DIRT AMERICA

DIRT AMERICA!

CHUB FRANK: ‘CHUBZILLA’ A TRIPLE-THREAT CHAMPION

By Doc Lehman (W/ Thanks to Bret Emrick)

Last Saturday night Chub Frank’s third consecutive Renegade Dirt Car Racing Series championship title was officially bestowed on the friendly star racer from Sugar Grove, PA when the Renegade troops gathered in Indianapolis for the annual Renegade Awards Banquet. Frank received his point fund money of $25,000 along with the champion’s trophy and gold ring plus a multitude of series sponsors contingency awards. Frank started all 32 feature events on the Renegade trail chalking up a series leading 5 victories, 14 top 5 finishes and 22 Top 10 finishes earning more than $95,000 in purse money.

Frank powered his Corry Rubber/Corry Lazer Technology/Nystrom Auto Sales/Pierotti Motorsports/Rocket Chassis/Draime Racing Engines No. 1* Chub Frank Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo to 2 CARRERA SHOCKS fast times, 9 BRODIX,INC. heat race wins, 1 ISKY RACING CAMS dash win, 4 MASTERSBILT RACE CARS "B" Main victories and led 187 feature laps with only 1 DNF, that coming in the seasons final race after Frank had already sewed up the championship. Frank was also honored with the OUTERWEARS CO.,INC. "Hard Charger of the Year" and the CARRERA SHOCKS "Challenge the Clock" Time Trial Points title.

"This is really an honor to win this championship for the third straight year", stated Frank at the banquet. "This championship wasn't just me. There are a multitude of people that had a part in this. My family, my crew, my sponsors and the fans too. This wasn't an easy deal at all this season. We had difficulties along the way but with a lot of help and support we were able to overcome those difficulties.”

“I also need to thank everyone with the Renegade DirtCar Racing Series, the series sponsors and the series promoters. I've got to agree with what Rick Aukland said earlier tonight. There is no ‘funner’ series to run with than the Renegade series. It's a professional outfit but you have fun to and the family atmosphere we have among us is awesome. I know there have been rumors floating around about what I'm going to do next year but we can put those rumors to rest. I'm going after four straight championships. So, guys get ready!".

On October 4 at The Rock/Allegany County Speedway in Cumberland, Maryland Chub Frank accomplished something only one other driver, Steve Francis, was able to achieve in the 19 year history of the Renegade (STARS) Dirt Car Racing Series (RDRS): win three consecutive RDRS championship titles. By virtue of his 14^th place finish during the Renegade portion of the “Big Kahuna II” weekend, Frank, of Sugar Grove, PA, secured his third championship title. One Renegade points race, at West Virginia Motor Speedway over October 19-20, remains for the 2002 season.

“It feels pretty good actually (laughs)!” related Frank not long after the race. “ I didn’t think we were going to get it. It took a lot more work this year to do it than it did last year. The pressure is off. We pretty much had it sewn up going into this weekend. We had to start this week and the next one. I’m just glad to get it over tonight. We wouldn’t even have to show up at West Virginia. We’ll be there, but we wouldn’t have to show up. That’s less pressure. We can go there and have a good time.”

This past weekend Frank, family, friends, crew & sponsors spent the weekend visiting the PRI Show in Indianapolis where Frank was a hit with sponsors and promoters. In addition to having his car as the centerpiece attraction at the Outlaw Racing Brakes display, many of Frank’s sponsors gave out over 2,000 Chub Frank calendar/posters, many of them autographed. Frank also went through a case of autograph cards at the PRI Show. It was also noted at the PRI Show that many, many manufacturer’s catalogs featured Frank’s car on the cover of their publications.

A large contingent of Frank’s sponsors also attended the Renegade Awards Banquet, some flying in from California, and reports have it that the ‘Chubzilla’ Celebration lasted until 4:30 AM after the banquet, a large party that included Jeff Ferro from Frank’s sponsor Corry Rubber, Eldora Speedway promoter Earl Baltes and many others.

At the beginning of the 2002 season Frank stated that it would take a minimum, or no DNF’s to even have a chance at winning the Renegade title. And that’s what Frank focused on. Amazingly, Frank only had one DNF all season, the ‘RaceFest World Championship’ season ender at West Virginia Motor Speedway, long after Frank had the title clinched.

“That’s exactly right and that’s what usually wins the championship,” responded Frank when questioned about having no DNF’s during his championship run. “If you start DNF-ing, that’s what usually loses championships. We’ve had some bad luck this year what with having flat tires with five laps to go and stuff happening. But Mike (Balzano) had worse luck. It just fell in our favor.”

Frank’s championship title is even a little sweeter considering the early season turnover of a crew chief and a couple crewmembers.

“We talked about that earlier this year about the crew,” recalled Frank. “We’ve gone through a couple different guys this year trying different stuff and the guys that have been with me all year have been my cousin, (Rick) Boom Briggs and my step-son David Woolslayer and Jeff Rulander, who is basically my son-in-law. So it’s almost been a family deal to keep this going all year. It’s hard to find good guys right now out there that just want to work on racecars. Everybody else has got a job so it makes it tougher to do.”

With no designated crew chief, Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs stepped up to the plate this season.

