COAL CITY, Ill. — Former midget racer Danny “The Kid” Pens passed away July 30. Pens, a resident of Coal City, was 65.
Pens was a second-generation driver, whose dad, Henry, was a leading midget competitor in both United Auto Racing Association and United States Auto Club midgets. The elder Pens was found murdered outside of his Joliet auto body shop in 1971.
Danny Pens began his racing career with the World of Outlaw Midgets series in 1981, making his first competitive start at Joliet Memorial Stadium, the scene of many of his dad’s victories. Young Pens was named WOOM’s “rookie of the year” in 1981 after finishing ninth in the points standings and scoring his first feature win on July 11 at “The Stadium.”
Racing out of Joliet and credited with 68 feature wins during his career, Pens captured the WOOM midget championship in 1985. He was named the ARCA Gulf Coast Midget Series champion in 1987. Pens won the ARCA/World Wide Auto Racing crown in 1988 and then went on to win three consecutive United Midget Auto Racing Association championships – 1990 through 1992.
Pens was a two-time track champion at Joliet Memorial Stadium, where he scored three career feature wins. At Blue Island’s Raceway Park, he established the track’s all-time qualifying record of 11.314 seconds in 1987.
Pens made a number of USAC midget appearances, starting in 1987, and scored his lone USAC victory indoors at Chicagoland’s Rosemont Horizon in 1988.
Other victories for Pens included winning WOOM’s Bob Lockard Memorial race four times, the Illinois State Championship race in 1993 and a USAC Team USA win at Indiana’s Hoosier Dome. Some of his last racing occurred with the Illini Racing Series in 2017.
Joining his dad, Pens was elected to the Mazon Speed Bowl/Grundy County Speedway Hall of Fame in 2009.
