Frank Hawley
Frank Hawley
Rich History
They say that experience is the best eacher, and it’ s most assuredly a big part of the magic that is Frank Hawley’ s Drag Racing School. Having made a seemingly innumerable number of passes down an equally sizable number of drag strips- in varying conditions and in varying vehicles- Hawley’ s frame of refrence is enormous. A two-time NHRA Funny Car world champion and one of NHRA’ s Top 50 drivers of all time, Hawley defies any-and-all teaching stereotypes. When founded in 1985, Frank Hawley’ s Drag Racing School became the first-ever school for drag race driver’ s training.
PHOTOS: FRANK HAWLEY’ S DRAG RACING SCHOOL, NHRA / NATIONAL DRAGSTER
ers of all time. He’ s been inducted into both the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame and the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame, has won two NHRA Funny Car world championships and nine NHRA national championships, has authored two best-selling books, and so much more. Before he began collecting accolades, though, Hawley had humble beginnings.
Growing up on a farm in Ontario, Canada, Hawley was exposed to muscle cars in the mid‘ 60s courtesy of his four older sisters’ boyfriends.“ One of my sister’ s boyfriends took me to my first drag race when I was nine years old, and I thought it was fabulous. I fell in love with racing, and that was the beginning of my interest in the sport,” reminisced Hawley of how he was inducted into drag racing.
Once he had discovered his passion, Hawley and his father decided they needed to get more involved.“ We couldn’ t afford to pay to get in at the track, so we told them we were photographers even though we weren’ t,” laughed Hawley, who had heard through a friend that the facility was hiring.“ So, they gave us the job, and instead of us paying to get in, they paid us to show up.” Hawley quickly learned how to shoot, and he and his father built a dark room at home to develop their own photos. He began writing, too, and even had a three-page story published in Hot Rod magazine
when he was a young teenager.
By the time he had turned 16, Hawley had made a lot of connections at the track. He decided to go racing, but first needed to acquire a car.“ My parents were supportive, and we bought a supercharged Hemi-powered, front-motor Top Fuel dragster. My parents had no money, but this
car cost practically nothing, too. It was a horrible idea!” laughed Hawley, who was“ on fire all the time, leaking all over the track, and constantly getting in everyone’ s way.”
It wasn’ t long before Hawley had found his groove. Eventually, he transitioned into an alcohol Funny Car. Wanting to pursue a career in racing, he moved to California and slept in his truck for several months before he struck gold.“ I got an opportunity to drive the Chi-Town Hustler for
Austin Coil around 1980,” noted Hawley, who was struck by an idea while wintering on the West Coast not long after.
Hawley attended a Formula Ford road racing session at Jim Russell’ s racing school and enjoyed it. As other schools were popping up at the time, including Bob Bondurant’ s and Skip Barber’ s,
“ I thought a drag racing school was a unique idea that no one had done before, but I knew it could also be a huge flop.”
the seed of inspiration was planted and quickly grew into a plan. Curious as to whether anyone would want to drive a dragster, he started fleshing out his plan in the early‘ 80s.“ I thought it was a unique idea that no one had done before, but I knew it could also be a huge flop,” said Hawley candidly. With no money to get the school started, he hit up several friends as potential investors, but nothing panned out.
Dejected, Hawley called his friend and fellow
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