April 14, 2008; IMAGE First (828.612.4333)
WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Jerame Donley has yet to make his first NASCAR Whelen All-American Series start of 2008, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been busy. The 22-year old has been plenty busy, working for Hendrick Motorsports as an engineer in their engine dyno data acquisition program and working towards finishing his senior year at UNC-Charlotte where he will graduate this May with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree.
And his time at UNC-Charlotte has been well spent. For the second year in a row Jerame has been heavily involved in the Formula SAE International Design team at UNC-Charlotte (a voluntary two-semester project in which students provide all the design, analysis, fabrication, and ultimately, driving talent required to compete on the track in an open-wheel, formula-style race car). This year Jerame is serving in a major role as one of two team leaders on the UNC-Charlotte team.
Recently, Jerame’s team traveled to Virginia International Raceway to compete against 40 teams as a preliminary competition before the main competition in Detroit, Michigan. They were named "Rookie of the Year Team" at VIR and placed 16th overall. On May 17th they will travel to Michigan International Speedway to represent UNC-Charlotte for the second year in a row and compete against over 120 engineering college teams from around the world in the Formula SAE International Design Competition. Teams must justify design choices and present a detailed cost analysis to a panel of professional engineers from Ford, GM, Daimler-Chrysler, Sprint Cup teams, engineering industry personnel, and F-1 teams. And to top it off, Jerame will again try his hand at driving the formula style car when they travel to the competition as the car competes in several different events.
Even with work and school, Jerame still found time to race this past winter. Jerame was given the opportunity to drive for the UNC-Charlotte 49ers Legends car team at Lowes Motor Speedway in the Winter Shootout Series. Mechanical problems plagued Jerame’s run during the Shootout, but nonetheless Jerame truly enjoyed driving the Legends car for the UNC-Charlotte team (see link to some video from the event on this page).
Jerame hopes to kick off the 2008 race season on June 14th at Motor Mile Speedway, but the date is still tentative. In the mean time you can catch Donley Motorsports in action, as Jerame’s younger brother, Cory, is competing the entire season in the Limited Sportsman division at Motor Mile Speedway. The 2008 season marks Cory’s first full season in the Limited division since graduating from go-karts and the 600 Racing Bandolero’s.
Be sure to keep your eyes on the website as news and information will be made available as Jerame returns to the seat of his family owned #5 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car later this summer. Log onto www.jeramedonley.com for more news and information.
Video From Lowe's Winter Shootout/INEX Legends
