Windy Windholz was born in Kansas in 1923, the youngest of 15 children. In 1943, he was drafted into the Army Air Corp. and was sent to Aviation Mechanic School. One of Windy’s World II assignments was to work on a top secret aircraft later to become known as the B-29 bomber.
Discharged in 1946, he came to Denver to find employment and a co-worker took him to the track in Brighton to see a hot rod race. That was all that was need to start Windy on the track to a long and successful race car owner career. By September 1946, he finished building his first race car, a 1930 Model A Roadster powered by a twin ignition, six cylinder Nash engine, known as the “Go Nash number 30.” Married in 1947, his wife Sandy would become a constant companion and supporter of his racing endeavors. When Englewood Speedway opened the same year Windy was there with his hot rod, one of his drivers was Don Codner, whose father, Charlie, would later buy the track.
Windholz ran hot rods until the late 1940s. He then partnered with Curt Stockwell and they would field Pikes Peak Hill Climb cars for 16 years as well as sprint cars until the mid-1960s. When Colorado National Speedway opened Windy decided to run late models on the dirt. Unable to get his favorite number 30 he decided to run number 101 on his car and that number along with the color purple became his signature. Windy’s cars appeared at opening races at Englewood Speedway, Century 21 Speedway, Raceland Speedway, Rocky Mountain National Speedway and Colorado National Speedway. He won championships in 1970, ’71 and ’72 at Colorado National Speedway and 2005 at Rocky Mountain National Speedway.
For over six decades, Windholz has fielded hot rods, Hill Climb cars, late models and modifieds. He was a founding member of the BCRA and a member of the RMMRA and CARC. Allen Batt, Paul Garrison, Ken Lowe and Eric Pfiff are just some of the talent to have driven his cars.
Windy passed away in 2010.