Got Ulcers? Go Stock Car Racing Said Sonny Hutchins
Stock Car Racing History
Bill, those anecdotes about Sonny were reprinted on his Legends of NASCAR page from his obituary story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch :
Ernest Lloyd "Sonny" Hutchins
Born: May 17, 1929 - Died November 22, 2005
Home: Richmond, VA
Ernest Lloyd "Sonny" Hutchins ,76, of Richmond and Urbanna, passed away November 21, 2005. He is survived by his loving wife of 36 years, Connie Tinsley Hutchins; their children, Richard Bradley Jr. and Cynthia Hall; a grandson, Anthony Hall and his wife, Mariah; a brother, Carl W. "Piggy" Hutchins and a sister-in-law, Lottie L. Hutchins; and numerous nieces, nephews, and friends. Sonny was well known in the Richmond area as a local restauranteur and up and down the east coast as a NASCAR driver. His family will receive friends Tuesday (today) at the Bliley Funeral Homes' Central Chapel, 3801 Augusta Ave. from 5 to 8 p.m., where funeral services will be held 2 p.m. Wednesday. Interment will follow in Greenwood Memorial Gardens. Memorial contributions may be made to Victory Junction Gang, 4500 Adam's Way, Randleman, N.C. 27317. Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on 11/22/2005.
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Local racing legend Sonny Hutchins dies
A champion on short tracks, driver competed with flair, success for more than 30 years
BY NATE RYAN AND RANDY HALLMAN -TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITERS - Nov 22, 2006
Ernest Lloyd "Sonny" Hutchins, one of the greatest drivers in Richmond history and a member of the famed "Strawberry Hill Mod Squad," died from heart failure Monday. He was 76.
A charismatic competitor with a lead foot and a clever tongue, Mr. Hutchins raced with great success for more than 30 years, competing in Late Models, Modifieds and Winston Cup.
Often driving for the city's two greatest car owners, Junie Donlavey and Emanual Zervakis, Mr. Hutchins won several track championships. Racing historian Joe Kelly estimated that Mr. Hutchins won more than 300 races despite a nine-year retirement in the prime of his career.
Though he made only 38 starts in NASCAR's premier series, he had many fierce battles with Cup champions such as Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip.
In an interview last year, Mr. Hutchins re- called his favorite part of racing was "showing up at someone else's racetrack and beating them." He said with a devilish grin that Waltrip called him "the dirtiest driver he ever knew" after trumping the three-time champion at a Tennessee short track.
He also had a few run-ins in the mid-1970s with Earnhardt, infuriating "The Intimidator" by bumping him into the wall at back-to-back Late Model races at Richmond and Martinsville. The seven-time champion hadn't forgotten when they crossed paths again in 1990.
"I walked by and said, 'Who's the dirtiest driver you know now?'" Mr. Hutchins said, "Earnhardt said, 'Well, look at the teacher I had.'"
Mr. Hutchins, who made his Modified debut with a sixth-place finish at the old Fairgrounds track known as Strawberry Hill in 1950, also was a boyhood hero to Rick Hendrick, who has won six championships and more than 100 races as a Nextel Cup car owner.
"Guys like Sonny Hutchins and Ray Hendrick are the ones who put the bug in me to get into [racing]," said Hendrick, a Virginia native who watched Mr. Hutchins at South Boston Speedway and Southside Speedway. "Sonny was fearless. He wore glasses thicker than a Coke bottle, and I don't think he could see. But he was unbelievable. To watch him run those Modified cars with all that power and actually spin the tires all the way down the straightaway. He was quite a talent."
Mr. Hutchins was one of the "4-H Boys" along with Ray Hendrick, Runt Harris and Ted Hairfield. The foursome was a promoter's dream, drawing crowds wherever they entered together.
Mr. Hutchins built a large fan following in Virginia and was a four-time season champion at Southside Speedway, according to Kelly. In Mr. Hutchins' last full season in 1980, he won Late Model titles at Southside and South Boston.
"Everybody wanted to be near him," said Neil Culley, a member of Mr. Hutchins' crew when he drove for Zervakis from 1970 to 1980. "He made you feel that you were important. He made fans feel that way, whether he knew them or not."
Richmonder Tommy Ellis, a two-time Busch Series champion, said Hutchins went from mentor to fierce rival to friend during his career.
"He was the greatest driver I ever raced against in any series, at any level," Ellis said. "I had the utmost respect for him. He understood a car in a way that not many drivers do and that set him apart."
Mr. Hutchins spent many hours at Donlavey's Southside shop working on the No. 90 chassis he drove from 1965-70. With Donlavey, Mr. Hutchins finished seventh in the 1967 Daytona 500 and a career-best second twice in 1969 (Dover and Richmond).
"The thing that made Sonny so good was that he was always so good to get along with," Donlavey said. "He drove the car to the edge and never held anything back. But what really made him great was the way he made the team feel. If something went wrong, he didn't come out of the car complaining. He enjoyed the sport, and he made sure you enjoyed it, too."
Mr. Hutchins once said he "never made never a nickel in my life racing." During a 1954-63 absence from the sport, Mr. Hutchins became a restaurateur with his older brother and stayed in the family business when he returned to race cars. Mr. Hutchins retired in 2002 after closing the last of five restaurants he had owned.
"I gave the money back to the car owners and said give me a better car," Mr. Hutchins said last year. "I just loved automobiles. I spent my whole life in racing, and I don't know anything I'd trade for it."
Survivors include his wife of 36 years, Connie Tinsley Hutchins; son Richard Bradley Jr. of Richmond; daughter Cynthia Hall of Williamsburg; brother Carl W. "Piggy" Hutchins of Richmond and a grandson.
