On March 31, Frank Hawley sent a tidal wave of news through motorsports circles when he – through a press release – announced the International Hot Rod Association acquired his Frank Hawley Drag Racing School.
Hawley, NHRA’s nitro Funny Car world champion in 1982 and 1983, has established a school that is the most popular in the drag racing industry.
Hawley founded the school in 1985, and it has become the leader in racing instruction, training more than 25,000 drivers and countless NHRA world champions.
Now, Hawley has joined forces with the IHRA and its president Darryl Cuttell through this business transaction.
Hawley discussed his head-turning decision to the media for the first time – on the Alan Reinhart Show with Nicole Clark on CompetitionPlus.com on April 1.
“We thought about how we can grow and expand. We’re of course really popular within our industry, but we’ve always had this idea of outreach being something bigger than what we’re capable of doing,” Hawley said. “And I had the good fortune, of course, I’ve been following what Darryl Cuttell has been doing with IHRA and that intrigued me and I had an opportunity to meet him. I shared with him what I wanted to do, and what we wanted to do and he essentially said that’s exactly what I want to do with IHRA. We pretty much decided that we should work together.”
Although Hawley and Cuttell found common ground almost instantly, he didn’t make a knee-jerk decision.
“I gave this a lot of thought. We spent a lot of time and the idea that we got to be a part of this organization,” Hawley said. “Now that I’ve got into it and I’ve been to a few other events, not just drag race events, I’ve gone to one of their IHRA stock car series races last weekend, we were down in St. Petersburg (Fla.) at offshore boat racing.
“And I can see the amount of enthusiasm that the people at IHRA have for the motorsports program, what they’re trying to do with it, how they’re trying to grow it, how they’re trying to take all of these different disciplines and put them together under the one banner of IHRA and make this probably what I think is going to be the premier motorsports racing organization on the planet Earth in the near future. I got excited and wrapped up in their excitement. It’s infectious being around those people. Great organization, great people. And I’m going to a stock car race this weekend, an IHRA race.
“So, we’re all in. This is a great opportunity for us. All of our staff came on board.”
Hawley said change isn’t the operative word for his school.
“We effectively right now are going to have, you know, the same staff, same curriculum, same cars, same everything,” Hawley said. “We’re traveling around the country. We just want to teach people how to enjoy, love motorsports, go fast, and be safe.”
And Hawley was quick to say he isn’t headed to the beach and calling it a career.
“No, as I said, nothing could be further from the truth. This was an opportunity I’ve been waiting for in my life,” Hawley said. “I didn’t know what the opportunity would look like. I didn’t know how it would come, but I trusted that it would. And the opportunity came in the form of Darryl Cuttell and the program that he’s put together and his vision and his enthusiasm.
“So, I’m not retiring. I love what I do. And in fact, Darryl had told me when we started, we’re not going to change a thing. You guys are very good at what you do. You’ve got a history. And so, you guys, it’s business as usual. We’ve had no direction to change anything we’re doing. So, anybody that ever wanted to come to Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School, you still have an opportunity. I look forward to teaching people personally because I teach most of the classes. Jack Beckman teaches some stuff for us and Jeff Arend does also. So, no matter where you go and what program you come to, you’re going to be in good hands.”
The Frank Hawley Drag Racing School is based in Gainesville, Fla., but it will be far more mobile now.
“We’re going to run everywhere. We’re loading up, and in a couple weeks we’ll be in Las Vegas, but we’re going to go to Boise (Idaho) again. We’re traveling all over the country. We’re of course back in Reading (Pa.) and going to be up in Columbus (Ohio). All our dates and tracks are on our website (frankhawley.com). But no, we want to teach drag racing to anybody who wants to learn drag racing. And that’s one of the things we discussed when we first started. So, we want to be everything to everybody and we’re going to go everywhere. And we just want you to come to our school regularly.
“The expansion that IHRA is making with resurrecting tracks that have been down for a while and taking over others, this can’t be anything but good for the entire industry because this is effectively the adage of rising tides raising all boats. If we can get more people out there racing, and more people interested in racing then I think it’s a plus for everybody.”
