Eastern Motorsport Press Association
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Picture

Kenny Weld



      Kenneth Eugene Weld November 4 1945 in Kansas City Mo. Into a Midget racing family. Weld began his racing career in 1961 at Riverside and Lakeside Speedways. First in Jalopy racing then he movd up to Sportsmen and then Super-Modifieds in 1962. By 1963, he was racing at every Mid-Western track in the area and making his presence known.
In 1964, at the age of 18 years old, Weld won the Knoxville Nationals. He and his brothers cleaned up where ever they raced in the ‘60’s at tracks all over the Mid-west and were known as “The Kansas City Mafia”.

      In 1970 Weld won 27 feature events and the Williams Grove championship in ‘Bud’ Grimm’s car. In 1974, Weld won 39 feature wins and a record fifth championship at Williams Grove.
In 1975, Weld left Sprint cars to race Modifieds. He built and raced big-block Modifieds and scored 16 wins driving for Weikert at Reading Speedway.

     In 1980, Weld built the infamous “Batmobile” for driver Gary Balough. The car was two seconds faster than any other car at the 150 Dirt Modifieds in Syracuse. Following the win, the rule book was rewritten to ban cars like that from being ever raced again.

     In 1988, after a crash at Buckeye Speedway in Ohio, he retired from racing and founded Weld Tech with his brother Greg and his daughter.

     Kenny Weld passed away on March 20 1997 after a two year battle with cancer .


      




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  • Home
  • History of the EMPA
    • History of the EMPA-The 1970's
    • History of the EMPA- 80's
    • History of the EMPA- The 1990's
    • History of the EMPA- The 2000's
    • History of the EMPA- The 2010's
    • History of the EMPA- The 2020's
  • EMPA Application
  • EMPA Hall of Fame A thru L
  • EMPA Hall of Fame M thru Z
  • Convention Sponsors
  • Convention Hotel Info & Room Reservations
  • Convention Photos
    • Convention Photos 2016
    • Convention Photos 2017
    • Convention Photos 2018
    • Convention Photos 2021
    • Convention Photos 2022
    • Video acceptance speeches from Jan 2022 convention
  • Convention Contest Rules
    • Pocono Raceway/EMPA Writer's Contest >
      • Pocono Raceway Writer's Contest Judges Comments by Year
    • Brice's Auto Parts Inc./NAPA Auto Parts EMPA Photographer's Contest
    • Dirt Track Digest.com./EMPA Video and Broadcast Contest Rules
  • Award Winners
    • EMPA National Driver of the Year
    • Junie Donlavey Spirit of the Sport award
    • Richie Evans North East Driver of the Year
    • Ace Lane Photographer of the Year
    • Jim Hunter Writer of the Year
    • Newsmaker of the Year award
    • John Blewett lll Young Gun award presented by New England Fuels
    • Jerry Reigel Outstanding Contribution to Sprint Car Racing award
    • Promotional Effort of the Year
    • Ernie & Marilyn Saxton Service Award
  • Newsletter Archives