Joey Saldana (born March 14, 1972), known as the "Brownsburg Bullet", is an American

sprint car racing Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New ...

driver. He is the son of former sprint car and Indy car driver

Joe Saldana Joe Saldana (born November 14, 1944) is an American former open-wheel racing driver. Racing career He moved to Lincoln, Nebraska at an early age where he grew up and started his auto racing career. Joe's uncle, Orville Hoffman, along with Buck ...

. Saldana began racing at the local Indiana tracks close to his home in the early 1990s. He then moved up to the

All Star Circuit of Champions The All Star Circuit of Champions (abbreviated ASCoC), officially known as the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 for naming rights reasons, is an American motorsports sanctioning body of winged sprint car racing founded in ...

, where he won 18 races in 1995. He ran occasionally with the

World of Outlaws The World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American motorsports sanctioning body. The body sanctions two major national touring series. It is best known for sanctioning the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Late ...

winning his first race with the series in 1995 and then began touring full-time with the series in 1996 capturing Rookie of the Year honors. He finished third in points in 2003 and 2006 and second in 2007. He won 20 races (one of only six racers to do so in a season) in 2009 on his way to third in points for

Kasey Kahne Kasey Kenneth Kahne (; born April 10, 1980) is an American dirt track racing driver and former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, driving the No. 95 Dumont Jets/Procore, Procore ...

's race team. He finished fourth in points in 2010 with 13 wins driving for the same team. He was contending for the 2011 title when he broke his arm, ribs and punctured a lung at the King's Royal race in July which caused him to be out for nine weeks. He parted ways with Kasey Kahne Racing at the end of the 2012 season and teamed up with Dan and Ruth Motter of the famed yellow Motter Motorsports Sprint Car Team from 2013 - 2015. The Motter family due to lack of sponsorship scaled back their racing schedule leaving Joey looking for a ride the following year. Joey took the checkered flag for 11 WoO races and 1 All Star race, and a series best 48 Top-Qualifier awards in his three years in the seat of the Motter Motorsports entry from 2013 - 2015. Joey wrapped up his three year run with Motter Motorsports by notching his 100th career WoO win at Charlotte, NC on November 8, 2015. Joey moved back to a previous seat (1996, 2001) for the 2016 season in the Roth Motorsports #83 team owned by Dennis and Teresa Roth. Even with numerous crew changes, Joey was able to pilot the famed maroon-colored Roth #83 to 5 WoO wins, 62 Top 10 finishes, and a 5th-place finish in WoO season points. For 2017 Joey has joined forces with Stenhouse Jr/Wood Racing. This team is made up of Matt Wood Racing and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. https://www.facebook.com/SJWRacing/ In late June 2017 Joey left the team and raced with the Indy Race Parts #71 with great success winning several ASCoC races. For 2018 Joey has signed on with Kevin Rudeen Racing out of Monroe, WA. They will run a pick and choose schedule of WoO and other races to fill out his true outlaw schedule. Joey has finished second in the

Knoxville Nationals The NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals is an annual sprint car event held at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa. An Associated Press writer called winning the event "sprint car racing’s premiere title". It is nicknamed "The Granddaddy of Th ...

three times. Joey has won prestigious events such as the Devil's Bowl Speedway Winter and Summer Nationals, Silver Dollar Speedway's Gold Cup,

Eldora Speedway Eldora Speedway (nicknamed "The Big E", "Auto Racing's Showcase Since 1954," and "The World's Greatest Dirt Track") is a high-banked clay dirt oval. Located north of Rossburg, Ohio in the village of New Weston, Ohio, it features permanent and ...

's 4 Crown Sprint Nationals, and I-55 Speedway's inaugural Iron Man 55 which is the longest race on the season. His father Joe Saldana won the esteemed

race in 1970. Joey has distinguished himself as one of the greatest sprint car drivers of his generation. The future Sprint Car Hall of Famer grew up watching his dad race. Saldana claims his dad

Doug Wolfgang Doug Wolfgang (born July 26, 1952 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota) is a retired American racing driver. He holds 140 World of Outlaws sprint car series wins (fifth all-time), 37 All Star Circuit of Champions wins, and is a five-time Knoxville Nationa ...

, and Lee Osborne as his racing heroes and mentors. Joey is one of only five drivers to ever win 20 features in a World of Outlaws season. He accomplished this remarkable feat in 2009. During the mid-late 1990s, Saldana also raced in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the World Series Sprintcars, racing for popular

South Australian South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

based former driver Bill Barrows. Racing the Barrows owned OTR (for Oval Track Racing, an Australian designed and built chassis), Joey finished second in the 1995/96 World Series Sprintcars behind multiple Australian Sprintcar Champion Brooke Tatnell. In 2020 Saldana started up Saldana Racing Oil Tanks. His business model builds dry sump oil tanks and overflow catch cans for race engines. Primarily focusing on sprint car and midgets. On Dec 16, 2022, it was announced Saldana was elected on his ballot into the 2023 class of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. He is married to Shannon, and has two sons: Reece & Ragan.

World of Outlaws career

105 Total A-Main Wins: 7th All-time as of September 17, 2016

All Star Circuit of Champions career

Joey has posted 74 ASCoC career wins for 3rd place of All-time

References

External links

Official Website

World of Outlaws Sprint Cars Series

All Star Circuit of Champions

The Driver's Project

Rudeen Racing

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saldana, Joey 1972 births Living people People from Brownsburg, Indiana World of Outlaws drivers Racing drivers from Indiana