CHARLOTTE — Longtime SPEED SPORT writer and columnist Keith Waltz died on Sept. 27 after a brief illness. Waltz was 65 years old.
A native of Columbus, Ind., and a graduate of Ball State University, Waltz began his career in the motorsports industry in 1983.
At the young age of 22, Waltz was hired by legendary motorsports reporter Chris Economaki to join the National Speed Sport News staff in Ridgewood, N.J.
Waltz became Associate Editor of the famed motorsports publication. He was honored with the Frank Blunk Award for outstanding journalistic coverage of motorsports by the Eastern Motorsports Press Ass’n in 1993.
Waltz left his post with National Speed Sport News at the end of 1993 and moved to North Carolina for a position with Cotter Communications, where he worked with Hall of Fame NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip.
In May of 2000, Waltz joined the communications team at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he was a key component in the publicity efforts of the state-of-the-art speedway and its adjacent dirt track, while working under Hall of Fame promoter H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler.
Waltz opted to go the freelance route in 2018, returning to the SPEED SPORT fold as a columnist and copy editor, while also taking on similar work for NASCAR Pole Position Magazine.
This past January, Waltz was honored again by the EMPA when he received the Jim Hunter Memorial Award as writer of the year. He wrote his final SPEED SPORT column shortly after that.
Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2021, Waltz met the challenges it presented head on.
In addition to his passion for motorsports, Waltz was a dedicated basketball fan and owned season tickets to basketball for the University of North Carolina At Charlotte for more than two decades.
Waltz’s parents, Russell and Gretchen Waltz, preceded him in death.
