5 replies to this topic

[Eric Dunsdon]

I have heard that the Alfa Romeo specialist Jon Dooley passed away earlier this month. Can anyone confirm this sad news?.

[Tim Murray]

From the ‘Gone but not forgotten’ thread:

From the Alfa Romeo Owners Club today:

It is with an extremely heavy heart that we must announce the very sad passing of Jon Dooley.

Jon was a motorsport legend, a BTCC driver, former Editor of our Alfa Romeo Driver magazine and AROC Club Chairman. He was a gentleman, a kind man, and his contribution to both our Club and every person he met was huge.

AROC started at the end of 1964, with a group of Alfisti meeting in London. Jon and his father picked things up in 1966-7, when Jon became magazine editor. Membership back then was in the low hundreds, and Alfas were of course an extremely rare sight, and expensive to buy.

Jon started racing Giuliettas in the 1960s, doing regularity rallies and sprints and hillclimbs. In 1969 he won a ‘Alfas v BMWs’ event in a 1750 GTV.

As well as circuit racing he raced an Alfasud Ti in the RAC Rally in 1974 and ‘75 and the Tourists Trophy in ’75.

He won Production Saloons championship in 1978, and raced hard in a 2L Alfetta against Gerry Marshall’s Dolomite Sprint.

In BTCC, he raced his superb Alfasud in 1980 again, now 6 years old and with 90,000 on the clock, and came 3rd overall in 1981 with it. In a GTV6 he was class champion in BTCC.

From 1986 to '87 he raced the 75 Turbo in the ETCC and WTCC. In 1987 he came 3rd overall and 2nd in class.

During 12 years in BTCC (76 to 87) he had 19 wins and 2 class championships, all of course in Alfas.

We owe Jon a huge debt. And he contributed to our Club enormously over many decades. His support and dedication was huge, still actively contributing up to recent days on our Members' Archive and his superb contributions to our Alfa Romeo Driver magazine.

We will miss him enormously. This really is a sad day for us all.

May he rest in peace.

Sad news of a loss of a true Alfisti. He has written some great articles for the Alfa Driver and Giulietta Register magazines in recent years about Alfa history and technical information. A real gentleman as well. A great loss to the Alfa Romeo commiunity in the UK.

Andrew Stevens

[Eric Dunsdon]

From the ‘Gone but not forgotten’ thread:
 

Thank you Tim. I missed that. Sad news, as apart from being a great supporter of Alfa Romeo Jon was such a nice man. R.I.P.

[richardspringett]

Oh dear

 

This is very sad news....I 'helped' Jon stuff the envelopes of the AROC magazine in the latish '60s, I remember he got very angry with me when I turned up late one evening, questioning my allegiance to the job... I think I redeemed myself in th 70s as AROC social secretary....

 

He and I made an unsuccessful attempt to form a Giulietta section in the early '70s.

 

In the early '90s I sponsored him in my Alfa Romeo GTA grp4/5.....he won a number of races in it, the mugs are around....

 

I have fond memories of the time spent together, and his enormous knowledge of Alfas and his willingness to share it...

 

RIP...condolences to family and particularly his brother, a Doctor, also an Alfa fan...

 

Richard

[1969BOAC500]

I'm late to see this sad news.

 

I remember Jon well from the late '60s/late '70s when my father was an AROC member and  we benefitted fromJon's friendliness and depth of knowledge, especially at the regular Steering Wheel Club gatherings in London..

 

R.I.P.

[RS2000]

It is a pity (and in this country at least a legal danger to the sport) when the cringe-making misuse/mixing of "racing" and "rallying" appears anywhere. It is particularly sad when it does in an Obit from a club concerning an obviously so well-regarded and respected member.

The "started racing... doing regularity rallies and sprints and hillclimbs" may well be an editing error by its author. All rallies have to a degree an element of "regularity" but it was not a term used in that period in the mainstream sport.

"He raced an Alfasud Ti in the RAC Rally in 1974 and 75". He was in the entry for those events. I checked my own original lists, but as a fellow competitor I didn't see him "race" there. I'm not sure what the "Tourists(sic) Trophy" was if it was not circuit racing.