born in Upland, California, Ruttman is a resident of North Port, Florida. His family has deep motorsport roots: his father, Ralph "Butch" Ruttman, was an award-winning mechanic on top Indianapolis car racing teams, and his brother Troy won the 1952 Indianapolis 500. Joe Ruttman pursued a different path, building his reputation primarily in stock car racing. He was named the United States Automobile Club's 1978 USAC Stock Car Rookie of the Year and won the 1980 USAC Stock Car Series championship.
Ruttman made his NASCAR Grand National Series debut in 1963 at Riverside International Raceway, finishing tenth in the Winston Western 500. He drove only three more series races between 1964 and 1980 while competing at local tracks in between.
His fortunes changed significantly in 1981 when J.D. Stacy, who had recently acquired Rod Osterlund's team, hired Ruttman to take over from Dale Earnhardt after Earnhardt departed mid-season to join Richard Childress Racing. This opportunity gave Ruttman a platform for sustained Cup competition, and he ran full-time schedules in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, and 1991. His strongest season was 1983, when he finished twelfth in the championship standings.
Over his twenty years competing in the Cup Series, Ruttman accumulated sixty top-ten finishes and nineteen top-fives. Despite coming close on several occasions, he never won a Cup race. At Richmond in 1982 he came agonizingly close: a late power-steering failure sent his car into the wall and handed the victory to Dave Marcis. In 1986, also at Richmond, he finished second to Kyle Petty — though observers noted that without a final-lap accident in which Ruttman was collected, he likely would have won outright.
In 2004, Ruttman made a one-off Cup return at Rockingham for Phoenix Racing. The appearance became controversial: Ruttman arrived without a pit crew and ran only a single lap in what was widely regarded as a start-and-park effort aimed at collecting prize money. NASCAR ordered the car off the track, and team owner James Finch was admonished by officials. The incident contributed to a broader controversy over unqualified "field-fillers" and led to changes in NASCAR's rulebook.
Ruttman's career entered its most successful phase when he joined the inaugural NASCAR SuperTrucks Series season in 1995. He dominated the middle portion of that season, winning two races and finishing second in the inaugural championship standings. He continued as a full-time Truck Series competitor for more than a decade, winning eleven additional races between 1996 and 2007 to bring his career total to thirteen victories.
His final Truck Series win came at age 56, making him the oldest race winner in any NASCAR division at that time — a record that reflected both his longevity and his ability to remain competitive well into the later stages of his career. His thirteen career wins place him tied for thirteenth on the all-time Truck Series wins list, alongside Mike Bliss.
Ruttman's career trajectory is unusual in NASCAR history: a driver whose most productive years came not during his prime but rather toward the tail end of his competition days, when the Truck Series provided a more accessible arena for his talents. The combination of a modest but creditable Cup record, a USAC championship, and double-digit Truck Series wins across more than four decades of racing represents one of the more quietly substantial careers in American stock car history.