Lee Roy Pettit (October 29, 1916 – July 31, 1994), known professionally as Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan, was a Western swing musician born in Gardena, California. He is best remembered for his hit single, "Hot Rod Race" on Capitol Records, which reached No. 7 on the Billboard country chart in February 1951.
He always claimed for legal purposes that he was born Jimmie Lee Dolan, and was born in 1924 in (at different times in his life) Texas, Oklahoma, or Wyoming, but The Encyclopedia of Country Music pegs his birth name as Lee Roy Petit, his year of birth as 1916 (which would make him one of the oldest contributors to 1950s rock & roll), and his place of birth as Gardenia, CA. The 1916 birth date might make more sense, in terms of his apparent desire, manifested at age 14 when he took up the guitar, to be a singing cowboy.He later worked at radio station KWK in St. Louis, MO, until he enlisted with the US Navy. Dolan prefers to be remembered for his contributions in entertaining troops in the Pacific Theatre, especially the Philippines during World War II. He reached the rank of Chief Petty Officer filling the function of a radioman. He returned from the war with a ready built fan base and his charisma soon had him in demand at dance halls throughout the west.
When he was discharged from the armed forces after the war, he decided to make Los Angeles, CA his home. While on the west coast, he played the various nightclubs with is band in Southern California. He hosted and played on numerous radio stations. In the early 50's he was a pioneer of television in the Seattle area where he was the general manager of its first television station as well as one of its stars. He had a television show for children as well as an adult variety show, for which he won the award for Best Western TV show of 1951.
Dolan's Capitol sides featured such top session players as Merle Travis and Charlie Aldridge on guitar, and were beautifully spare productions, with no pop music pretensions or other embellishments. What's more, the Capitol sessions showcased the singer/guitarist's limited but occasionally significant talent as a songwriter. He had to wait until 1950 for his first hit, a version of the Moon Mullican song "I'll Sail My Ship Alone," which featured lead guitarist Porky Freeman along with his usual sidemen Wade Ray on fiddle and Freddie Tavares playing steel guitar. He also had hits with tunes such as "It Had To Come Someday", "I'll Sail My Ship Alone", "Who's Kiddin' Who", "Hot Rod Race", and "I'll Make Believe".
Not much is known about Dolan's life during the 39 years that he lived after walking away from Capitol and the music business. Last time he was heard of was that he was employed as a second hand auto sales man in Los Angeles. During the late 1980s he was contacted by the former president of his fan club, recently widowed. They met again, both being free and lived happily together until his death in Riverside Co., California on July 31, 1994
(Compiled & edited from Wikipedia, hillbilly music.com & AllMusic)