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THE DUNLEVY FAMILY...
In very few sports does a son have the opportunity to compete with his father. Auto racing is such a sport. And one father-combination with strong ties to Dayton Speedway was Dick Dunlevy and his son Dick Dunlevy, Jr.
The senior Dunlevy had been a top-notch stock car driver in the Dayton, Ohio area two decades before his son made his debut in 1968. His first Autombile Racing Club of America (ARCA) visit to Dayton Speedway was on May 10, 1953, when he started fourth in a 1951 Hudson, and finished fourth. Coincidentally, his last visit to Dayton Speedway to compete in an ARCA event was almost exactly 11 years to the day, May 9, 1964, when he finished fifth. You can find Dick Dunlevy Sr's complete ARCA record here.
"Dad neither encouraged me nor discouraged me," said the younger Dunlevy. "The only advice he gave me was to cut my racing teeth on the dirt tracks first."
For a period Dick Jr. found the going difficult as the racing community frequently compared him to his much more successful father. "I caught a lot of criticism until around 1976 when I started to win with regularity."
His first race was in a 1957 Ford at Kil-Kare Speedway near Xenia, Ohio. It was a memorable outing; young Dunlevy won his heat race, his father won the late model feature event.
In 1970 Dunlevy, Jr. scored his first feature victory, on the dirt at the Clark County fairgrounds near Springfield, Ohio.
By 1977 the younger Dunlevy had fully established himself as a winner. That season the New Carlisle, Ohio driver captured 15 feature wins. But, as sometimes happens in our sport, 1978 was something of a disaster. With one feature win, Dunlevy lost his ride. The Dunlevy family affair with auto racing might have ended right then and there if not for Pat Maxwell, an avid race fan from Springfield. Maxwell was so convinced that Dunlevy could succeed as a driver that he decided to take matters into his own hands and become a car owner.
"Pat gave me $4,000 and we bought Robbie Dean's car," Dick Jr remembers. "Then I got a solid sponsorship from Stenger's Ford in Dayton." And 1979 was going to be very different from 1978.
In just eight days Dean's Camaro became Dunlevy's Ford Granada. That speedy conversion was a harbinger of the car's on-track performance. In 1979 Dunlevy campaigned the 3,300 pound Granada regularly at four race tracks and took home three track championships. He claimed titles at Kil-Kare Speedway, Shady Bowl Speedway near DeGraf, Ohio, and Dayton Speedway, the first driver to achieve such a feat.
---Portions extracted from Dayton Speedway program
In 2006 Dick Dunlevy, Jr. had his first really serious accident after 37 seasons as a driver. I wrote about that accident in an article originally published in the Dayton Auto Racing Fan club newsletter and reprinted now here... Mickey, 2008)
Melanie Dunlevy knew instantly that her husband was seriously injured. The daughter of long-time racer and racing official Gene Moore had been around race tracks her whole life and she’d been watching Dick race since he first got behind the wheel of a race car in 1968, eight years before they’d begun dating. And now Dick was slumped over the wheel of his E-mod after a grinding high speed crash on the backstretch at Shady Bowl Speedway.
Knocked unconscious for the first time in his life, Dunlevy’s car rolled slowly back down the backstretch, luckily hugging the wall. Care Flight rushed Dick Dunlevy Jr to the Miami Valley Hospital trauma center. The crash had cracked Dick’s helmet, and his brain was now bleeding. He struggled to remain conscious...
After 37 straight seasons Dick Dunlevy Jr had nothing to prove as the 2006 season got underway. He’d competed in thousands of races and won hundreds. His track championship total stood at more than 20. And having to work on the race car every night of the week for just two nights of racing had started to squeeze all the fun out of the sport. He told Melanie that 2006 would be his final season racing full-time. Starting in 2007 Dick would pick his events and race less often and, hopefully, enjoy it more.
Which is not to imply that Dunlevy wasn’t enjoying every minute he spent in a race car. It had been that way since local legend Red Harvey convinced him to begin his racing career in the late ‘60s. (Ironically it was also Harvey who convinced Dick’s dad, Dick Dunlevy Sr., to begin racing in 1949.)
