I just received word from a friend in Kansas City that Weld Wheels founder Greg Weld has died of a heart attack. As an owner/driver, Greg ruled the sprint car circuit in the 60's, drove at Indy for Andy Granitelli and was the first to manufacture wheels just for sprint cars. After retiring as a driver, he quickly grew Weldwheels into one of the largest custom wheel manufacturers.
I'm very sorry to hear that. More than one of my cars has run Welds over the years and I know Greg's driving skill was legendary. -Lee Atomic Radio www.atomicpinup.com
Bummer for sure......I have a set of Weld's on my Prostreet & my Father has a set on his wagon too. I haven't heard anything about it here in KC today. Carl
Some of the best sprint cars racing I ever saw was watching Greg Weld and Jan Opperman go side by side at Williams Grove and Selinsgrove. RIP greg
So sorry to hear that. Greg brought in the first set of Ultralites in the area into my store when I was one of Weld Wheels first dealers in Indiana. One fine gentleman. Go with God, my friend.
Greg set us up with some very special wheels for the Swamp Rat 33 Streamliner back in '88. He was way to young to leave this world.
I haven't seen it, but I heard that, while the KC Star ran an obit, apparently they didn't really document the legendary part like they should have.
... Kansas City auto racing figure Greg Weld dies By JIM PEDLEY The Kansas City Star One of Kansas Citys best known names in auto racing, Greg Weld, died of a heart attack Monday morning. He was 64. Weld was known as both a driver and a racing entrepreneur. As a driver, he was a successful competitor in the USAC series. In 1963, he won sprint-car racings big race, the Knoxville Nationals in Knoxville, Iowa. Weld was the 1967 USAC sprint-car championship. He also drove in the Indianapolis 500 in 1970, where he started 28th and finished 32nd. He was voted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, which is located in Knoxville. As a racing entrepreneur, he founded Weld Wheels in Kansas City. Welds wheels were considered by many as the best that automobile racers could buy. He also promoted local auto races, including the Jerry Weld Memorial, which attracted national-level drivers. <!----><SCRIPT> var comment_headline='Kansas City auto racing figure Greg Weld dies'.replace(/ /g, '%20');</SCRIPT>
Greg flipped his Sprint car in front of where I was seated years ago at the old "Heidelberg Speedway" near Pittsburgh during a side by side USAC race with Larry Dickson..it went higher than the fence and left the rearend hanging from the very top cable. he only suffered a broken thumb in the wreck but I was so impressed from the intense battle that night I wrote my 4th grade report that was due about him. I'm 46 now...lol him and his brother Kenny were great innovators and will be missed....RIP
Here's a great write-up on him by Robin Miller Remembering Greg Weld Written by: Robin Miller 08/05/2008 - 11:23 AM Indianapolis, Ind. Greg Weld may and Indy may have "never hit it off," but his dirt-track prowess was legendary. He was equal parts bad ass, good guy and savvy businessman. But its hard to think of Greg Weld without first visualizing his jaw-dropping prowess on a dirt track, throwing a sprinter or a champ car into the cushion just inches away from the guardrail with the throttle buried and the engine screaming. Weld, who died Monday of cancer at age 64, probably doesnt ring a bell with anyone under 50, because he quit driving in the early 1970s to concentrate on his wheel empire. Since he only qualified for one Indianapolis 500, he also wouldnt rank as a hero except for every guy who ever raced him or watched him perform in USAC from 1965-74. The mark of a real racer is how he was measured by his competition and Gregs former rivals still sound awestruck 40 years later. The guy was magic on dirt, said Bill Vukovich, who began his vaunted USAC career around the same time as Weld.. He was a damn good racer and plenty brave, said Gary Bettenhausen, four-time USAC champion. I admired him so much as a race driver its hard to express, said Billy Engelhart, who battled Weld in sprints and dirt cars. I feel he was one of the best dirt car drivers ever. Fresh from tearing up IMCA circuits, Weld came to USAC in 65 as a baby-faced 21-year-old with that cant miss tag. He captured the prestigious sprint title in 1967 and, by all rights, should have become a star at Indianapolis. But Greg never seemed as comfortable on pavement as he was dirt and he never drove anything remotely resembling top-line equipment. He crashed two cars in the final hour of time trials in 1966 including the last gasp of the Novi. Weld finally made the show in 1970 as Art Pollards teammate and recalled a few years ago: Me and Indy just didnt hit it off, but I was always glad I finally got in the show at least once. A winner 21 times in sprinters, Weld never had the good fortune to win a champ dirt car race despite his talent and breathtaking style. Nothing