Hully Bunn

Competitor, Car Owner
CLASS OF 2001

Raymond “Hully” Bunn of Bristol, CT, built his first race car, a ’37 Ford Coupe, in 1949. Beginning at the Plainville Stadium, he soon was competing all over New England. While he drove his own equipment in the early part of his career, he later drove for many owners, including Johnny Ross, John Melnick, and Steve Danish.

He began to compete outside New England, traveling to Tampa, Florida and Bainbridge, Ohio, as well as down the East coast into Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where he continued to be a frequent winner.

“Those were fun days”, says Hully. “You could build a car for $1000, and most features paid at least $300 or $400 to win. Langhorne paid $1000, so you could really make a living at it back then.”

In 1951, driving the #X coupe, Bunn beat out over 100 cars to win the Inaugural Race of Champions (then known as the Langhorne National Open), a 100 mile race at Langhorne Raceway in PA. He returned to Langhorne in the spring of 1952, when he took the same car to victory lane, after battling a field of 60 modifieds. Hully also has the distinction of winning the inaugural race at Lebanon Valley Speedway in the spring of 1954.

Hully retired in 1965, following a crash at Lebanon Valley, in a 100 lap Sunday Night Open Competition race. “A kid went into the turn with no brakes, rolled me over”, remembers Hully. “It hurt my shoulder….It still bothers me today. I had a machine shop to run, and kids at home, so I decided it was time to retire.”

However, Bunn would later return to racing as a car builder & owner. He and his son Ron raced a midget with both ARDC & NEMA circuits. He closed out his racing career owning a Quad 4 Midget driven by Tony Montesi at Whip City Speedway in Westfield, MA in the mid-2000’s.

A lifelong resident of Bristol, CT, Raymond Bunn passed away on August 25, 2011 at the age of 91.