At age twenty-eight, Josh Weller will start his eleventh season of sprint car racing and he’s more excited about 2014 then any prior season.
“The Wild Child” from Mertztown, PA has firmly landed in the seat of the Eldreth Construction 360 sprint car, the 2013 Rislone URC Sprint Series championship winning ride owned by Kenny Eldreth. “We’re excited about the team and our goal is to go out and win races and hopefully, the championship will follow”. Weller added, “I really what to get Kenny back-to-back URC Owner titles”. Weller has been racing a long time, starting in quarter midgets in 1994, he earned the name, “The Wild Child” on his way to some eighty-six victories. He advanced into micro-sprints where he enjoyed success and in 2003, moved into the 360 sprint cars with URC. That year, Josh Wellers was URC’s Rookie of the Year.
Josh has six URC 360 sprint victories and his talent was further demonstrated by winning 360 sprint features with ASCS and the USCS sprint car racing series.
“The deal with Kenny Eldreth came to be fairly quick. We knew Kenny and well, he’s a good person with high integrity and honestly, I just want to win races for this guy”, commented Weller. Josh is a quiet, a rather reserve kind of guy, but when you get him talking about Kenny Eldreth and the coming Rislone URC Series, he begins turning more RPM’s then his 360 sprint car motor. With this energy and excitement, they very well will be the team to beat.
For Weller, this is also a lot about family. His wife (Tina) and daughter (Aubrey) are with him at all the races. His parents, Rick and Kim are a big part of the team as well. Josh’s dad Rick, the long-time chief mechanic for the team, will again be the set-up man for the Eldreth Construction KramerKraft #25 sprint car. Joining Eldreth Construction as team sponsors is Assured Automation, a New Jersey based business that handles automated valves and equipment.
The Rislone URC Sprint Series schedule holds twenty-five race dates with many show in Central Pennsylvania, at the race tracks all sprint car driver want to compete at. Williams Grove, Lincoln, Selinsgrove and Port Royal Speedway’s are all firmly planted in the URC schedule. A change for URC in the coming season is the move to an open draw verses handicapping off of points. “I’m all for the open draw and fans should expect this to mix up the racing action especially in the final stages of the race”, added Weller.
“My favorite track is Grandview, it’s a drivers’ race track and you can make or break your own night”. Weller continued to say, “You don’t always need the best equipment, but at Grandview, you need to have it running at the end of the race”.
Weller is known for his come from behind style. No matter how far back he starts, he somehow makes his way to the front by the end of race. In 2013, he earned the most hard charger bonus awards and one night, between the heat and the feature, he actually passed a total of forty cars. “We set our car up for the end of the race and let the track come to the car. As for the driver, I need to be strong the entire race, up on the wheel and you must just keep digging your way to the front, something I learned from racing the 410 sprints”, said Weller.
URC has several Super Series events on the schedule, facing off with some of the best sprint car drivers in Central Pennsylvania. “For the Super Series races, we have to step up our program, it’s tough and we need to be on our game and they need to be off”. Weller added, “the competition at these shows are guys like Robbie Stillwaggon, Davie Franek, Chuck Hebing, Pat Cannon, Mark Smith and Blane Heimbach.
So out of the gate, at the first green flag, the team of Weller and Eldreth plan to be a dominant force and they are very optimistic about 2014.
2014
RISLONE URC Sprint Series Schedule
Friday, April 11 Carolina Speedway/Gastonia, NC (NP)
Saturday, April 12 Lancaster Speedway/Lancaster, SC (NP)
Saturday, April 19 Selinsgrove Speedway
Friday, April 25 Big Diamond Raceway
Friday, May 2 Big Diamond Raceway (Rain Date)
Saturday, May 10 Selinsgrove Speedway Jack Gunn Memorial $3,500 To Win
Friday, May 16 Bedford Speedway
Saturday, May 17 Delaware International Speedway
Sunday, May 25 Grandview Speedway (2 Features)
Monday, May 26 Grandview Speedway (Rain Date)
Wednesday, June 4 Lincoln Speedway MACH 1 Super Series
Friday, June 6 Williams Grove Speedway MACH 1 Super Series
Friday, June 13 Potom ac Speedway
Saturday, June 14 Winchester VA Speedway
Friday, June 20 Bedford Sp eedway
Saturday, June 21 Grandview Speedway
Saturday, June 28 Selinsgrove Speedway
Saturday, July 26 Selinsgrove Speedway
Friday, August 1 Williams Grove Speedway Rislone Nationals $4,000 to win
Saturday, August 9 Selinsgrove The Kramer Cup
Friday, August 22 Williams Grove Speedway
Saturday, August 23 Port Royal Speedway
Saturday, August30 Delaware International Speedway
Saturday, September 27 Selinsgrove MACH 1 $8,000 to Win
Friday, October 3 Carolina Speedway/Gastonia, NC
Saturday, October 4 Cherokee Speedway/Gaffney, SC
Saturday, October 18 Grandview Speedway Feature Only
For more information, please visit our website at: www.urcsprints.com
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