“Anytime at the garage and stuff, and even when he couldn’t go racing, he always helped me out when his business wasn’t keeping him busy,” said Frank. “And it was tough on him working on his Dad’s car and my car. It’s just one of them deals when the crew chief deal didn’t work out and the new crew guys didn’t work out, he stepped right in and helped to get the job done.”

Frank was also grateful for the support of his wife, Mary, who is an integral part of Frank’s team.

“She’s been here the whole time,” explained Frank. “I couldn’t do this without her. We spend all of our time together and it just makes it a lot easier to go to the racetrack when she’s there and you’re whole family is there. She really supports me and there are a lot of wives that don’t even go racing. It’s a tough deal and it’s tough on everybody. There’s time when we go for a couple weeks there in the middle of summer and that makes it tough on everybody. So it’s nice to have everybody there, family-wise.”

Another celebration coming up for the Frank’s is their one year wedding anniversary on December 11.

Frank’s successful quest for the championship also tastes a little sweeter due to the high-powered caliber of competition he was forced to face week in and week out.

“(Laughs) That’s exactly what they are is competition!” exclaimed Frank. “Mike (Balzano) was tough as always and if he wouldn’t have had any bad luck you would have been talking to him. (Steve) Shaver, he’s a hell of a competitor. I think his consistency, they had that going on. They had some things they changed so that made it tough on them too. He had a couple DNF’s.”

“And it comes back to DNF’s. You can’t have them.”

“They are all pretty tough. All of them guys.”

Frank’s successful season came from strong performances against national talent, highlighted by his stunning win in the “Hardees/UDTRA Shoot-Out” at Dixie (GA) Speedway in October that brought Frank a $55,000 payday in one of the sport’s “crown jewels” events. Frank’s Corry Rubber, Corry Laser, Nystrom's Auto Sales, Draime Racing Engines, Rocket Chassis, Pierotti Motorsports, Farr MotorSports, Chevrolet Monte Carlo #1* racked up a total of nine victories and 26 top five finishes in 60 total events competed in during the 2002 season.

In UDTRA Pro Dirt Car Racing Series events alone, Frank entered nine UDTRA races and captured two wins, two top five finishes, four top 10 finishes and $76,866 in UDTRA prize money. Frank also won one UMP sanctioned event and one United Late Model Series (ULMS) event during 2002.

With a strong autumn finish Frank now finds himself on top of the voting for the NATIONAL DIRT LATE MODEL DRIVERS POLL for the 4^th quarter of 2002 (October-December). Frank topped the national poll by 290 markers over second place finisher Brian Birkhofer. The recent balloting was the fourth “official” balloting that has been held every three months and is based on the performance of dirt Late Model drivers nationwide. The voting board is made up of primarily Motorsports media members as well as representatives from the manufacturing, sanctioning and promoting branches of the industry. Voting members were requested to list their top fifteen choices of the top drivers based on performances from October to December 2002. A points system was utilized to determine the top vote getters.

Previous number one drivers in the NATIONAL DIRT LATE MODEL DRIVERS POLL include Don O’Neal (1^st Quarter), Dale McDowell (2^nd Quarter) and Brian Birkhofer (3^rd Quarter). A national driver of the year and driver standings will be released soon with the results based on season long accumulated points gathered in the NATIONAL DIRT LATE MODEL DRIVERS POLL during 2002.

Trailing Frank in the fourth quarter voting were Birkhofer, Shannon Babb, Scott Bloomquist, Rick Eckert, Billy Moyer, Dale McDowell & Don O’Neal (tied for seventh), Steve Francis, Duayne Hommel, Dick Barton, Bill Frye, Steve Shaver, Steve Lucas, Ray Cook.

54 drivers received votes in the fourth quarter balloting. Frank finished sixth in the final year-end rundown.

And the honors keep rolling in. Frank has been nominated for the prestigious "Richie Evans Memorial EMPA Driver of the Year" award presented by the Eastern Motorsports Press Association. Frank's fellow nominees for the prestigious award is loaded just like his competition on the track during the 2002 season. The other nominees for the "Richie Evans Memorial EMPA Driver of the Year" award include DIRT Motorsports Modified drivers Brett Hearn and Alan Johnson, "Pennsylvania Posse" Sprint Car driver Greg Hodnett and NASCAR Busch Series North driver Andy Santerre. The Eastern Motorsports Press Association will honor the award winner at their annual convention January 17-19 in Trevose,PA. The EMPA, founded in 1969, is made up of more than 200 professional media (broadcasters, journalists, photographers and those on the internet) that cover motorsports on a regular basis.

And if that isn’t enough you can also expect Frank to have a busy winter appearing as such major functions as the Motorsports 2003 show produced by Lenny Sammons Productions near Philadelphia, PA next month prior to SPEEDWEEKS in Florida. It won’t be a lax “off-season” for the popular champion.

But in the meantime Frank can let the knowledge sink in that only he and Steve Francis have been able to win three consecutive Renegade championship titles. Francis won his in 1996-1998.

“I guess that’s an accomplishment,” understated Frank. “It gets harder ever year, it’s definitely not something that gets easier. The local guys are getting tougher! Everybody has got the same equipment so it makes it tougher to even win this deal.”