Wesley Christian "Junie" Donlavey Jr. (April 8, 1924June 9, 2014), a native of

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, was the owner of

Donlavey Racing Donlavey Racing was a stock car racing team that competed from 1950 until 2002 in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. It was owned by Junie Donlavey and ran a total of 863 races in NASCAR. Donlavey Racing used a number of makes and numbers, but for yea ...

; 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 Kenneth Schrader (born May 29, 1955) is an American professional racing driver. He currently races on local dirt and asphalt tracks around the country while also competing part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 11 Ford for Fast Trac ...

and

Jody Ridley Jody Ridley (born May 19, 1942) is a former NASCAR driver. He won the 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award and one race at Dover International Speedway the next year, the only Cup victory for Donlavey Racing. His career statistics in ...

won

NASCAR Rookie of the Year The NASCAR Rookie of the Year Award is presented to the first-year driver that has the best season in a NASCAR season. Each of NASCAR's national and regional touring series selects a RotY winner each year. History of the Award The Rookie of the Y ...

honors while driving for Donlavey. Donlavey served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

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 The International Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF) is a hall of fame located adjacent to the Talladega Superspeedway (formerly Alabama International Motor Speedway) located in Talladega County, east central Alabama. It enshrines those who have c ...

in 2007. Donlavey closed his racing team after the 2004 season when

Andy Hillenburg Andrew Hillenburg (born April 30, 1963) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current team owner and track owner. His race team, Fast Track Racing, fields multiple cars in the ARCA Menards Series and formerly fielded entr ...

failed to qualify for the Daytona 500; 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, at the age of 90. His age of death is ironic, but very fitting in some aspects, because 90 was the number that Donlavey raced with for his team from 1950 to 2002. Donlavey was honoured shortly after his death by the Sprint Cup Garage at

Richmond International Raceway Richmond Raceway (RR) is a , ''D''-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in unincorporated Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Known as ...

being named the Wesley C. Donlavey Garage. At the September 2014 Cup race in Richmond, team owner

Joe Falk Joseph A. Falk (born January 30, 1951) is an American auto dealer and NASCAR Cup Series team owner, as well as a former stock car racing driver. He is the owner of Little Joe's Autos, an automobile dealership in the Virginia Tidewater. Driving ca ...

changed the number of his

Circle Sport Circle Sport Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The team was formed in 2011 as LTD PowerSports, fielding the No. 50 for T. J. Bell, and later in 2012, the team fielded t ...

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.Longtime NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey honored at RIR
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References

External links

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Jayski's Team Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donlavey, Junie 1924 births 2014 deaths Businesspeople from Richmond, Virginia NASCAR team owners NASCAR crew chiefs 20th-century American businesspeople United States Navy personnel of World War II

See also

References

External links