Frank Hawley had spent more than 40 years building one of drag racing’s most recognizable schools when an opportunity arrived that few 72-year-old business owners would dismiss without listening.
So Hawley listened. He eventually sold Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School to the IHRA, believing the arrangement could provide something he still wanted after four decades in the business: growth.
Now the school is his again.
Hawley has regained ownership and control of Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School following its brief run under IHRA ownership. The cars, equipment and familiar staff are back under the Hawley umbrella, with plans being made for the school to resume its longtime schedule at NHRA tracks across the country.
“We thought, like many others, that it was going to be something that it wasn’t,” Hawley said. “And we gave it a good shot. There’s a lot of people worked really hard at it. It didn’t work out and we’re going to continue on teaching people how to drag race.”
The transaction didn’t leave Hawley interested in assigning blame. Asked whether the experience ultimately helped or hurt the school, he described the result as “probably neutral.”
Selling the school, however, was never Hawley’s exit strategy. The IHRA offer represented an opportunity to expand what he had spent much of his life building.
“We never thought of selling the business to retire,” Hawley said. “I want it to grow, I love doing what I do. And I plan on doing it for as long as I am capable of doing it and people want to come and learn and that’s the honest truth.”
The IHRA proposal, Hawley said, represented a chance to take the school beyond what he and his team had already built. For Hawley, bigger didn’t necessarily mean more schools or more race cars; it meant introducing more people to drag racing.
“It’s about growth and promotion and reaching more people and getting more people that love drag racing and buy transmissions and buy tickets and hot dogs and go to websites and read about it,” Hawley said. “And it’s my life and so for me, it’s all about growth and that’s all I ever wanted to do.”
That opportunity didn’t develop as envisioned. Hawley isn’t spending much time looking backward at why.
Instead, the school announced its return to Hawley ownership with a message centered largely on continuity. Despite the ownership change and subsequent reversal, its instructors, staff, cars, transporters and equipment remained intact.
For customers, Hawley wants the transition back to look a lot like business as usual.
The school is working toward returning to familiar NHRA facilities, including Gainesville Raceway, as it rebuilds its schedule. Its programs will continue to range from introductory drag racing experiences to NHRA competition licensing.
For more than four decades, those programs have put thousands of students behind the wheel. Some arrived looking for the experience of driving a dragster, while others came intent on earning an NHRA competition license and beginning or advancing a racing career.
Some eventually became champions.
“Over the years I’ve had the privilege of helping people fulfill their dream of driving drag race cars,” Hawley said. “Watching students earn their NHRA licenses, build confidence, and become better racers has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I’m excited to be back on the road with our incredible team, visiting the NHRA tracks we’ve called home for decades. We can’t wait to welcome old friends, meet new students, and continue doing what we love.”
Hawley’s place in drag racing has long extended beyond the school bearing his name. A two-time NHRA Funny Car world champion, he became one of the sport’s most prominent driving instructors after his professional driving career and has worked with racers at virtually every level.
The school became his connection to generations he never raced against. It also gave Hawley another way to promote the sport beyond what he accomplished from the cockpit.
That’s why the IHRA opportunity appealed to him.
Hawley has maintained relationships throughout a sport that has frequently divided itself along sanctioning-body lines. His interest has always been less about the letters on the banner and more about getting people involved in drag racing.
It also explains why he speaks without bitterness about an arrangement that didn’t become what he expected. Hawley wanted another racing business to succeed because, in his view, more successful businesses mean more opportunities for drag racing.
“We like to see commerce. We like to see business. We like to see people succeed,” Hawley said. “And if there’s a little restaurant that opens in town, my wife and I’ll go over to it. And in six months, if it closes, we feel bad. That’s just in my nature.”
The philosophy doesn’t change when the business happens to involve race cars.
“I like to see everyone succeed no matter what business you’re in,” Hawley said. “And so yeah, that’s just my nature. I want to see growth and commerce and people doing well and everybody feeding themselves. And so anytime that doesn’t happen, I don’t care if it’s a chassis manufacturer or a restaurant or an association, it’s a little sad. Yeah. Yeah.”
There is an irony in where Hawley finds himself now. After building the school for more than four decades and eventually selling it, he is back running Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School again.
Only Hawley doesn’t sound like a man who got dragged back into the office. He sounds like somebody who never intended to leave the sport in the first place.
He still works with race teams, talks with racers, teaches classes and goes to drag races. Ask him what he would do without all of it and the answer comes quickly.
“I talk to the racers all the time and I’m out there working for some of the teams and teaching classes,” Hawley said. “And it’s what I’ve done for my whole life and I have no desire to do anything else.”
There are other things in Hawley’s life. None appear capable of replacing drag racing.
“I boat a little bit, fish a little bit and hang out with my wife and watch movies once in a while, but that’s it. Then I talk to drag racers and I go to drag races and I teach the school. So yeah, that’s my mission, that is my mission.”
