Toledo Speedway

TOLEDO OH (11-3-08)--Congratulations to Bob Gillelan, who was inducted into the Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday. William Robert Gillelan III was born May 1, 1928 in Carlisle, Penn. His father moved their family to the Detroit area where Bob began his long, successful Michigan motor sports racing career as a driver, engine builder and manufacturer.

In the 1950s, "Bill" Gillelan spread his racing roots hurling his No. 299 modified around Michigan's Motor City Speedway while competing in Michigan Modified Stock Racing Association events. His success as a driver was admittedly limited because he "crashed too much." His MCS payout stubs show race winnings ranging from $20 to $200 during this time. Another stub records a $29 payout to win the pursuit and finish seventh in a 1955 NASCAR Daytona Beach feature event.

While working at Moldex Tool Co. in Dearborn Heights, Mich., Gillelan emerged as a premier high performance engine builder. He put himself on the racing map with a prototype 500 horsepower 4-cam Chrysler engine that landed on the cover of Motor Trend magazine in August, 1957. At the time, Chrysler had just increased their 300C HEMI engine to 392 c.i.d. and 375 horsepower.

Gillelan's racing involvement made him aware of needed crankshaft technology improvements. As a result the first Moldex billet crankshaft was manufactured in 1962. He became proprietor in 1965 and transformed Moldex Tool Co., alternatively known as "Dearborn Crankshaft," into a nationally renowned crankshaft producer. Moldex cranks are consistently in the winning cars of major racing events and customers include many of the ‘who's who' in racing as well as racing's ‘little guy'.

In the mid-1960s, Gillelan teamed up with Joy Fair to run a light blue Ford Falcon Lat Model. Subsequently, with Gillelan building engines, Fair driving, and Russell Wainscott chipping in, they became the team to beat. The Dearborn Crankshaft school bus yellow cars, flying the No. 1 cartooned with Gillelan chiseling out a crankshaft, were nearly unbeatable. They won numerous ARCA season championships on their home tracks of Flat Rock and Toledo Speedways during the 1960s and 1970s. They succeeded with a diverse suite of cars, running the usual Fords and Chevrolets, but uniquely others such as a Cavalier, an Oldsmobile and a Maverick. Over 30 years of dominance led ARCA to retire their famed No. 1 from competition in 1999.

In 2008 Gillelan celebrates his 80^th birthday. He currently lives in Dearborn Heights, Mich., with wife Nancy and has a daughter, Linda. He soldiers on with Moldex Tool, turning out world-class crankshafts now for over 45 years. His passion for racing, quick wit and hard work ethic have led to significant contributions in Michigan motor sports for well over 50 years now, as a driver, an engine builder and an manufacturer.