Poking around on the internet searching for a photo of our Tuesday night radio guest, Dick Trickle posed with his former Richmond car owner, Junie Donlavey, I stumbled across a news release I wrote in 1998 still making the rounds. I am always startled when this happens, usually in some unlikely place since it's been over 13 years since I've done one.
This particular release was one of those obligatory "first entry" releases we always did to generate a little press coverage for our upcoming Richmond race weekend. 1998 happened to be both the 50th anniversary of NASCAR and NASCAR racing at the Richmond track where I was employed.
The hook in the release was that it would be hometown favorite car owner Junie Donlavey's first appearance at a track in over 3 months while recovering from heart surgery. For good measure I added our other favorite Virginia owner, Glen Wood to the mix and "made" their entries the "first" for the upcoming Richmond Cup event.
With us being in the "dead period" before Daytona bored out of our mind with the numbing array of televised basketball, I thought you might enjoy a little look back. Granted, I was no Joe Whitlock, but I thought I had written a pretty fair release with this effort about our two Virginia gentlemen car owners who has each enjoyed great success at Daytona as recently as last year. Glen is still in the trenches, while Junie has finally been able to relax.
You can stop reading at any time without hurting my feelings!
Virginia Gentlemen Wood, Donlavey
File 1st RIR Entries For #21 & #90
RICHMOND, VA (May 20, 1998) - RIR
The first day's entries for Richmond International Raceway's June 6th Pontiac Excitement 400 NASCAR Winston Cup stock car event had a decidedly Virginia flavor. They came from longtime Virginia car owners Junie Donlavey and Glen Wood, boasting nearly 1,700 combined Winston Cup entries between them, dating back to 1950 for Donlavey and 1953 for Wood.
Those stats for the two renowned Virginia gentlemen are but one series of columns in NASCAR's record books. Not included in the tally are entries as car owners in hundreds of NASCAR Modified races for each, Wood's career as a NASCAR Modified and Winston Cup driver, or Donlavey's accomplishments as an owner in NASCAR's Late Model Sportsman ranks.
Each owner has racked up racing accomplishments too numerous to easily summarize, and each has had a bird's eye view of the evolution of NASCAR since its earliest days 50 years ago. Ask anyone in the Winston Cup garage, and the word that comes to mind to describe either Virginian is "Gentleman", with a capital "G". Just a list of drivers who've steered their mounts over the decades takes page after page to flow through a computer printer. It reads like a Who's Who of NASCAR chauffeurs.
The exploits of both Wood and Donlavey as NASCAR car owners at Daytona Speedway with their numbers 21 and 90 cars are the stuff of legend. From Tiny Lund's upset win for Wood in the 1963 Daytona 500 after replacing the badly burned Marvin Panch to stirring wins by David Pearson in February and July, Wood and the Wood Brothers race team occupy a place in Daytona history. One wall of Daytona's Steve's Venice - an Italian eatery favored by NASCAR drivers and owners - is covered in nothing but Wood Brothers racing photos, testimony to the legend.
Long before Dale Earnhardt set the record for most consecutive Busch Series wins at Daytona, Donlavey had already fielded consecutive winners for Richmond area driver Bill Dennis in Daytona's Saturday 300 milers three years running - 1972, 1973 & 1974. Ironically, a day after Donlavey greeted Dennis in Daytona Victory Lane at 1972's Saturday 300 miler, Wood was there occupying the same ground to celebrate a Daytona 500 victory with A.J. Foyt.
Each of the two Virginia car owners has also seen numerous changes in their own racing operations. Wood's brother Leonard - an equally respected NASCAR Virginia gentleman - is still found at the track each weekend with the #21, but it has been years since his other brothers Delano, Clay and Ray Lee have been part of a Wood Brothers Racing victory. Today the Stuart, Virginia-based team is guided by Wood's three children - brothers Eddie and Len Wood, along with their sister Kim Wood Hall. Donlavey in recent years has seen his Richmond-based operation evolve as a force to be reckoned with on a weekly basis in Winston Cup racing - thanks in large part to the outstanding sponsorship of the Richmond-based Heilig-Meyers furniture chain.
Completing recovery from recent heart surgery, Donlavey can't wait for his #90 to take to RIR as fans celebrate the "Welcome Back Junie" tour stop at the hospitable Virginian's home track.
When Michael Waltrip wheels the Wood Brothers Racing #21 around RIR the first time, and when Dick Trickle revs up the #90 from the shops of Donlavey Racing, you can bet the cheers from the partial Richmond crowd will be just as directed at their Virginia gentlemen owners as to the drivers themselves. Just listen!
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM