Warren Weldon lost his battle with cancer aged 71.
Back in the late 1950’s Weldon was an aspiring cycling star but after reading about the exploits of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss, Weldon turned his attention to motor racing.
He borrowed a Morris Minor and did his first hillclimb in 1958, the first small steps into what would be a long career as one of Australia’s leading yet largely unheralded touring car racers.
Weldon was among the first to compete at tracks long since disused or closed like Warwick Farm and Catalina Park in the Blue Mountains.
He has the distinction of winning the first race at Oran Park and the last race there 48 years later when it closed, becoming a victim of Sydney’s urban sprawl.
Weldon won his class in the 1960 Australian Hillclimb championship before forging a decent career in touring cars.
“I had pole at Bathurst four times and my best result was winning Class D in 1964 and third in 1967,” Weldon told Speedcafe.com in an interview for our weekly Where Are They Now? (CLICK HERE) segment earlier this year.
Weldon then felt the financial squeeze and in the early 1970’s he moved away from touring (production) cars and went motorcycle racing – firstly in motocross and dirt track and then moving through the grades in road racing.
He ran in the prestigious Castrol Six Hour and had a best result of second in the Australian 250cc at Bathurst in 1978.
Weldon stopped motorcycle racing when he turned 40 and spent a period of track marshaling before getting back into competition cars again in a Dino Ferrari.
He would race Ferraris from the early 1990’s until 2006 during which time he won the Ferrari Club Driver’s Championship for 10 consecutive years.
Weldon, who passed away on Sunday, is survived by his wife Judy and children Anthony, Matthew and Joshua.
His funeral service will be held at St Philip’s Anglican Church, 402 Port Hacking Rd Sth, Caringbah on Thursday, August 30 commencing at 10am.
The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group.
