Greg Weld

4/3/1944 - 4/8/2008

Record updated 12-Apr-17

Greg Weld was one of the top sprint car drivers of the 1960s. He drove in the 1970 Indianapolis 500 and won the 1967 USAC National Sprint Car title.

Greg Weld
Richard Gregory “Greg” Weld was born in Kansas City. During his career as a driver he won over 100 sprint car races including the 1963 Knoxville Nationals, the premiere event in sprint car racing, and 21 features wins.

In 1965, when still only 21, he burst onto the USAC scene, almost winning the Sprint title in his first year. After leading the points race for a good portion of the season, he lost out in the final race to Johnny Rutherford.

He passed his rookie test at Indianapolis in 1965, but made his only “500” start in 1970 as teammate to the late Art Pollard driving a Grant King entry. His car lasted only 12 laps before retiring with piston failure.

Weld was the last person to drive a Novi at Indianapolis when he attempted to qualify for the race in 1966. However a brush with the wall on the final day put paid to his chances.

He won the 1967 USAC Sprint title and in 1969 he drove an experimental Plymouth-powered car to four straight poles at Springfield, Du Quoin, the Hoosier 100 and Sacramento.

Weld had already gone into business with his father in a small garage in 1967 with $2300 he’d saved from racing and the simple idea of making Sprint Car wheels that performed better. This was the beginning of Weld Wheels and as the business started taking more and more of his time, he decided to retire in 1974 with a fourth-place finish in the USAC Silver Crown series.

His final USAC sprint car appearance, came two nights before the 1974 Indianapolis 500, finishing runner-up to A.J. Foyt in a 50-mile sprint car race on the Indiana State Fairgrounds dirt track.

Weld raced in the USAC Championship Car series in the 1965-1972 seasons, with 36 career starts, finishing in the top ten 11 times, with his best finish in 4th at Sacramento in 1970.

1998 he was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame

He died unexpectedly in Kansas City, Mo. from undisclosed complications following a heart attack..

Greg was the last of the three racing Weld brothers to pass away. His brother Jerry died in 1970 and Kenny in 1997. All three brothers were great drivers in their own right, and Kenny was also an innovator in racing technology, introducing CNC machining for aluminum racing heads.



hr

<