Rick Donnelly

Rick Donnelly was touted as a bright young star by Speedbowl owner Harvey Tattersall Jr when he bought the track prior to the 1975 season. Donnelly slowly migrated to the Speedbowl from Riverside Park Speedway and in 1977 won the Sportsman Modified Championship at the Speedbowl, that last of several times over the track’s history when they kept separate points for the Sportsman cars within the Modified division.

But it was his 1979 season when Rick Donnelly brought a new Troyer chassis Modified to the Speedbowl and dominated the division. Donnelly won 10 races that season, including three 100 lappers, a 75 lap race and a 125 lapper. There was also a non-point Fall Stinger at the end of the season (won by John Rosati), giving Donnelly a 71% winning percentage for the season by winning 10 of the 14 races held – a Speedbowl record at the time. He was crowned the 1979 Modified Championship at season’s end.

Donnelly had more success in extra-distance events in the following years, winning a 50 & 100 lap races in 1980 and the Blast Off 81 & Blast Off 84 in their respective years. In 1985, he ran SK Modifieds full-time and finished 3rd in points. He also won the first NASCAR Modified Tour race held at the Speedbowl on June 19th.

Donnelly would win 7 more SK Modified races in the 1980’s, including the Blast Off 87 in 1987. After several years away from the Speedbowl, he returned in the late 1990’s to win a race in each season from 1997-1999 driving the Perkins #49. Donnelly raced sporadically thereafter before quietly retiring from Speedbowl competition.

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RICK DONNELLY
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