illustrates his ability to dazzle like 1969 when he captured four consecutive pole positions at Springfield, DuQuoin, Indianapolis and Sacramento. Weld's struggles with the obsolescent Novi at Indy in 1966 were typical of his less-than-stellar equipment at the Brickyard. Without question, his finest moment came at the Indiana State Fairgrounds mile in qualifying for the Hoosier Hundred in September of 1969. Longtime friend and former driver, Steve Long, who was working for Grant Kings team at the time, picks up the story. We drew last to qualify and thats usually never good because the track goes away, said Long. Greg came rolling a double diamond tire and told me to put it on the right rear. He asked me if I wanted to be a driver some day and I told him yes. So he said go down to the first turn and youll learn something. At that time, the Hoosier Hundred was the second most prestigious race in USAC as it paid a huge purse and drew the likes of Andretti, Foyt and the Unsers. By the time Greg went out to qualify, the track had deteriorated so badly that the previous 10 cars had missed the show. He saw his beloved cushion had almost vanished so the only choice dirt for him to grab with his right rear tire was about a foot from the guardrail. Hence, his tire selection. And everybody in the pits stopped to watch because they knew it was going to be spectacularly good or violent. I figured he was going out of the joint, said Bettenhausen. It was insane, said Vuky, shaking his head at the memory. On his first lap, Weld bicycled so violently in Turn 1 he nearly tipped over and you could see the bellypan of Kings car. Yet it was still the fourth-fastest lap of the day. On his second lap, Greg nailed it and sent a spectacular shower of dirt into the horse barns on his rim riding perfection. He came back into the pits with the pole position. Greg was so happy because hed seen Jud Larson do the same thing, and he always wanted to do it because I think Jud was his hero, said Long. Engelhart recalled the reaction at the drivers meeting. Someone was kidding Al Unser about getting beat for the pole and he said something about Greg using a double diamond tire. Then Mario spoke up and said, I dont care if he had a triple diamond, I dont think anybody in this room could have done that. When Greg walked into the meeting, all the drivers clapped. When USAC took the dirt cars out of the national championship in 1971, Weld Wheels was taking off and driving became less and less a priority for Greg, who finally quit in 1974 after running second to A.J. Foyt at the Fairgrounds in a sprinter. Of course, for all the great memories he left on the track there was nobody nicer off it. Case in point was 2005 when Don Brown passed away here in Indy. A master fabricator, Brown had built a car (the Mechanical Rabbit) in the early 60s that helped launch Welds career. To honor his fallen friend, Greg flew from Kansas City to spend four hours bench racing at Browns wake at the Speedway Motel. And, for many of us, that was every bit as impressive as that September day in 69 at the Fairgrounds.
<TABLE class=tborder id=post3016827 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=alt1 id=td_post_3016827 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid"><HR style="COLOR: #e5e5e5; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e5e5e5" SIZE=1> <!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->Here's a great write-up on him by Robin Miller Remembering Greg Weld Written by: Robin Miller 08/05/2008 - 11:23 AM Indianapolis, Ind. Greg Weld may and Indy may have "never hit it off," but his dirt-track prowess was legendary. He was equal parts bad ass, good guy and savvy businessman. But its hard to think of Greg Weld without first visualizing his jaw-dropping prowess on a dirt track, throwing a sprinter or a champ car into the cushion just inches away from the guardrail with the throttle buried and the engine screaming. Weld, who died Monday of cancer at age 64, probably doesnt ring a bell with anyone under 50, because he quit driving in the early 1970s to concentrate on his wheel empire. Since he only qualified for one Indianapolis 500, he also wouldnt rank as a hero except for every guy who ever raced him or watched him perform in USAC from 1965-74. The mark of a real racer is how he was measured by his competition and Gregs former rivals still sound awestruck 40 years later. The guy was magic on dirt, said Bill Vukovich, who began his vaunted USAC career around the same time as Weld.. He was a damn good racer and plenty brave, said Gary Bettenhausen, four-time USAC champion. I admired him so much as a race driver its hard to express, said Billy Engelhart, who battled Weld in sprints and dirt cars. I feel he was one of the best dirt car drivers ever. Fresh from tearing up IMCA circuits, Weld came to USAC in 65 as a baby-faced 21-year-old with that cant miss tag. He captured the prestigious sprint title in 1967 and, by all rights, should have become a star