The Beginning of DBR

Well guy’s and gal’s after three weeks of consulting for a local agricultural company that has kept me overly busy I now have time to get back to the task as I promised, reliving the history of Doll Brothers Racing.

During these three weeks I had the opportunity to meet with John Debrular and Delmer Delo to get as much of this story correct from the beginning.

The beginning of DBR actually started in the very early 1950’s with a group of fellows from Greenwood WV just looking for someway to have a good time; remember, after the Korean War there really wasn’t much to do in the way of entertainment in the little town of Greenwood that had a population of around 200 people so Brady and Jim Debrular decided to go coupe racing. The original car was a 1950 Ford coupe with a flathead V-8.  Brady worked at the Department of Highways maintenance facility in Buckhannon WV and Red Kettle worked with him in the mechanics bay; Red became the driver and they numbered the car Sweet 16.  Racing in those early days was more about who out ran who than the money because there was little money to go around.  They ran the car and driver combination for a couple seasons while competing at Norwood Park outside of Clarksburg, the Fairgrounds at Pennsboro (Pennsboro Speedway) and occasionally traveled to race at Torch Ohio.  During this time the Doll connection was planted as Ed Doll (Bud and Marshall’s father) did welding on the car while tending to his job at Carnegie Natural Gas in Toll Gate just west of Greenwood.  The Carnegie connection will be discussed further in another segment.