Chat Transcript
CBS SportsLine.com
May 29, 2001

Donlavey has been a car owner for 52 years. (Keystone Marketing)

NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey stopped by to chat about entering his 52nd year in NASCAR.

Donlavey is the owner of the No. 90 Hills Bros Coffee Ford and is returning to Dover, the site of his only win in a points event in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series (1981 The Mason Dixon 500, driver: Jody Ridley).

Donlavey was the recipient of the 1999 Ford Motor Company Spirit of Ford Award, the 1999 NMPA/Myers Brothers Award and the 1998 Richard Petty Achievement Award. He has 832 starts in 813 different NASCAR Winston Cup Series races.

Donlavey's first driver was Hank Stanley in the modified division in 1949. Since then, more than 150 different drivers, including 69 in the Winston Cup Series, have driven for him. Fourteen of those 69 were named among "NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers" in 1998.

Junie Donlavey: I am very happy to be here tonight. I hope I can answer the questions you have with some type of knowledge. I really appreciate you coming.

Question: You've seen many changes in the sport since you began. What would you say are the most significant?

Junie Donlavey: I would say NASCAR has stressed safety as much as anything. They have done a great job of making these cars safer than ever since we started. I have to say I am mighty proud of NASCAR to devoting a lot of time to the safety of the drivers.

Question: What did you think about Tony Stewart running both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 Sunday? What did you think about his comments after about the "idiots" who said he was endangering other drivers?

Junie Donlavey: Not being involved with Tony Stewart and knowing what a drain it would be on your person by driving so much.. he did do a good job at both races. I don't think he had the problem of endangering drivers. Watching him finish the Charlotte race, he had very good control. He didn't seem to be doing anything that was endangering other competitors. I don't think the people who thought he was stressing his physical part of driving should have been called "idiots". We all have our opinions of things that are being done. But I watched him near the end to see if he was wandering on the track and he seemed to do a good job.

Question: What is your opinion of the HANS device?

Junie Donlavey: We have Hut driving and using the HANS device. Also Jason has run with it too. He was involved in a bad accident and came out feeling good. It seems to be doing the type of job it was designed for. I would give it an A+ for what is does for the drivers.

Question: What made you decide to go with Hut Stricklin this year?

Junie Donlavey: Last year we used 2 or 3 different drivers. Hut is one we used in a few races. Hills Brothers corporate management asked me to go with a driver with pretty good NASCAR experience. Hut fit that description and I had always liked Hut as a driver. Once the team gels together, Hut and the team will be able to put on a good show!

Question: I know this is going to be a hard one to answer... but.. Overall, who is the best driver you've ever had behind the wheel of one of your cars?

Junie Donlavey: Since I have started in racing, which began in 1950 with the Modified, late models, stock and up to the Cup cars. I had many good drivers who only drove one or two races! To say who is the best of all would be so hard. During each segment of the time you had such good drivers and stars out there. I had luck with all of them and it would be hard to single one out. We have had one of the best drivers who have ever sat in an automobile and I have enjoyed every one! Which driver did you really "click" with? I would say Dick Brooks would have been the one. Though we did not have sponsorship money, to be able to field the car we needed. He did more with what we had than any driver. We had Jody Ridley from 80-82 and he was very consistent. He won Rookie of the Year in 1980. And we won Dover with him. So.. Brooks and Jody were on the top. When we had Ken Schraeder in 85-87, he went on to bigger and better things. He proved he was as good as any driver in those days. So it would be hard to pick a best or one I clicked with the most.

Question: If you had to pick one thing besides the driver, what makes a race car win?

Junie Donlavey: The one thing would be the crew chief. He has to work very closely with the driver and the feel he has for the car to be able to keep it going so the driver has a good race.

Question: What's the most important factor about having the right people in the pit?

Junie Donlavey: If you want to finish good in the races we run today, you had better have good people that work together and understand what each person is doing. It has changed over the years. The pit stops are becoming so fast that each team member doesn't have time to stop and know what the others are doing. They have to just do his job and if he can do it and not worry about the others, they will have a good pit stop. They need that to be successful.

Question: What one piece of advice would you give young drivers who want to make it in Nascar?

Junie Donlavey: I would say that a young driver just starting out in Nascar should study the tracks like you study the road maps on a trip. By doing that you understand the layout of the corners, the banking and all. And talk to the pros that are there and listen to the advice on how to get through the corners of whatever track you are running. It makes the learning curve shorter than learning it by trial and error. Nascar had me run Jackie Oliver, a Formula One driver, to make the races "international" races. And that is what he did to make himself successful in the short period he was in Nascar.

Question: Do you think we'll see a new tradition of "fence climbing" after wins now?

Junie Donlavey: It seems to have worked good last Sunday! And it is an added attraction for the fans. As long as they enjoy it you may see it more. But I don't think it is here to stay.

Question: When was it when you said to yourself, I'm going to be involved in racing? How did you get started?

Junie Donlavey: I started in 1949 and I ran with volunteer crews from 1949 until 1986, or half of 1986. Those were the fun year of racing. Every member of every team wanted to be there and took a big interest in it. It is a shame that racing has gone past that. Today you have a lot of people who are in it for the money. Not for the racing. When I was in my younger days my uncle had a sprint car he ran up north in Trenton and Williams Grove. I enjoyed being around the drivers and was fascinated by the race car. But I knew I didn't want to get involved in sprint cars. You had to go out of town all the time. So I looked at local tracks and found places to race without going out of town. I was impressed with the drivers and how skilled they were with the cars they ran. You didn't have engineers and specialists. The driver ran the show and it was an exciting and fascinating game. Racing to me has always been a sport. I never gave it a thought that you could ever make a living at it.

Question: You've been involved in NASCAR since 1949. What has been your greatest moment so far?

Junie Donlavey: I would say in 1979 I had Ricky Rudd as a regular driver. They asked me to bring a second car to Talladega so I brought Jody Ridley who had only run a few races. Neither car was sponsored and we finished 3rd and 5th with Richard Petty 4th. He gave us a lot of credit. That is one of the best things that happened.

Question: Junie Congratulations on a good run this past weekend! How do you think you will run at Dover? Any chance for your second Dover win?

Junie Donlavey: We're going there with the thought that there is a chance, if everyone works together and we get the card handling for Hut and with the crew working this well, we hope we can!

Junie Donlavey: I would like to say, being in my 52nd year in racing and thinking I would never be in it this long, I wondered why I am still here! The fans and participants are such GREAT people that this is what keeps me in it. There are no finer people on this Earth as there is in Auto Racing. And I thank all of you for being a part of it. Goodnight!