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Donlavey Racing was a stock car racing team that competed from 1950 until 2004 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 years was best known for the No. 90 Ford. Though the team only had one points win (1981 Mason-Dixon 500 with Jody Ridley) and two pole positions in its long history, three of Donlavey's drivers won Rookie of the Year honors (Bill Dennis in 1970, Ridley in 1980, Ken Schrader in 1985) and a number of former and future NASCAR race winners drove for the team. Sixty-seven different drivers ran at least one race for Donlavey.
Harris ran three more races for Donlavey the following season, but struggled with mechanical problems, and could only manage a best finish of 30th. Speedy Thompson took over for three races, his best finish being a 12th at the Dixie 300. Tiny Lund drove for Donlavey at the Atlanta 500, but finished 36th after suffering engine failure early in the race. Johnny Roberts drove one race for Donlavey in 1961, finishing 21st at Richmond after suffering a blown head gasket.
Donlavey did not field a car until 1965, when Sonny Hutchins took over the ride. Making ten starts, he had a fifth-place run at Moyock, and a tenth at Martinsville. After going 1966 without a top-ten, Hutchins came back in 1967, and had two top ten finishes. He finished 34th in points. He made four starts in 1968, but they all ended in DNFs. He made eight starts in 1969, and had two second-place finishes, at Dover and Richmond, respectively.
In 1973, Donlavey secured his first full-time sponsor, signing Truxmore Industries. Dick Brooks began the year with Donlavey, and ran part of his season with him. Other drivers included Harry Gant, Charlie Glotzbach, Ray Hendrick, and a one-off with Yvon Duhamel. He also fielded the 98 for Brooks and Richie Panch. Then next season, Dennis returned for three races, before being replaced by multiple drivers. Glotzbach ran eleven races with him, the most by any driver that year. In 1975, Donlavey decided to run full-time, and hired Brooks as driver. Brooks ran 25 races, had six top-fives and finished 10th in points. Donlavey also fielded a second car, the No. 93, for Kenny Brightbill, Dick May, Earl Ross, and Jody Ridley.
In 1976, Brooks had eighteen top-ten finishes and finished tenth in points again. The No. 93 ran in two races for Buck Baker and Gene Felton, with Donlavey also fielding the No. 99 for Dick Trickle at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The team also entered their No. 90 Ford Torino at the 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans for drivers Dick Brooks, Dick Hutcherson, and French driver Marcel Mignot, but DNF'd with transmission failure after 11 hours.
The next season, Brooks finished sixth in points, with Donlavey fielding the No. 93 for Belgium racer Christine Beckers. She finished 37th. Brooks began 1978 by finishing fifth in two out of the first three races of the season, but despite an eighth-place points finish, Brooks departed the team.
The next season, Donlavey signed rookie driver Ken Schrader to pilot the No. 90, with new sponsorship from Ultra Seal. Schrader had three top-tens and finished sixteenth in points. In 1986, Red Baron Frozen Pizza, signed as primary sponsor, and in 1987, Schrader won one of two qualifying races for the Daytona 500, as well as picking up a pole at Darlington Raceway, finishing tenth in championship points. At the end of the season, Schrader left, and was replaced by Benny Parsons with Bull's Eye Barbecue Sauce. Running what turned out to be his last season, Parsons competed in 27 starts and grabbed an eighth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway. He was replaced for one race at North Wilkesboro by Jimmy Means, who finished 24th. After the season, Bull's Eye left the team, and Donlavey signed rookie Chad Little to his ride. However, Little struggled and was released after the Coca-Cola 600. Donlavey cut back to part-time schedule for the rest of the season, with Stan Barrett and Lennie Pond running selected races for him.
Dorsey Schroeder started off 1992 driving for Donlavey, before Glotzbach took over for two races. Other drivers who raced for Donlavey that year were Glotzbach, Kerry Teague, Pancho Carter, Todd Bodine in a Donlavey Ford renumbered #34 in partnership with Diet Pepsi and Cicci-Welliver Racing for Bodine's first Cup start at Watkins Glen, Bobby Hillin Jr., and Hut Stricklin. Hillin returned to run the full season for Donlavey the next year, with sponsorship from Heilig-Meyers. Hillin posted a best finish was eleventh and he finished twenty-seventh in points. Hillin ran just three races in 1994, before he was replaced by Mike Wallace. Wallace made 22 starts and had a fifth-place finish at the season-ending Hooters 500. He returned in 1995 but dropped to 34th in points.
After making ten starts in 1996, Wallace was released in favor of Dick Trickle, whose best finish that season was a thirteenth at Michigan. Trickle signed the next season. He posted two top-fives and finished 31st in points. He improved to 29th in points in 1998, but he, along with Heling-Meyers and crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr., left the team at the end of the year. During the season, Donlavey missed attending his first race in years, when he had to undergo heart surgery.
In 2000, Berrier signed to drive the 90 with sponsorship from Hills Brothers Coffee, competing for Rookie of the Year honors. Berrier struggled during the course of the season, DNQ-ing nine times, before he was released. Brian Simo took over at Watkins Glen, before Stricklin took over the rest of the year. He signed to drive the 90 full-time in 2001, and had a sixth-place run at Michigan, but the team continued to struggle. At the EA Sports 500, Donlavey fielded the No. 91 for Rick Mast, who had lost his ride when Eel River Racing folded. Mast failed to qualify, however.
Near the end of the season Sara Lee, Hills Brothers' parent company, asked Donlavey to move his team from Richmond to North Carolina. When Donlavey refused, Sara Lee immediately pulled the Hills Brothers sponsorship from the No. 90 and signed an agreement with Bill Davis Racing to sponsor the team's new No. 23 car with Stricklin as the driver. Donlavey placed Mast in the No. 90 permanently and ran it for the remainder of the year without any sponsor decals on it.
In the offseason Donlavey acquired sponsorship from the C.F. Sauer Company, whose Duke's Mayonnaise brand had been carried on the former Eel River Racing car Mast had driven. Mast had a best finish of 24th at Darlington when he began feeling anemic. He took several races off, and was replaced by Hermie Sadler and Gary Bradberry. Mast was eventually diagnosed as having suffered carbon monoxide poisoning and was forced to leave racing altogether, and once he did C.F. Sauer pulled its sponsorship from the No. 90. Donlavey then cut back his racing schedule, and planned to retire, but came back to field the Lucas Oil Ford for Lance Hooper at Bristol, as well as a car for team manager Jason Hedlesky at Lowe's. Hooper finished 31st and Hedlesky started 41st and finished 43rd. In 2003, Kirk Shelmerdine drove Donlavey's car at the Daytona 500, but missed the field. Hedlesky drove the car at the Winston Open, but Donlavey did not field an entry for the rest of the season. Donlavey hoped to revive his team in 2004 by announcing Kevin Ray would drive a limited schedule that season with sponsorship from Boudreaux's Butt Paste. Unfortunately, the deal ended up running only one ARCA race at Pocono Raceway. Late in the year A. J. Henriksen, began running races for Donlavey, but did not make a race. Donlavey did not field a car in 2005, but continued to stay involved in NASCAR. During a gathering at Richmond in September 2006, Donlavey 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. Donlavey would pass away in 2014.
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