Michael Munley Motorsports

12/09/2023

12/09/2023

Post-Season Holiday Down Under

After a 17.5-hour direct flight from Houston my family and I spent a wonderful post season break and Thanksgiving holiday in Sydney, New South Wales and Adelaide, South Australia, a trip that took me to my seventh, and final, continent. While in Sydney I was fortunate to be able climb to the top of the Sydney Bridge, tour the Opera House and explore the Blue Mountains. In addition, we enjoyed “The Rocks,” watched the Abu Dhabi F1 race from a rowdy Sydney bar, dip our toes in the water at the Bondi Beach, and walk with the kangaroos and koalas. Australia is just BEAUTIFUL, and the people are some of the kindest we’ve ever met. After our week in Sydney, we flew south to Adelaide where we attended four days of racing at the famous Adelaide street circuit, the feature races being the Vailo Adelaide 500 with Australian Supercars. (For four days, 8 am until 4 pm, something was scheduled on the circuit so there was plenty to do.) While there I had the good fortune of being able to meet James White, race car builder, fabricator and tire specialist for the #99 Erebus Racing car of Australian Supercars Champion Brodie Kostecki. James rolled out the red carpet and gave us a close-up view of the workings of the Erebus team and the #99 Supercar. I can never thank him enough for welcoming us, especially when the team was orchestrating the last two races of the season and vying for the championship. I will forever treasure the #99 team gear and Kostecki autographed lug James gifted me.

James also introduced us to Jobe Stewart, a seriously talented Australian S3 Supercars driver (Jobe Stewart Racing), and his parents, Marcus and Kym. Although we had just met, the Stewarts treated us like family, outfitted us in SJR gear and gave us a front row seat to watch Jobe win the 2023 S3 Supercars championship. They were so kind. We are blessed to have met such a great family and will be watching Jobe as he moves up in to the S2 Supercar ranks. It’s true the racing family is found all over the world.

After leaving Adelaide I flew to Nashville and attended the 2023 NASCAR Awards festivities/banquet. Needless to say I had a great time celebrating our NASCAR champions with many other officials, NASCAR personnel and race team friends.

My Sydney, Adelaide and Nashville adventure is one I won’t soon forget, but I’m sure glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed until the 2024 season starts in just 57 days. I have so much to be thankful for, to include my health, a great family, great friends and the experiences I’ve been afforded. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year and I look forward to seeing you around the track.

09/14/2023

Life is good. A great day for a race at Bristol. Hope everyone is doing well. Stay safe and stay healthy.

06/13/2023

Sorry I haven’t posted lately, Just living the dream as a NASCAR official.

11/24/2022

Rest In Peace Grandma
Sadly said goodbye to my Grandmother, Marie Linkiewicz, this week. Although she only got to one of my race weekends she was always there in spirit. May she rest in peace and have a wonderful reunion in heaven with my Grandfather and Uncle Jack. Thankful that God gave her 92 years. We love you, Grandma.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/citizensvoice/name/marie-linkiewicz-obituary?id=37975437

06/27/2022

DREAMS COME TRUE
Set goals, work hard and dreams really DO come true! This is Michael’s new place of employment in Concord, NC, where he is beyond excited to be working on the NASCAR Xfinity technical staff beginning today. Judy and I are so proud of the young man Michael has become and we thank God, as well as all of you, who have helped nurture him along the way, especially Francois Duret, Michael’s racing mentor. Without Francois’ encouragement this adventure and passion for racing would never have started.

05/17/2022

Congratulations to our son Michael Munley on his graduation from the William States Lee College of Engineering, University of North Carolina Charlotte. We are extremely proud of Michael and his many accomplishments, admire his perseverance and are thankful for the amazing man he's become. Also, thanks to Michael's Godparents, Casey and Lisa Forrester (VA) and long time Air Force friends Bob and Nancy Chastain Frazier (DE) for taking the time and going through the trouble and expense to be with us as we celebrated this major milestone.

