Edward "Ed" Oritz (September 19, 1931 – April 16, 2020) was an American Modified racing driver. Equally adept on both dirt and asphalt surfaces, he raced from Canada to New Jersey, and is credited with 200 feature wins in a career that spanned five decades.

Racing career

Ed Ortiz and fifteen friends got into racing in 1954, building the original

Ransomville Speedway Ransomville Speedway is a one-half mile semi-banked high-speed dirt oval raceway located ten miles from the Canadian-American border in Western New York. Overview Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achieve ...

(New York) on the property behind his father's car dealership. Four years later, the group raised sufficient funds to purchase their own land, and the current Ransomville Speedway was built at its present location. Ortiz won the track's championship in 1962. Ortiz claimed the track championship at Ontario, Canada's Merrittville Speedway (1961), and additional titles in New York at the Canandaigua Speedway (1962, 1963), Lancaster Speedway (1966), and

Rolling Wheels Raceway Rolling Wheels Raceway a.k.a. Rolling Wheels Raceway Park was a 5/8 mile dirt oval raceway in Elbridge, New York. Canadian Lloyd Holt won the first full season track title in 1970. History Rolling Wheels was built by Robert M. Petrocci with t ...

in Elbridge (1971). He also found victory lane in New York at Utica-Rome Speedway and Victoria Speedway in Dunnsville, and in New Jersey at Old Bridge Stadium. Ed Ortiz was inducted into the

Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame The Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame was established in 1992 to recognize individual achievements in the sport of stock car racing. It is located at 1 Speedway Dr., Weedsport, New York. History The inaugural induction ceremony was held on Ap ...

in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortiz, Ed 1931 births 2020 deaths Racing drivers from New York (state) Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame