During his 57 years of dedicated service to his family’s 62-year-old performance racing business, Weney filled many roles, including chassis builder, fabricator, welder and commercial division project manager.
According to S&W, Gary began selling race car components at 12-years-old and was fabricating race car chassis by the time he was 16. He went on to build numerous championship-winning professional drag racing cars, including altereds, funny cars and pro stocks, but also built tractor pullers, monster trucks, jet cars, rocket cars and custom vehicles.
“During the 1970’s funny car low-rider wars, I built the lowest FC of all time. Its moniker was Quickie Two and it measured only 40-inches tall,” said Weney. “We were always pushing the limits to gain a competitive edge.”
Some of Weney’s favorites include the Frantic Ford and Bob Newberry funny cars, as well as the Sparkling Burgundy and Jade Grenade top fuel dragsters, he said. Several of his cars are currently on display at the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing and at the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing.
In the mid-2000s, Weney was appointed to lead the new S&W Precision Specialties commercial division and shifted his focus from race car fabrication to project management of S&W’s full-service machine shop and water jet services, the company said. In 2019, he stepped away from this role to assist with overall business operations.
“Being the eldest of four children, Gary started building race cars with our father, Walt, first. He witnessed every phase of growth our family business experienced and was also directly responsible for a portion of it,” said S&W President, Terri (Weney) Gdowik. “He’ll be greatly missed and it certainly won’t be the same without him.”