Once he warmed to the idea, Dick and partner Gary Bauer purchased a 1957 Ford Hobby Stock from Wally McDonald of Columbus. They towed it to Kil-Kare and won the first feature race they entered!
They began racing in what we now know was a golden era for local auto racing and Dunlevy and Bauer took advantage of it, racing almost every night. On Wednesday nights it was Tri-County. On Thursdays it was Clark County, and on Fridays the racing was at Kil-Kare. Saturday night found them at Shady Bowl and Sunday was a double header, afternoons at Eldora or Dayton Speedway and evenings at Columbus.
Eventually Dick was to win track championships at Kil-Kare, Shady Bowl, Dayton, and Clark County, sometimes driving his own car and sometimes driving for others as a hired gun. In one spectacular season, 1979, Dunlevy won track championships at Kil-Kare, Shady Bowl and Dayton!
There were offers to move up the ladder, but in those days ARCA was a circuit that didn’t offer anywhere near the 90 race dates that Dick could enjoy at local tracks.
Over his career Dunlevy dabbled a bit in ASA winning a 100 lapper at Winchester, and finishing second in both 1979 and 1980 in ASA 500 lappers run at Dayton Speedway. And then there was the time NASCAR star Darrell Waltrip came to town.
In the week leading up to the special Waltrip appearance at Kil-Kare Dunlevy Jr was quoted in the local press saying that as good as Waltrip was, the local racers had a significant “home court” advantage and it was unlikely that the visiting NASCAR driver would win. But the home court, such as it was, was repaved a few days before Waltrip’s appearance, and the speedway management provided Waltrip with an extremely good car.
Waltrip lived up to his superstar billing and set fast time. Second fast? Dick Dunlevy Jr. Dick went on to win the fast car dash, then sat out the heat because he didn’t think his one worn set of Mickey Thompson tires would survive both the 10 lap heat and the evening’s 75 lap feature.
The feature event was run before a standing-room-only crowd and every local media had a representative in the press box. Waltrip turned in a spectacular performance in a car he’d never driven on a track he’d never seen, and in the end he beat every local driver...except one, Dunlevy Jr.
“I really had to hustle the car to keep from having to eat crow,” Dunlevy remembered. “At one point I was leading, Waltrip was running second, and my dad, Dick Sr was running third in Hoot Gibson’s car. Unfortunately, dad’s car broke. But it was a night to remember.”
“Of course, getting to race my dad when his career was winding down and I was still climbing the racing ladder was very special. Twenty years later, when my career was slowing, my son Ryan, who was just starting out, and I raced against each other in the same
way. Those were simply the best of times.”
Dunlevy is clearly proud of all his children, Richard, Melissa, and Ryan, but it was Ryan who chose to follow Dick into auto racing.
“He started racing in 1999,“ Dick remembered, “and he won three features and was named Rookie of the Year at Kil-Kare. In 2000 he won seven of the first nine events before he changed shifts at his job and had to stop. In 2001 he came back and won 13 of 17 features and was named Pro Stock Champion.
“I remember winning at Shady Bowl on a Saturday night in 2002 while Ryan finished second. But his car was damaged, and since it was the week of the 4th of July we couldn’t get any parts delivered. We worked on Ryan’s car all week, fabricating the parts we couldn’t buy. We were just barely done by Friday, and arrived at Kil-Kare late for a special E-mod event. Ryan won that race...and I finished second!”
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The doctors kept Dick Dunlevy Jr at Miami Valley Hospital for three days. He was diagnosed with a significant closed head injury. In addition he had air pockets in his spinal fluid, and balance problems, vertigo, because of damage to his inner ears.
Dick is well on his way now to a full recovery, and his plans for the 2007 season remain unchanged. He will drive for others when given the opportunity, and he will enter his own car in selected events.
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Despite the severity of the crash and Dunlevy’s resultant injuries, Dick says that people shouldn’t feel sorry for him.
