Greg Benson's legendary status in the racing world was sealed by his nickname. Benson, a longtime Prior Lake resident who later moved to Pequot Lakes, was known as "the Wedge," a reference to his love of Chrysler's mighty 426-cubic-inch engine that dominated speedways and street racing in the 1960s and '70s.
The son and brother of engineers, Benson had their genius, but not their book learning. He preferred to figure out things himself. And when it came to cars and racing, there was little he couldn't do.
"Sometimes he'd modify something, and I'd look at it and think you couldn't do it," said his brother, Alan Benson of Prior Lake. "But he'd find a way."
Benson died Feb. 3 in Pequot Lakes at age 78. He ran his own welding shop for decades and channeled his creativity into building cars and dragsters that won him the unofficial title "King of the Streets" in his Minneapolis youth, along with too many on-track victories to count.
"He would race anyone, anywhere, anytime," said his niece, Claire Sila of Prior Lake. "He was so committed to racing and loved cars, and he attracted people to him who wanted to watch him enjoy that. He always had a crew with him.
"When you're around someone who loves something so much, it's contagious."
Benson was born in Minneapolis and graduated from Washburn High School in 1961. He worked as a millwright and welder before opening his welding shop in Prior Lake. Though he had many cars, his favorite was a 1940 Chevrolet that he owned and raced for years.
Many of his opponents grew familiar with the hind view of that Chevy, which had "Catch me if you can" painted on its rear. In the '60s, when brand-new Detroit muscle cars were the rage, Benson took many a foe by surprise with what appeared to be his ancient jalopy. Sila recounted a story that was passed on by Dennis Heapy, one of Benson's longtime car buddies.
"They would think they were going to win and he would just, in his words, 'clean their clocks,' " Sila said. "And he would turn to them and say, 'Hey, sonny, how many payments you got left on that loser?' "
When Benson was almost 70 years old, he took his '40 Chevy to the Bonneville salt flats in Utah, hoping to get it up to 200 mph. He made it to only 186 mph but had a lot of fun doing it.
"When he was racing he was focused. But before and after, he was just laughing and having a good time," said Bob Jacobson of Prior Lake, a longtime friend and one of Benson's race crew members. "But once he put his helmet on, he was pretty serious. He wanted to win."
Benson's beloved '40 Chevy now belongs to Jacobson.
"He willed it to me before he died," Jacobson said. It needed some work, Jacobson recalled, and Benson told him, "I don't want to give it to you when I'm dead because I can't help you put it back together."
Benson's wife, Lois, died more than 20 years ago. Theirs was a wonderful union, Sila said. She loved reading and he loved cars.
"It was like almost all they needed was each other," she said. "They had space in their relationship to do what they loved to do, and always come back together."
In addition to his brother and niece, Benson is survived by his sisters-in-law Lynne Miller of Mukilteo, Wash., and Jodie Benson of Prior Lake. A celebration of life will take place later this spring.
