Background
Donlavey, Junie was born on April 8, 1924 in Richmond, Virginia, United States.
engineer National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing team owner
Donlavey, Junie was born on April 8, 1924 in Richmond, Virginia, United States.
He drove for his team at first, but soon gave way to other drivers. 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 2003 season when Kirk Shelmerdine 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 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.
Married Phyllis Donlavey. Children: Linda, Beverly, Richard.