Clutch was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey. His first job was working at his uncle's garage. Like many of his friends, Clutch was a car fanatic and was quick to race or play "chicken" with other cars. Clutch takes little seriously and is known to joke even when in dangerous situations. Someone once said that Clutch cares about little else than cars and women. After enlisting in the army, Clutch graduated from many armored and wheeled vehicle training schools. He eventually was assigned as General "Iron Butt" Austin's personal driver. On one assignment, Austin only made the vague suggestion that someone should pick up his command truck at McGuire Air Force Base and drive it to Fort Holabird. Clutch did just that, but found a handcuffed and blindfolded officer in the back seat. He later learned it was Lt. Colonel Clayton "Hawk" Abernathy, recently court-martialed. On the drive, a group of mercenaries in a van attacked the truck, armed with a heavy machine gun. Thanks to Clutch's incredible driving, he avoided the mercenaries, whose van ended up in a rollover. The attackers had been hired by a rogue general, and that knowledge was used by General Flagg and Sparks to blackmail the general into dropping the charges against Hawk. It was Clutch's driving skills in that incident that helped earn him a spot on the newly-forming G.I. Joe team.