at Indianapolis. But Greg never seemed as comfortable on pavement as he was dirt and he never drove anything remotely resembling top-line equipment. He crashed two cars in the final hour of time trials in 1966 including the last gasp of the Novi. Weld finally made the show in 1970 as Art Pollards teammate and recalled a few years ago: Me and Indy just didnt hit it off, but I was always glad I finally got in the show at least once. A winner 21 times in sprinters, Weld never had the good fortune to win a champ dirt car race despite his talent and breathtaking style. Nothing illustrates his ability to dazzle like 1969 when he captured four consecutive pole positions at Springfield, DuQuoin, Indianapolis and Sacramento. Weld's struggles with the obsolescent Novi at Indy in 1966 were typical of his less-than-stellar equipment at the Brickyard. Without question, his finest moment came at the Indiana State Fairgrounds mile in qualifying for the Hoosier Hundred in September of 1969. Longtime friend and former driver, Steve Long, who was working for Grant Kings team at the time, picks up the story. We drew last to qualify and thats usually never good because the track goes away, said Long. Greg came rolling a double diamond tire and told me to put it on the right rear. He asked me if I wanted to be a driver some day and I told him yes. So he said go down to the first turn and youll learn something. At that time, the Hoosier Hundred was the second most prestigious race in USAC as it paid a huge purse and drew the likes of Andretti, Foyt and the Unsers. By the time Greg went out to qualify, the track had deteriorated so badly that the previous 10 cars had missed the show. He saw his beloved cushion had almost vanished so the only choice dirt for him to grab with his right rear tire was about a foot from the guardrail. Hence, his tire selection. And everybody in the pits stopped to watch because they knew it was going to be spectacularly good or violent. I figured he was going out of the joint, said Bettenhausen. It was insane, said Vuky, shaking his head at the memory. On his first lap, Weld bicycled so violently in Turn 1 he nearly tipped over and you could see the bellypan of Kings car. Yet it was still the fourth-fastest lap of the day. On his second lap, Greg nailed it and sent a spectacular shower of dirt into the horse barns on his rim riding perfection. He came back into the pits with the pole position. Greg was so happy because hed seen Jud Larson do the same thing, and he always wanted to do it because I think Jud was his hero, said Long. Engelhart recalled the reaction at the drivers meeting. Someone was kidding Al Unser about getting beat for the pole and he said something about Greg using a double diamond tire. Then Mario spoke up and said, I dont care if he had a triple diamond, I dont think anybody in this room could have done that. When Greg walked into the meeting, all the drivers clapped. When USAC took the dirt cars out of the national championship in 1971, Weld Wheels was taking off and driving became less and less a priority for Greg, who finally quit in 1974 after running second to A.J. Foyt at the Fairgrounds in a sprinter. Of course, for all the great memories he left on the track there was nobody nicer off it. Case in point was 2005 when Don Brown passed away here in Indy. A master fabricator, Brown had built a car (the Mechanical Rabbit) in the early 60s that helped launch Welds career. To honor his fallen friend, Greg flew from Kansas City to spend four hours bench racing at Browns wake at the Speedway Motel. And, for many of us, that was every bit as impressive as that September day in 69 at the Fairgrounds. <!-- / message --></TD></TR><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #e5e5e5 0px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #e5e5e5 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e5e5e5 1px solid"> </TD><TD class=alt1 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #e5e5e5 0px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #e5e5e5 0px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e5e5e5 1px solid" align=right><!-- controls --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
that sucks. never met greg weld, but partied with brock weld a few times, and did some electrical work at one of his warehouses here in california, before he sold the comany. great guy, heart goes out tothe weld family
I sold him paint some years ago for his Winston Cup wheels. He was a one of a kind nice guy. He will be missed here in KC. RIP Greg Don
Weld was out viewing the vintage midgets at Jungle Park (Indiana) with the rest of us--either last year or the year before, can't remember that far back. It's a select crew of fans who make the trek out to the former Jungle Park speedway every year. The public never finds their way out there. It's impossible to stumble in accidentally, and too remote to get any casual vistors. I thought it was class that he showed up. R.I.P.
The Jalopy Journal
