The DDR to DBR transition

In this addition of Doll Brothers Racing we will discuss how the deal evolved from the DeBrular and DeBrular/Delo connection into Doll Brothers Racing.  As the 50’s came to a close a new name appears.  Ed Doll who welded on the DeBrular and DeBrular/Delo coupes had a son that was off to do his stint in the US Military, Charles “Bud” Doll had always been interested in anything that went fast that he could make go faster.  It didn’t matter if it was a pair of roller skates a go-kart or car, if he could make speed he was on his game.  After Ed died from a heart attack and Bud returned home, he got a job with Carnegie as a mechanic.  Now Bud was already a good mechanic before his time in the Military, but his skills were honed while there so a job in the oil and gas industry got him a steady job.  He had helped with the dirt cars, but his real love was street racing and his 1956 Chevy was known all over the area as very hard to beat.  Bud was working for Carnegie in the Pittsburgh area and driving back to Greenwood on weekends to race the 56 Chevy on streets and roads all over the Ohio Valley but during the week he would attend dirt racing at several tracks in the Pittsburgh area meeting the big-time drivers of the era.  He made a lot of friends while in Pittsburgh and got the itch to compete.  In the early 60’s Bud and Delmer Delo got together and decided to build a car to race at Pennsboro on weekends.

From about the 1964 season they tried different combinations of cars, engines and drivers with very little success, but Bud was never one to just accept second best so after the 1965 season with a 1955 Chevy powered by a Pontiac engine, they decided to make a better effort.  Bud took his personal car off the street and began building the car that would eventually start the dynasty.

The first time I ever met Bud Doll was in February of 1966.  I lived on East Myles Avenue jus about 150 yards from the Jim Hogue garage at the intersection of Route 50 and Route 74 on the east end of Pennsboro where the Doll/Delo deal began.  That day changed my life forever, I got the BUG big-time.  I will discuss this further later.

By today’s standards I guess the car would be considered a street stock but remember this was during the evolution from coupes to full bodied cars; it was powered by the same engine that Bud did his street racing with, a pretty basic 327 V-8 with 202 heads and a 30/30 FI camshaft; the car was equipped with a stock 1956 rear-end and 3-speed transmission, stock fuel tank and filler tube, stock bumpers, full windshield and full floor pan including trunk area where the tools, jack and a couple tires were hauled to races while the whole deal was towed to the tracks with his wife’s pink and yellow Olds 88.  The exhaust headers were fabricated from a header flange kit ordered from JC Whitney that had flex pipe brazed and dumped through the front fender wells.  Tires were wide “taxi” tires mounted on welded-up steel wheels, stock springs and brakes.  The seat was out of a Corvair Monza GT that Brooks Kennedy supplied.  Delmer got in touch with Bobby Boyles who was a well-respected driver in the OV and regular winner on the valley tracks including Pennsboro.  This combination was the foundation of the dynasty.

The next insert we will discuss the first season and how it shaped the future.