Researching David Mckay

McKay was born in Ogden, Utah, the oldest son of future LDS Church apostle and church president, David O. McKay. David Lawrence McKay became the second assistant to George R. Hill, the general superintendent of the Deseret Sunday School Union in 1949. In 1952, he became Hill's first assistant, where he served until 1966 when succeeded Hill as general superintendent. McKay was released in 1971 and was succeeded by Russell M. Nelson.

In the late 1960s, when his father was president of the LDS Church and ill, McKay often read his father's sermons in general conference. He also served as a mission president in the church's Eastern States Mission, based in New York City. While in this capacity he represented the church at a hearing on a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade, expressing the church's support for the amendment.

McKay died in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the age of 92. He was married to Mildred Dean Calderwood.

While most well known as a journalist, specifically as a motoring writer, McKay was also a prominent figure in motor racing as both a driver and a race team owner. That team, Scuderia Veloce, was the first Australian-based professional racing team, and in addition to furthering McKay's own racing career also furthered the careers of many young racing drivers including Spencer Martin, Brian Muir and Greg Cusack amongst others.

One of McKay's first forays into competitive motorsport was following the purchase of the ex-Dick Cobden MG TC, known as The Red Cigar. The single-seat, aluminum-bodied racer with Maserati style lines quickly propelled McKay to on track success finishing as the highest placed MG in the 1952 Australian Grand Prix at Bathurst along with solid wins and placings at events in Gnoo Blas, Nowra and Mount Druitt across the season of 1953.

In 1958 McKay won the Australian Tourist Trophy at Bathurst in an Aston Martin DB3S. Then in 1960 McKay achieved the most memorable victory in his career, winning the inaugural Australian Touring Car Championship at the Gnoo Blas circuit in Orange driving a Jaguar Mark 1. A post-race penalty which was later proven an incorrect judgement for a jump start meant McKay was cheated of victory when he won the 1961 Australian Grand Prix at Mallala in South Australia (he was placed 3rd due to the penalty), only 4 seconds behind Lex Davison and Bib Stillwell. McKay had the right to protest and have his name added to the list of Australian Grand Prix winners when it was found later that day that he had not committed a jump start after all. McKay's background was so deeply ingrained that the act of protesting was unthinkable. McKay drove a Cooper T51-Climax FPF in the Grand Prix.

Despite continuing to race various cars from open wheelers to sports cars and Production Touring Cars until his last race, the 1979 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 in a standard Volvo 242 GT with Spencer Martin where they finished 20th, McKay never again contested the ATCC as a driver following his win in 1960.

McKay was also responsible for the first ever factory backed Holden team in 1968 when he formed the Holden Dealer Racing Team. The team ran 3 brand new Holden Monaro GTS 327's in the 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500 at Mount Panorama, Bathurst. Jim Palmer and Phil West finished 2nd outright behind the winning Monaro of Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland. Brian Muir and 1964 winner George Reynolds finished 5th while the Paul Hawkins / Bill Brown car was disqualified.

McKay also organised a separate team of Holden Monaros to contest the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon. The cars were prepared by Holden, entered under the "Sydney Telegraph" name, and sponsored by the Daily Telegraph, a Sydney newspaper for which McKay was a motoring writer. McKay himself drove the lead car with Sydney's Barry Ferguson the lead driver in the team's second car while three time Australian Grand Prix winner Doug Whiteford was drafted in to drive the third Monaro. McKay failed to finish, Ferguson finished 12th while Whiteford finished 14th.

McKay's career as a writer began in 1949 and he worked for the Sir Frank Packer owned newspapers The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph from 1956 to 1975, first as a writer and later as the motoring editor. It was while working for Packer that McKay convinced him to co-sponsor the London-Sydney Marathon, as well as the Monaros McKay would run in the rally.

McKay died of cancer on 26 December 2004. He was 83.

McKay was born in Midland, Texas in 1986. Prior to his attempted protest of the 2008 Republican National Convention, McKay was not an active protester.

In 2008, McKay and several friends constructed several improvised shields and planned to travel to the convention and use them to block traffic, shield themselves from tear gas and bean bag guns, and in general to disrupt the convention. After they traveled to Minneapolis for the gathering, their shields were seized by police from a U-Haul trailer. FBI informant Brandon Darby and the group of 8 protestors, including Bradley Crowder then constructed several firebombs, which McKay alleged was entrapment by Darby. The house where they were staying was raided, the bombs seized, and the group arrested. Darby publicly revealed his role as an informant and testified against the protestors.

Crowder entered a plea deal of two years.

McKay went to trial. McKay got a hung jury of split 6-6, and was released pending retrial.The day before retrial, McKay tried to take a plea deal of two years imprisonment, where he also had to reverse his original statement that he had been "entrapped" by Brandon Darby. However, on May 21, 2009, U.S. Chief Judge Michael J. Davis sentenced McKay to four years in prison, citing an "obstruction of justice" sentencing enhancement and that McKay had not fully accepted responsibility for his own actions.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons manifest, McKay was released from prison on 04-06-12.

McKay was born in Thurso, Scotland. His family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in 1850. The family sailed for the United States in 1856, intending to go to Utah Territory. However, due to financial difficulties, they stayed in New York working to earn money for rail passage for two years and then worked an additional year in Iowa to earn enough money to head to Utah.

At first they settled in Ogden, Utah, but McKay later took up farming in Huntsville, Utah. He married Jennette Evans, an immigrant from Wales. They were married in the Endowment House on April 9, 1867, with the marriage performed by Wilford Woodruff. From 1881 to 1883, McKay served a mission for the LDS Church in the British Isles. McKay later served as bishop of the Huntsville Ward.

McKay served three terms in the Utah State Senate. He was also a member of the Utah Militia. He was a member of the Weber Stake Academy (the predecessor of Weber State University) Board of Education from its founding in 1888 until 1908. He was a moving force behind several canal companies as well as the Huntsville Cooperative Mercantile Exchange and the Ogden Valley Creamery Company.