Welders compete at the Daytona 500 Speedweek for spot on TeamUSA

November 26, 2012

Three young welders have advanced from the AWS/SkillsUSA U.S. Invitational Weld Trials, held at FABTECH 2012, to compete at the SkillsUSA TeamUSA Weld Finals in February. The competition will be held as part of Speedweek at the 2013 Daytona 500. The three finalists are Tanner Tipsword (Wyo.), Andrew Cardin (Mass.), and Alex Pazowski (Mich.).

Larsen Motorsports, in conjunction with the Daytona International Speedway, will host the competition at the Daytona International Speedway on the manufacturers’ midway outside of Turn 4. The general public will be able to witness firsthand the competition, spread over four days of welding using multiple welding processes. The welding requirements are so precise that a number of the welds will require X-ray reviews and hydrostatic pressure tests up to 1,000 PSI to verify weld quality and integrity.

The three finalists have bested thousands of their peers in a yearlong battle across the U.S. The winner, to be announced Saturday, Feb. 23, the day before the Daytona 500, will represent the U.S. at the 42nd WorldSkills Competition in Leipzig, Germany, July 2-7, 2013, and receive a $40,000 scholarship from the AWS Foundation.