Franz Weis. Photo from www.motorsport.com

We recently talked with the racing legend Mario Andretti about his racing endeavors with Chevrolet. Andretti has a long and distinguished racing career, with many wins earned in bowtie powered race cars. Andretti has worked with many of the legends in automotive racing history, Mario Illien, Paul Morgan, Andy Granatelli, Smokey Yunick, Jim Hall and others. 

Having worked with all the greats engine builders, at a time when racing was operating at a frantic pace, we felt that Andretti would have some keen insight on who the greatest Chevy engine builder of all time would be. Pulling no punches, we asked: “Mario, who was the best Chevy engine man that you have ever worked with?” Without hesitation the great racer fired back a single name and it was one that we didn’t expect to hear. “Franz Weis,” he said.

We learned that Franz Weis was born in Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia in 1940. His father was killed in WWII which left young Frans to grow up fatherless. The Weis family was evicted from their land when the Czech’s seized their property and relocated the family to a German refugee camp outside of Stuttgart. Franz found work in the DKW dealership of Gerhard Mitter, a Porsche factory driver. It didn’t take Franz long to realize that he wanted to become a professional car mechanic.

Photo of the German connection at Jim Hall’s Chaparral Racing team. Photo from Pennsoil Press Kit.

Franz eventually emigrated to the United States in 1959 landing a job at a VW dealership in Dallas. Through a series of meetings, Weis ended up meeting and earning a job with Jim Hall of Chaparral racing fame. Weis eventually left Chaparral racing to form VDS racing where Hall joined forces with him again in the CART series. Weis performed a lot of engine building work with Ilmor on the Indy Car Chevy engines.

Weis’ work in engine building is well known in the Indy Car series and Formula One racing circles. Weis has an entire building and exhibit named after him at Midland College Advanced Technical Center, which is adjacent to the Automotive Technology Laboratory on campus.  The college describes the structure as, “an exhibit that depicts the life and works of Franz Weis, a master engine builder who resides in Midland. Between 1965 and 2001, Mr. Weis built engines for Indy-type racing cars that won 107 races, including cars driven by Jim Hall, Al Unser, Sr., Bobby Rahal, Emerson Fittipaldi, Arie Luyendyke, and Al Unser, Jr. Mr. Weis won the Vandevell Engine Builder of the Year award for 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990. The Franz Weis Industrial Technology Center is used for special high school and college automotive classes as well as industry training for automotive technology professionals.”

For additional information regarding the Franz Weis Industrial Technology Center, telephone (432) 681-6344.