There’s no definitive decision whether or not a two decade hiatus makes a driver a rookie again. With that said, Frank Hawley, a two-time NHRA Winston Champion, who left driving Funny Cars in 1984, has undertaken the task of re-acclimating himself with the demands of driving a modern day fuel Funny Car.

With all due respect, Hawley hasn’t been sitting by twiddling his thumbs during the time away. On the contrary, he’s made a name as the sport’s leading drag racing instructor.

Does his status within the sport lend to extra scrutiny? There’s no definitive decision whether or not a two decade hiatus makes a driver a rookie again. With that said, Frank Hawley, a two-time NHRA Winston Champion, who left driving Funny Cars in 1984, has undertaken the task of re-acclimating himself with the demands of driving a modern day fuel Funny Car.

With all due respect, Hawley hasn’t been sitting by twiddling his thumbs during the time away. On the contrary, he’s made a name as the sport’s leading drag racing instructor.

Does his status within the sport lend to extra scrutiny?

“I don't know if I'm more scrutinized,” Hawley contends. “I think the fact that I haven't been driving for a long period of time -- it draws a little bit more attention right now because people would look at it as how is he going to do it's been a long lay off.  The fact that I've been working with a lot of other drivers certainly I think would get somebody to question well he's got all these recommendations can he actually put it into action? 

“That'll all go away. They just need to say what their going to say and move along throughout the season.  Hopefully I'll just fit into being one of the guys which is a pretty good place to be.”

Hawley points out the ability to step into a painstakingly prepared hot rod makes all the difference in the world. The crew might just be the teacher’s pets now.

“These guys have done just a great job,” Hawley added. “Aaron and Rod and everybody else on the team - they've prepared the car just about perfectly and every time I've gone up there, they've made the car handle very well.  It drives nicely, performs well.  It literally almost hasn't done anything wrong and each run that we've made here the car got a little bit faster.  I'm really impressed with how well these guys perform together as a group.  They're nice guys, they're very respectful to me, everyone's kind.  It's just a nice group of people and I think that Mike Ashley and Roger Burgess should be really proud of the group that they've got over here.”

One must remember the last crew chief Hawley drove under – the legendary Austin Coil. Hawley’s confident Brooks will do well in the industry.

“There are so many Austin stories that we need to do a feature story on Austin stories,” Hawley said, cracking a smile. “He's the one and only, there'll never be somebody like Austin.  You can't even compare anybody to Austin. 

“I love him to death.  He's a wonderful guy.  Aaron's a good, solid guy.  We're getting to know one another.  He's a very, very positive sort of person.  He's going to do a great job with this team.”