| Photo ID # | 03.03.03_090_HUT_TRN_0060_1 |
| Car #: | #90 |
| Driver (s) : | Sonny Hutchins |
| Location: | (Near exit 8 of the NJ Turpike) |
| Date: | 1960's |
| Photographer: | A Stan Fan |
| Photo provided by: | A Stan Fan |
| Comments: | I'm sure some of the visitors can fill in the details... |
| Visitor's Comments | To add your comments about THIS PHOTO - Click Here | |
| Date: | Visitor's Name: | Comment: |
| 03/04/03 | Jim Brewer | This is the Junie Donleavy big block Ford powered '37 Plymouth coupe that Sonny drove at Trenton, Langhorne, and other big shows. I think this is a later version of the car and may be the one that they ran on the Nazareth National dirt - - but I don't recall it as having a white roof. |
| 07/01/03 | JOE BOKROS | THE CAR THAT RAN NAZ 1 1/8 DIRT WAS ALL BLUE BUT HAD A BIG BLOCK FORD ALSO. HE HAD THOSE YANKEE`S UPSET TILL HE BROKE OR HAD A FLAT.TIRE . THAT CAR HAD SOME AWESOME STRAIGHT-AWAY POWER !! JOE BOKROS KATY, TX |
| 03/12/05 | John Billmyer Jr | Hello All ! My name is John Billmyer Jr. I was very excited to see this photo. My father John Billmyer Sr. (Jack) met Junie Donlavey approx.1963 and became lifelong friends. I have many fond memories of going to the shop with my father and hanging around Sonny and Junie then going to Southside Speedway on Friday night. In 1966 we moved from Richmond Va. to Greenville NC when my father bought the Ford dealership there. Dad bought a '57 Ford Late Model and Sonny came down & drove it occasionally. We took it to Southside a few times but it was a tank & didn't do very well. That winter we built a 427 '62 Fairlane Late Model and Junie sent 1 of his coupes down. We painted the Fairlane Junie's famous gray/blue & ran # 91on it & # 90 on the coupe. If we ran the modified at the same track as Junie we changed to # 91. In 1968 we built a ' 67 Mustang & repainted the coupe to match. This is the paint scheme in the photo. In 1969, Sonny finished 2nd?-3rd? in our coupe then won the Late Model portion of the the Trenton doubleheader. I still have the trophy. Mel Bradley drove our '62 Fairlane in the modified race & finished 8th I think. We put a fuel injection setup on it for that race & strong as it was. It was still heavier than the coupes & coaches. We shoulda' got style pointes though for those 8 chrome stacks poking out of the hood! We were fortunate to have great drivers like Sonny Hutchens, Mel Bradley , Al Grinnan, to name a few. Ray Hendrick even drove the Fairlane once at Wilson. Watching those guys on asphalt was exciting, but they put on a real show on dirt. I've babbled long enough so I'll close . I'm a retired fireman & am writing a book about my father & Junies long association starting with modifieds & continuing through the Cup days, so I'd love to here from anyone who wants to share some Junie/Sonny Or Junie/Mel stories. Any Junie stories or just the good old days of racing in general for that matter. I can be reached at tinythemodeler@yahoo.com Thanks for making my day with the photo . |
| 11/22/05 | Kerry Viar | Thought ya'll would want to know that Sonny Hutchins passed away yesterday. Kerry Viar |
| 11/22/05 | Joe Macfarlan | Our condolences go out to the Hutchins Family. |
| 11/22/05 | Dennis Garrett | After hearing about Sonny Hutchins' untimely death. I
was looking for information and race car photos about his racing career. I found this web
site with following photo. Upon closer look of the photo of # 90 coupe race car on
trailer. I noticed the truck's rear end looks like the back end of 1971 or 1972 Chevy or
Ford pick-up truck. (Does anyone know the year of the tow truck?) After looking at some old 1971 STP Corp. race car post cards, I also noticed the # 90 coupe race car in the photo was painted like the Junie Donlavey's # 90 Grand National "Rent A Racer" race car, 1971 Mercury, sponsored by Truxmore Industries. The # 90 coupe race car's top and trunk deck was painted gold or light tan; top side of hood, around the side glass area and top of the rear fender area was painted white; the side door area was painted blue with white # 90 on it. I didn't see anything on the coupe race car painted red liked in the 1971 "RENTARACER" post card ! Sincerely yours, Dennis Garrett |
| 01/18/06 | JS | Hey the truck in the pic was a Ford pick up that was
owned by a fellow named jack Macsonald who worked with Junie. Hey a question for you old timer's: Can you name the beer joints that Sonny and his brother owned and how many of there were there? Also, there were only two black driver to ever race at Southside Speedway - one was Leroy Irving who lived in the church hill section of Richmond and who am I? |
| 01/31/06 | Jay Hutchins | I should know the names of the places that Sonny owned, but slips my mind right at the moment. My grandfather and Sonny were cousins, and I have memories of being at Sonny's and riding go-carts around the property - of course, I was too young to drive, so I think my Dad drove while I was in his lap. I've had a lot of people ask me if I'm related to Sonny when they hear my last name, and it's neat to see their eyes light up when I say "yes". And what an honor to have the entrance to Langley Speedway named after him...I was just browsing the web and seeing what was said about him out there, especially after his death, and it's so nice to see that a lot of people remember him with very fond memories. Bless you all. |
| 04/17/06 | John Billmyer Jr | Regarding the color, it was gold, never tan. The truck I beleive is my father's parts dept. delivery truck ('69 Ford F-100), from his Ford dealership. It HAS been a long time and I could be mistaken. That is Junies trailer. Junie had a cabover Ford ramp truck he hauled the Grand National on, and a F-350 with tool box body he used to pull his trailer. Tire rack on top of each side box, walkway thru the middle. Daddy and Junie would swap trucks & trailers depending on where & what they were racing. Daddy had a F-600 ramp truck and a longer trailer. Also used the parts dept. truck as needed. We ran Southside Speedway in Richmond VA. and Beltsville MD. with both the late model and coupe and pulled the modified behind the big truck. Also had a 55 gallon drum of Pure Firebird racing gas laying on it's side TIED to the floor of the truck, under the tail of the late model. DMV was alot more leinient back then!! If we ever got pulled by DMV, HP, etc., it would have been really bad as starting at age 14 I drove alot of times. (my mother still doesn't know-father, son secret). I have photos of the coupe, in 3 different paint schemes, our late model ' 62 Fairlane, & ' 67 Mustang as well as Junies ' 67 Fairlane that daddy sponsored, in 2 paint schemes. Racing was serious then, BUT alot more fun!! More stories next time. I don't want to come off as bragging, this was just a exciting part of my life, that most kids my age weren't a part of, and this site stirs alot of fond memories. Thanks for letting me babble. John W. Billmyer, Jr. alias tinythemodeler@yahoo.com Benson, NC. |
| 08/15/06 | Roger Hardaway | JS, I have been looking at the photo of the car Sonny Hutchins drove, and the comments from the other folks who have seen the photo. One of them, JS, mentions that there were only two black drivers at Southside Speedway in Richmond; one is Leroy Irving and I assume the other is JS. I thought I would ask if you know who that is? Have you known any other black drivers at any of the race tracks where you have taken photos? I am doing some research on this topic. Thanks for any help you can give me. Sincerely, Roger Hardaway rdhardaway@nwosu.edu Professor of History Northwestern Oklahoma State University Alva, OK 73717 |