6/10/2022
Postman 68
Blog: Sapper
In his junior year of high school Ken Sapper and a friend got two-for-one tickets to the Riverside Raceway in California. After convincing his mom to allow him to go; he went – and was hooked.
Thursday Sapper was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Early in his desire to be in racing he met Frank Deiny, a winning racer and a welder who owned Speedway Engineering. Sapper was also a welder and in 1969 became the first employee of Speedway Engineering, a company he is President of today.
Quite simply, Speedway Engineering built winning cars and components; there were periods of time where nearly every track champion on the West Coast was wheeling a car with Speedway Engineering rear ends and/or a complete chassis. And it was not just West Coast racers.
Speedway Engineering cars and rear ends have been used in NASCAR, ARCA, and every other stock car series across the county. In fact, when Richard Petty won his final Championship (1979) it was in a Speedway Engineering built chassis.
And while engineering and building cars was a passion for Sapper, so was his desire to drive. In the mid-70s he started racing at nearby Saugus Speedway and became a three-time champion (consecutively) in the modified division from 1984 to 1086. When Saugus closed in 1995, he moved his racing to Orange Show Speedway in San Bernadino, where he claimed another championship.
In all, he had more than 60 wins between the two tracks. Sapper stopped driving in 2003; but has never wavered from his passion for racing.
In 1986 Deiny passed away and Sapper became President of Speedway Engineering, they continue to be a leading supplier of rear ends, hubs, axels, and sway bars.
The Sapper legacy continues in North Carolina as well, Kenny Sapper Jr. works for Joe Gibbs Racing in their suspension department.
The elder Sapper is humble in his business successes, “many great drivers, owners and crew chiefs have made our cars look good.”
As a driver he was passionate about winner, “you are either passing someone or in the way.”
And now the 73 years old from Glendale, California is a member of the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame.
-- Postman
Submitted By: Steve Post
