IT STARTS WITH MOTORSPORTS
"Dad bought a '66 corvette when I was 14. It was a barn find and we restored the car in Danny Yonda, one of the founders of the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix's, basement. It was full of hay when we got it and we borrowed a trailer to drag over to Danny's place. Danny was a body guy and we worked on it ever night for a year. In the meantime, Dad went to SCCA driving school at Nelson ledges and I was his crew when the car was ready to race".
"Around age 15 we where racing the Corvette at Summit Point and I met Bruce Malinson of Pittsburgh Power. Bruce was pitted next to our Corvette. We had a problem with our master cylinder so I replaced it while the guys were at drivers meeting. Bruce noticed & after I graduated from High School I called Bruce for a job at Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh and started working there in the Fall of 1984." ~ John Walko
"Around age 15 we where racing the Corvette at Summit Point and I met Bruce Malinson of Pittsburgh Power. Bruce was pitted next to our Corvette. We had a problem with our master cylinder so I replaced it while the guys were at drivers meeting. Bruce noticed & after I graduated from High School I called Bruce for a job at Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh and started working there in the Fall of 1984." ~ John Walko
Diesel Fuel Injection & Racing
John worked at Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh doing fabrication and eventually all the 'special projects'. He built a twin turbo system and became the road service engineer until 1986. Meanwhile, John was still working on race cars. He worked on Charlie Hammerschmidt's Corvette and ran cars at Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, Nelson ledges and Summit point. while still a teenager.
The Vacuum Trucks
In 1988, as a result of a local contractor do excavation work for utilities, John and his Dad designed and built their first vacuum truck. The Vacuum truck loosened soil with air for for underground utilities . Part of the design on the Vacuum truck was the design of a vacuum separator that became the basis of Dorothy ERGZ Diesel soot separator except for the torus. It was also the first patent that John got on the separator system. It could separate it dry. John sized a power unit, and everything to make it work, from Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh and a local Isuzu dealer.
Skiing and Racing
John moved to Colorado in 1989 and after working for much of his teenage years and and took a few years to ski and enjoy life. In 1992, Corvette was named Marque of the Year at The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix and the Corvette that he and his dad had restored years earlier needed some freshening up for an exhibition race. John ran Corvette, made some changes to the set up, and ended up winning a national autocross event.
He officially had the racing bug.
John worked at Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh doing fabrication and eventually all the 'special projects'. He built a twin turbo system and became the road service engineer until 1986. Meanwhile, John was still working on race cars. He worked on Charlie Hammerschmidt's Corvette and ran cars at Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, Nelson ledges and Summit point. while still a teenager.
The Vacuum Trucks
In 1988, as a result of a local contractor do excavation work for utilities, John and his Dad designed and built their first vacuum truck. The Vacuum truck loosened soil with air for for underground utilities . Part of the design on the Vacuum truck was the design of a vacuum separator that became the basis of Dorothy ERGZ Diesel soot separator except for the torus. It was also the first patent that John got on the separator system. It could separate it dry. John sized a power unit, and everything to make it work, from Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh and a local Isuzu dealer.
Skiing and Racing
John moved to Colorado in 1989 and after working for much of his teenage years and and took a few years to ski and enjoy life. In 1992, Corvette was named Marque of the Year at The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix and the Corvette that he and his dad had restored years earlier needed some freshening up for an exhibition race. John ran Corvette, made some changes to the set up, and ended up winning a national autocross event.
He officially had the racing bug.
The Birth of JWR - John Walko Racing
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John Walko started driving in SCCA Club Formula Ford and in 1995 won the Season championship starting from last on the grid. In 1997 Swift People started coming to him for set up. John rented some space and started JWR: John Walko Racing in April 1997. Starting in 1999, John became a crew chief and engineer in SCCA Formula Ford, Formula Continental, Formula Ford Zetec Championship, Star Mazda, and the F2000 Championship Series, as well as within the variety of vintage series in the east. He won the SCCA Formula Atlantic National Championship with young man named Graham Rahal driving for him. Overall, his drivers have amassed wins and podiums by the dozens. |
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- 1999 US F2000 ACC Champion with 5 class wins with Guy Cosmo; Runner-up at SCCA Valvoline Runoffs
- 2000 Chris Winkler, who designed the fuel and exhaust system for VIper, had John engineer his Formula Ford Van Deimen, and won the national championship.
- 2000 - US F2000 ACC Champion with 6 class wins (Tom Dyer, factory Carbir program); SCCA FF National Champion (Chris Winkler)
- 2001 Dan Andersen, who owned the F2000 series had John prepare his son Mike Andersen's car. Mike won the runoffs in 2001 and 2003 with John.
- 2001 - 2 poles, 2 seconds, 1 third, 4 top-5s, 5 top-10s in US F2000 National Championship with drivers Paul Dana and Tom Dyer, through AIM Autosport; plus Mike Andersen at Watkins Glen.
- 2002 1 win, 11 top-5s, 16 top-10s in FF2000 Zetec Championship with drivers Tom Dyer, Josh Schreiber, Mike Andersen, Joel Nelson and Doug Prendeville
- 2003 saw the creation of Andersen Walko Racing. Ran cars in 3 different series. 10 cars on the team. The Team had Two Semi's for transport and the team was growing.
- John was chosen as "Engineer of the Year" for 2003 in the FF2000 Zetec series.
- 2005 Anderson Walko Racing scored the top number of team championship points and their driver, Robbie Pecorari came in second for the drivers championship.
- 2005 Anderson Walko Racing won the SCCA Formula Atlantic National Championship with Graham Rahal driving.
- 2006 - 2007 John reformed JWR Racing and worked out of his new shop in Trafford, PA. In 2006 won the team championship and the start fo two great seasons. The focus was on Pro Mazda and the team finished second in Team Championship for Pro Mozda. Kate Gundlach had started working with John in 2004 and became the right hand of the teams success until 2009. Kate went on to become famous as the engineer who helped win Scott Dixon the 2018 Indy Car Championship.
- 2008 - 2010. In 2008 JWR Racing ran an abbreviated Pro Mazda schedule and started working with Pittsburgh Power, formerly named Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh, doing special projects. John started exploring ways to remove carbon and soot from the recirculated exhaust gases before it reached the intake manifold and contaminated the engine.
- 2010 Won a single race as an underdog in F2000 Championship Series. John also started doing race engineering can driver coaching in vintage racing with s2 cars. John began to do "Fly in Enginerering" for various race teams and ran the Prototype Challenge Team.
- 2011 Chris Livengood finished second in the F2000 championship series.
- 2012 Began development of the Ralph Firman Car with Chris Livengood as the driver.
- 2013 Continued develop of the Furman Car. John started engineering development for PRL Motorsports.
- 2014 John started working with Arms Up Motorsports, John's son, Trent continued to drive the development of the Firman car.
- 2015 John committed most of his time to Arms Up Motorsports in the USF2000 Road to Indy Series. John also ran the F2000 Championship Series and F1600 Championship Series with Spectrum Cars for the Exclusive Autosport Team. His Driver, Scott Andrews, won the F1600 Championship.
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Pittsburgh Power and Diesel Trucking
In November of 2015, John took a hiatus from racing and joined the team at Pittsburgh Power as Technical Director and Product Development and again took on special projects. John was tasked with developing products and services. Special Projects that John pioneered and developed included:
In the Spring of 2016 he invented Dorothy Tornadic EGR Cleaner. |
In 2019 John retuned to racing with several clients doing engineering and coachineering.