LOOKING BACK FRANK HAWLEY

By Dave Mathers

for the most part, on the starting line. And he was a master at it.

We didn’t have reaction times on the Chrondeck back then, but you could clearly see that Frank had more than mastered that part of the sport. Running BB/GD didn’t provide much prize money, so they stepped up to run alcohol. And then let’s go for it! Bill bought a Top Fuel motor from Mac McGregor, and they were now in the big leagues!

With crew chief and mentor Wayne ‘Harts’ Hartley guiding the ship, they began running, with limited success, the strong UDRA circuit. To keep up they purchased a Mark Williams chassis and the wins started coming. But then, a change in direction.

Backin the ‘60s the Pacemakers Car Club shop in London (ON) held several good looking and bad-fast race cars. The G/G six-cylinder Anglia (it would become a record holder) of Ralph Hope, Wayne Lang and John Willoughby; the Goat Tee B/A ‘23 T Hemi roadster (the former High and Mighty A/SR of Jim Parsons) of Doug Brinjak; plus the James Boys Willys four-door big block B/G car of Jim McClelland and Jim McCallum to mention three.

A nice man used to come around from time to time, back in 1967, taking photos of the cars. I asked him one day if he would like to be the track photographer for us at St. Thomas Dragway. He said he would be interested if he could bring his son. How old is your son? Thirteen. Deal! I still have photos with the back stamped “Photo by W. & F. Hawley.” That man was Bill Hawley, and his son is Frank Hawley.

Frank was no normal 13-year-old. He studied the race cars intently and instead of asking the normal “Hey mister, how fast does your car go?” he would inquire “How does that barrel valve work? How do you set the timing on that mag? When do you know it’s time to shift?”

He quickly become a favourite of the racers and he spent a lot of time at the fence watching the starting line. I told Bill that Frank was going to cost him a lot of money and he nodded and laughed.

I got the very same message from Bill Jenkins five years later in1972, at Sanair. (My wife) Linda had flown to London, England with my mother and I took four-year-old Paul and two-year-old Rob with me to the Molson Grandnational.

I was talking with Wally Booth and noticed Paul was missing. I asked Rob where he was, and he pointed over to Grumpy’s Toy and there were two small feet sticking out from under the car.

They eventually came out and Grump told me that the kid was interested in how he was adjusting the tranny linkage and said he would cost me a lot of money in the future. I saw Grump at Gateway in 1998 (I even gave him an 8½ x 52 cigar!) and told him just how right he was. He actually smiled! Who knew?

Fast forward three years and Frank was 16 and chomping at the bit to try drag racing. A Junior Stocker maybe to start? Nope. Bill bought parts and pieces from Doug and Keith Ridler of Ridler Racing Equipment to put together a BB/GD. Talk about starting high!

The car was a former Top Fueler with 392 Hemi opened up to 464 cubic inches. Frank’s previous studying of the starting line made him realize that drag races are won,

The team bought a BB/FC and started running the Funny Car side of the UDRA program. And again, they upped their game and bought Dick Titsworth’s faster BB/FC. But wanting to go even faster they acquired the famous ‘Veney’s Vega’ from Ken Veney and the stars aligned! Frank won the UDRA Championship!

However, running with the big boys was getting too costly so Frank looked around and picked up a ride with the legendary ‘Chi-Town Hustler’ of Farkonas, Coil (yeah, that Coil) and Minick. The magic combination resulted in Frank becoming the NHRA Funny Car World Champion in 1982 and 1983.

Bill called me in Toronto to invite me to the celebration party at, wait for it, the London Lawn Bowling Club in London East. Unfortunately, one of our boys was in a hockey tournament and we were unable to attend. I’m sure it was a great party.

In 1985 Frank decided that drag racing needed a school like some of the stock car schools out there. He ended up with schools in both Gainesville, FL and Pomona, CA. His calm, cool and collected demeanor made him the perfect teacher. Most drag racers are high strung and animated, but Frank is the polar opposite. He has taught and licensed thousands of drivers over the years including some second and third generation families.

In addition to his driving and teaching, Frank was a TV commentator for several years and brought a unique perspective to each broadcast. He also wrote two books about the sport.

My son Rob and I dropped in on Frank at Pomona in 1996 and I saw the very same Frank Hawley standing by the track that I saw back in 1967, totally focused and paying close attention to what was happening on the starting line. Drag racing couldn’t have a better teacher than Frank and the sport is much better because of him.

Frank was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame back in 1995, the third year of the Hall’s existence.

I must say that I really miss Frank’s father Bill. He was a first-class gentleman at all times and always a pleasure to deal with at the racetrack. Bill was the kind of father that every young man would love to have.

I want to give a big shout out to Wayne Hartley, Frank’s first crew chief, for helping me fill in some of the blanks. IT

By Mary Bignotti Mendez