4 for 4

“Chub Goes 4 For 4”

November 03, 2003

By Doc Lehman

Just because the 2003 racing season is over for four-time Renegade Dirt Car Racing Series (RDCS) champion Chub Frank don’t for a moment think that he is kicking back in his recliner channel surfing. No way. Frank is as busy as ever planning for the 2004 season in addition to his off-season promotional activities and throw in the fact that his mother, Janet Frank, recently underwent a serious surgical procedure and it’s easy to ascertain that Chub Frank is a busy, busy man.

Janet Frank was released on Monday November 3 after undergoing major brain surgery Thursday, October 30 at the Hamot Medical Center in Erie, PA. Mrs. Frank collapsed at her Sugar Grove, PA home October 18 and was then rushed to an area hospital before being transferred to the Hamot Medical Center. After a round of testing it was determined that Mrs. Frank suffered from a low-grade brain tumor. Mrs. Frank's condition was stabilized in the week prior to the surgery. The surgical procedure lasted approximately 3 1/2 hours.

“She’s doing OK, I guess,” commented Chub Frank. “She came home today so she just needs to take it easy and find out what needs to be done next.”

Mrs. Frank and her husband Jerry are former co-owners of the Stateline (NY) Speedway and Eriez (PA) Speedway's and has been solid supporters of their son’s racing endeavors.

Chub & his mother, Janet Frank

As far as Chubzilla winning an unprecedented four Renegade DirtCar Series championship titles, that remarkable accomplishment has barely had time to sink in given the hectic schedule the popular driver has been dealing with of late.

“(Laughs) I wish I had time to think about it!” chuckled Frank. “I’m so busy right now getting ready for next year. I don’t have a lot of free time so I don’t have a lot of time to think about it. We haven’t even had time to celebrate yet. Maybe we’ll celebrate in December.”

Frank won his fourth Renegade DirtCar Series championship in his Corry Rubber/Allstar Performance/Nystrom's Auto Sales/Draime Racing Engines/Rocket Chassis/Carerra Shocks/Pierotti Motorsports/Farr MotorSports Chevrolet Monte Carlo #1*

Frank was asked if winning the fourth consecutive title came any harder than the previous ones.

“It was a little harder,” responded Frank. “I knew Mike (Balzano) would probably be the toughest and there are other guys who have stepped up their programs and stuff, like Robbie Blair and Rod Conley, they are all running a lot better and more consistent. I knew Mike would be the toughest, and Davey (Johnson). I didn’t know what Davey’s plans were, if they were going to run the whole deal or not. But you don’t worry about those guys, you just worry about the guy that you know is going to be the problem (laughs), which is Mike.”

“We knew it would come down to no DNF’s basically, and top finishes. We knew we had to finish all the races and we did I think. I think we ran all of the laps except four of them. I think we lost two laps in Florida the first or second night so there are two of the laps right there (laughs)!”

“We were fairly consistent. I would have liked to have run better at some places where I thought we should have ran better.”

There is little doubt among anyone, especially Chub Frank, that the off season gets shorter and shorter each year.

“Well, it is because I don’t have a lot of help during the winter, I pretty much do everything myself for the most part,” explained Frank. “Then you’ve got the PRI show and the Philadelphia show and now we’re taking cars to all of them so it makes it a little tougher to get everything done and be done by Florida.”

As the conversation drifted towards racing, Frank was asked for his evaluation of the rookie of the year contenders who ran the RDCS schedule during 2003.

“Troutman is the one who won the rookie of the year thing, and I’ll get him at the banquet,” chuckled Frank. “He’s too old to be a rookie (laughs)! We get along good and he’s a good racer. I’ve raced against him before, him and his son.”

“Matt Urban, I raced against him a lot up here in my area. In fact he probably only lives about 40 minutes from where I am at. I don’t know what his plans are for next year but if he wanted to I think he could make it out on the road. It’s a tough deal the first couple years because you spend a lot of money and he has a wife and a new baby and a job. I’ve been there and know all about it, but it’s a lot tougher to do when you’re trying to do all of that at one time.”

“That Doug Drown kid, he’s pretty darn good. He struggled a little at the end of the year but at the first of the year in only the second or third time out he was leading the race. He was running good.”

“Those guys I think find out it gets tiring after awhile. You have to get conditioned I guess. You run local you don’t start until May and end around the first of September, at least most of them do around here because of the weather. We start in February and don’t end in November so that makes it a little bit tougher, especially the first couple years. But those guys are all good runners, no doubt.”

Photo By Tony Hammett

“That’s what the series needs, more newcomers, but its tough.”

So as Frank checks in on his mother and prepares for trips to Las Vegas (SEMA), Indianapolis (PRI) and Philadelphia (Sunoco Motorsports ’04), he also has substantial work to complete in order to be ready for the first laps at East Bay Raceway in February.

“I’ve got two cars that I have to completely put together,” explained Frank. “Another one I have to strip and put back together, it’s sold. And then get that show car ready for PRI and Philadelphia. That’s just the race car stuff, that doesn’t count getting the motors freshened and the hauler has to be looked over and worked on.”

As for 2004, nothing is set in stone. In fact, Frank hasn’t even hazarded a guess as to what he will be doing in 2004 until the schedules and other issues shake out in the coming weeks.

“No, we don’t have anything planned specifically for next year yet,” offered Frank. “With the way things are going with Renegade as far as talking about selling it, right now were just waiting to see. I think it’ll be in a couple days as to whether or not they will do it. So we’re just waiting to see what’s going on with all the series as to what they are doing schedule-wise, then we’ll make up our mind.”

“Everybody is getting ready for Florida, they know they are going there to race, at least the guys who are running any kind of point deals, so everyone is getting ready to go down there. So we’ll worry about it when the schedules come out.”

Anyone wishing to send cards and well wishes to Mrs. Frank can send them along to: Mrs. Janet Frank, P.O. Box 275, Sugar Grove, PA, 16350.

Chub Frank will have a brand new show car (now being constructed at Rocket Chassis) at the PRI Show in Indianapolis and the Sunoco Motorsports ’04 show near Philadelphia in the RDCS booth.

In addition, Chub Frank will be spotlighted in a full-length feature article written by Dr. Dick Bergeren in the January 2004 issue of SPEEDWAY ILLUSTRATED magazine. Frank will share some newsstand copies with a Winston Cup driver (to be selected) as part of a two-alternative cover concept.

Don’t forget to stop by merchandise, there’s been a lot of new merchandise added.

Chub Frank Racing

Rt.1 Box 146

Lottsville Niobe Rd.

Bear Lake, PA 16402