Dick Dolan. Photo from katedolan.com

Quietly, without much fanfare, Richard “Dick” Dolan passed away on December 6, 2013 from pneumonia complicated by cardiorenal syndrome and lymphoma. Sources said that he kept his sense of humor right up to the end. 

Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1928, His family described Dick as a man that remained a lifelong fan of the Dodgers and remembered listening to radio broadcasts of the Hindenburg disaster and the War of the Worlds drama, which he claimed he knew all along to be fiction. He went off to Notre Dame in 1945, and like a good Easterner, expected to see Indians when he got off the train in the wilds of South Bend. With the cold war draft in full force, he interrupted college for two years of service in the U.S. Navy, where he achieved the rank of Seaman First Class before receiving his honorable discharge. He then returned to Notre Dame and graduated in 1951. 

Having worked part time in a gas station and served as a mechanic in the Navy, it was natural for him to end up working for Pure Oil Company in Schaumburg, Illinois as the manager of its new Automotive Racing Division.

The new position allowed Dolan to have autonomy that few ever expeience. At a time when few other gasoline companies wanted anything to do with stock car racing, Pure Oil, with Dolan’s persistence, became the leading gasoline supporter for the series. Not to understate Pure Oil or Dolan’s value to the sport, we quote writer Dave Fulton on the subject. “before Sunoco, the Official gasoline of NASCAR was Unocal/Union 76/76, and before that it’s precedecessor was Pure, as in Pure Firebird racing gasoline. That relationship with Pure Oil Company (and following its buyout with Unocal), began in the early 50s and was spearheaded by and supervised for many, many years by a man named Dick Dolan, who was Special Events Director for Pure Oil out of Palatine, Illinois and later in Schaumburg, Illinois for many years, carrying the title of Manager of Automotive Events & Public Relations for Unocal 76.”

Richard Petty’s STP Car. Photo from stock car.racersreunion.com

 According to Fulton, the relationship between NASCAR and Pure Oil was so close that “Pure Oil, along with Pepsi and a few others loaned Big Bill France the money to build Daytona.”

Fulton also tells about the day he crossed paths with Dolan:

“I had met Dick at functions, including the Darlington Record Club dinners, but I hadn’t had any interaction with him until the 1984 Daytona 500, my first working for Southland Corporation as Motorsports Coordinator, including the Kyle Petty primary sponsorship by 7-Eleven with affiliated sponsors Chief Auto Parts and CITGO Petroleum, both owned at the time by Southland. On each quarter panel of Kyle’s car, we’d put a very large CITGO triangle ID.

Photo from stock car.racersreunion.com

Anyway, shortly after the first time Kyle went out on the track that February of 1984, I got paged to call the NASCAR suite. I called and was told Bill, Jr. (Bill France Jr.) wanted to see me right away. So off I went. When I got to the suite, Bill told me Dick Dolan of Unocal had something he wanted to tell me.

If you ever met Dick, he was very blunt and not a people person. In fact, the late Bob Latford used to kid that every year Dick won the National Motorsports Press Association poll of the “least liked person in racing.” Dick at that point was on a real vendetta against the Pettys. He was campaigning with Bill, Jr. to have the STP logo and the saying “Racer’s Edge” taken off the front spoiler of Richard’s car.

He really got upset when he saw the CITGO logo on Kyle’s car. He told me, in Bill Jr.’s presence, it had to come off because Unocal had the exclusive right to all gasoline signage in NASCAR.

My answer was quick. I told him and Bill, Jr. we were advertising CITGO motor oil and if they didn’t like it, maybe our legal staff could explain it. That was the end of the discussion and it was never raised again.”

Forty-two years and two mergers later, his position had grown along with the racing industry. Although he worked most closely with NASCAR, he was named Grand Marshall for two races, served on the Board of Directors of International Speedway Corporation, and is featured in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Dick also earned an Indianapolis 500 ring for serving as a member of Bobby Unser’s pit crew during his victorious run in 1975.

Having grown to love the south, home of both NASCAR and his wife, Betty, he retired to live on a golf course in South Carolina in 1994 and enjoyed a life of golf and travel. His beloved wife Betty Conlan Dolan died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage in 2008.

He was virtually unbeatable at poker and made the best bloody Marys on either side of the Mississippi. With family and friends, he will be remembered for his outstanding generosity and hospitality.