09/10/2021

Truly Blessed!
Michael’s first day of internship with Stewart-Haas Racing is in the books. Michael couldn’t be more excited, thankful, or happier to be working with Rex Stump and his people in design and testing as a paid Test Team Engineering Intern. He is absolutely honored to be working with this first-class organization. He signed the NDA; his lips are sealed. Michael is looking forward to learning more and the chance to put what he knows about racing and engineering to helping SHR continue to succeed. He also wants to thank both Johnny Davis at JD Motorsports with Gary Keller and Steve Little at AllStar Motorsports for giving him amazing hands-on shop/track experience. Also, none of this would be possible without the big bore experience/championship Hoyt Overbagh allowed him to get racing his GTA car at so many incredible road courses. And finally, Francois Duret, Michael’s first mentor, who recognized Michael’s talent and ignited his passion for racing.

08/09/2021

Loss of a Mentor
The Munley family would like to express our deepest sympathies to Megan Duret. Megan's dad, Francois Duret, the former Lemans 24 race car driver, owner of AllSports Grand Prix in Sterling, VA, and Michael's racing mentor, passed away in late June, just a few days after we had last spoken. Francois had an amazing influence on Michael and so many other young drivers who frequented his facility. He treated Michael like his son, gave him his first job starting on his 14th birthday, trusted Michael to teach his Kid's Race School, and allowed Michael to use his equipment to tutor young drivers until his facility closed in 2016. He was part of our family. We loved him dearly and will never forget what he's done for us. Rest in peace, Francois.

08/09/2021

A Tough Weekend and Debut For Michael at Watkins Glen

First of all, Michael is disappointed but okay. We really appreciate all the love and support shown him/us as we approached his Xfinity debut, during the race, and after. Needless to say Michael’s debut did not go as we had hoped, and prayed, it would.
Even if you watched the race, you might not have realized that Michael did not take the green flag with the rest of the field. Unfortunately, immediately after engine start the team realized they had radio problems, so Michael went directly to his pit. After resolving the radio issue Michael’s window net would not lock into place. It took a long time to get the net secured forcing Michael to start the race from the pits almost one lap down. Nevertheless, after such a troubled start Michael, determined as he always is, put his head down and pressed on with the race plan. He felt out the track and car for the next two laps and then tried to catch up to stay ahead of the pack until the competition caution occurred. In trying to do so Michael, admittedly, made a rookie mistake of trying to push too hard. As Dale Earnhardt Jr said on TV, he overcooked the entry of the bus stop, got the car out of shape causing the car to become unloaded and into the tire barrier. After getting the car out of the barrier and back to pit lane Michael refused to quit. After some major bodywork temporary repairs Michael was in the race again, albeit 4 laps down. He worked his way back to only one lap down even though the crash took its toll on both the car’s handling and the braking system. About halfway through the race Michael felt the car’s rear suspension starting to fail and headed to the pits for a quick check, repair, and adjustment. A temporary fix and adjustment allowed him to get back on the track. Sadly, with 4 laps to go in the race and 2 laps down the rear suspension finally broke for good as Michael was going through the S’s ending his day on the track.
Although Michael finished 6 laps down in 35th place (out of 40) he and his team learned a lot this weekend. What everyone should take from this unfortunate experience is that Michael DOES NOT quit even under the extreme adversity. He drove his severely ill handling racecar to the best of his ability until it couldn’t be driven anymore. We are extremely proud of him and his tenacity and we hope you are too. The Munleys are firm believers that those who bounce back from adversity are stronger for it. Michael, although he is disappointed in himself right now, is resilient and he WILL bounce back.
So many of you have asked, “what’s next?”. As you know raising the funds for this debut race was extremely challenging. So, in order to move forward Michael needs to find sponsors so he can concentrate on racing the 7 Xfinity road course races in 2022. If you know of anyone looking for an opportunity to promote their product/service at the national level please have them contact Michael. Needless to say we are going to be searching for sponsors too. Thank you again for your thoughts, prayers, and friendship as Michael enters his senior year at UNCC later this month. Please help us keep his dream alive. In the meantime, stay safe, healthy, and happy.

08/03/2021

Michael Munley Watkins Glen Bound
Well it looks like the word is out, Michael will be racing the #6 Chevrolet Camaro for JD Mortorsports with Gary Keller on Saturday 7 Aug. The race will be televised on CNBC starting at 3:30. We would like to thank everyone who has supported Michael through the last 14 years to get him to this point in his career.