What does it take to be called a HERO?
Stock Car Racing History
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND RIP, JUNIE DONLAVEY, YOU'RE MY HERO !!
Wesley Christian "Junie" Donlavey Jr. (April 8, 1924 June 9, 2014), a native of Richmond, Virginia, was the owner of Donlavey Racing; he began fielding the team in 1950. He drove for his team at first, but soon gave way to other drivers. Donlavey earned a reputation as working well with young drivers over his tenure, as Ken Schrader and Jody Ridley won NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors while driving for Donlavey. Donlavey served in the United States Navy during the 1940s. Afterwards, Donlavey started his own auto repair business, and began to develop an interest in racing. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007.
Donlavey closed his racing team after the 2002 season; in 2006, he stated that he still had several cars in his race shop, but was in the process of selling them and had no plans to return to racing. He died in Richmond, Virginia on June 9, 2014.
Donlavey was honoured shortly after his death by the Sprint Cup Garage at Richmond International Raceway being named the Wesley C. Donlavey Garage. At the September Cup race in Richmond, team owner Joe Falk changed the number of his Circle Sport car from 33 to 90 and used a retro paint scheme similar to Donlavey's Truxmore-sponsored cars. The deck lid contained the names of the 67 drivers who raced for Donlavey. Falk considered Donlavey a mentor.
Thanks for any information or photos posted.
Dennis Garrett
Richmond,Va.USA
00 DECEMBER 1954 SPEED AGE MAGAZINE FRONT COVER
01 PAGE 4 RUSS CATLIN INFORMATION
02 PAGE 32 HERB TH0MAS WINS SOUTHERN 500 BY RUSS CATLIN
03 PAGE 33 HERB TH0MAS WINS SOUTHERN 500 BY RUSS CATLIN
04 PAGE 34 HERB TH0MAS WINS SOUTHERN 500 BY RUSS CATLIN
05 PAGE 35 HERB TH0MAS WINS SOUTHERN 500 BY RUSS CATLIN
06 PAGE 36 HERB TH0MAS WINS SOUTHERN 500 BY RUSS CATLIN