“Do you remember when you were a kid and you went to Coney Island or Lesourdesville Lake? Do you remember how you looked forward to getting there, and the joy of finally getting to ride your favorite ride? I’m that kid. For 38 years I’ve gotten to ride my favorite ride. I’m a very lucky man.”
Postscript: I'm pleased to report that Dick Jr is still active and competing at speedways in west central Ohio during the 2008 season in his own E-mod.
Dick recently had a chance to revisit one of his most exciting wins at Dayton Speedway. Here's what he wrote us in December, 2008:
Hi Mike,
Hope you're enjoying the holidays. We really enjoy the site.
We recently received a CD from Les Miller that was originally an 8mm film of the races at Dayton Speedway May 6, 1979.
Buster, known as a dominator throughout the '60's at Dayton Speedway, and myself battled side by side for 25 of the 30 laps.
Buster was running the inside groove which puts stress and strain on the right front tire. We were on Mickey Thompson street tires, abusing them to the max. Buster got by me in traffic in turn 1 & 2. As he got back to turn 1 & 2, with me running 2nd, he blew a tire and got on top of the guard rail. I inherited the lead, again. This time with a few laps to go on the restart there was another seasoned veteran with many laps and wins at Dayton on my back bumper. Don Wilbur was running second at this point. I won that day, with the satisfaction of beating two of the best. I won the trophy dash earlier that day, beating my Dad, Buster and Don Wilbur. The CD is the only recording of any of my races at Dayton Speedway. It makes for great memories of a great time in racing.
Sincerely,
Dick Dunlevy, Jr.
(racin4theracers@aol.com)
P.S. " Pat" Maxwell, owner of the 39 late model I drove at Dayton - WAS A WOMAN!!!! (Patricia Maxwell)
[1979 was a good year for Dick Dunlevy, Jr. He won track championships at three tracks including Dayton Speedway. And the race that he describes in the note above was one of the most exciting events that Dayton Speedway ever hosted. Reprinted below are the news articles from that day. Mickey -- March 22, 2009]
DUNLEVY BEST AT DAYTON
From The Mid-American Auto Racing News
Dick Dunlevy, Jr. and Buster Blackford heated up the asphalt at Great Dayton Speedway last Sunday afternoon before Dunlevy came out on top in the 30-lap late model race.
Blackford, fast qualifier, and Dunlevy put on a stirring duel for the first 25 laps, before Blackford blew a tire and cashed into the wall.
The veteran Dayton pilot had just taken the lead from Dunlevy one lap before the mishap occurred. However, it was Dunlevy pulling his Ford Granada into Victory Lane after edging Don Wilbur by two car lengths. It was the second straight win for the New Carlisle, Ohio pilot at Dayton.
Hillbilly Duncan, Larry Gorman, and George Falkner trailed at the finish.
DICK DUNLEVY WINS GREATER DAYTON SPWY. FEATURE
Dayton, Ohio – May 6
Dick Dunlevy, Jr., driving his Stenger Ford Granada, won the Late Model feature event Sunday at the Greater Dayton Speedway. It was Dunlevy’s second consecutive Late Model feature win at the Dayton track.
Other feature winners were John Wilson in the Flying Stocks, Harold Cole in the Figure 8, and Francis Jenkins in the Powder Puff.
In the Late Model division, Dunlevy finished the feature ahead of Don Wilbur, Ed “Hillbilly” Duncan, Larry Gorman, and Donny Wedgeworth. Buster Blackford was the top qualifier with a time of 18.93 on the high-banked paved oval, and he also won the second heat. Dunlevy won the dash, and Duncan won the first heat.
John Wilson won the Flying Stock main event over Ed Hounshell, Paul Stapleton and Fred Counts. Paul Stone was the top qualifier with a time of 21.15, and Counts won the heat race.
Harold Cole won the Figure 8 feature over Mike Koontz and Kenny Terry, and Earl Jenkins was the heat race winner.
The special Powder Puff race was won by Francis Jenkins, over Gerry Terry and Beverly Sawyer.