Henry Velasco
Henry was born and raised in Bellflower, California. After graduating high school, he went on to work at Harold Miller’s engine rebuilding shop, where he learned to grind stock crankshafts. In 1959 he went to work at Reath Automotive in Long Beach, California. There he learned to make welded strokers for a number of drag racers running in Southern California at the time.
In 1971 he started Velasco Crankshaft Services in Downey, California building welded strokers and started manufacturing affordable billet crankshafts for racers. He has supplied crankshafts for over 30 years to racers, street rodders, and anybody else with the need to have a quality crankshaft for whatever type of automobile they were building.
Henry was a partner in tuner for a number of race cars through the years. Some of them included the Dounn, Merit & Velasco Race Team, and Zane Shubert’s The Good, Bad and Ugly Top Fuel Dragsters. He was also crew chief for John Force in the early 80s. Another noteworthy fact is that he has had a crankshaft on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.
Henry Velasco has been involved in drag racing for over 50 years. He is shown his love for the sport through his dedication, the people he’s been involved with, and through the manufacturing of his crankshafts which he is supplied to a large portion of the top professional drag racers and hobby racers over the years.