CHUB FRANK: RACING BACK HOME

 By Doc Lehman

           Come July 4 there will be some on-track fireworks when Chub Frank returns home with his fellow traveling troops of the Renegade Dirt Car Racing Series to tackle the hometown gunslingers at Stateline Speedway in New York. After considerable time on the road, including the recent trip westward with Renegade and UDTRA, Chub Frank will be bale to pretty much race right out of his home-base during the week of July 4^th festivities.

 “(Laughs) The only thing I’m looking forward to is I’ll have a little more time to get my stuff ready than anybody else,” chuckled Frank. “Like running at Stateline, I’ve only got to go about four miles. Everybody else will be out on the road all day.” 

It will be a big difference after just coming home from the trip west. 

“It was OK but it wasn’t as good as I would have liked,” explained Frank. “A lot of rain and a lot of chasing around. Point-wise it was good I guess you could say. But I don’t think I ran as well as I’d like to have. We probably broke even money-wise. Lots of driving in the truck. That’ll wear you out in a hurry driving the truck and the racecar.” 

But Frank was able to head for home out of Cedar Lake second in points, ten markers behind Davey Johnson. 

“It’s still a long way to go,” cautioned Frank. “I think I told you before it will come down to DNF’s in the point deal. Whoever has the most DNF’s will end up losing the deal. Right now it’s pretty tight between the top three or four cars. As long as we keep finishing it will be OK.”

 “It’s good for the fans. I’m sure they don’t want to see a runaway. They will still come to see the race, but there’s always a race within a race, point-wise.”

 Frank ran with both Renegade and UDTRA during his recent trip to the deep Midwest and likes the opportunity to run two consecutive nights with both sanctions, a circumstance that will happen July12-13 at Hagerstown Speedway.

 “I like those deals a lot,” commented Frank. “It cuts our travel expenses and it gives us a chance to race two nights for money even though one night isn’t our series. It’s good running with those guys. I think last year we had six or seven weekends where we did that, I didn’t keep track of how many. It’s definitely a good idea when they work together like that.” 

“It’s easier for the fans, too. They get to see everybody race and they get two nights of racing. The drivers get two nights of racing. If you have one race then have to drive three or four hours to the next one, we do that and it’s no problem, but when you have a deal like that its so much easier on us can you can take it easier that night and get some sleep and get caught up I guess.” 

As for the busy week of the Fourth of July, Frank will be at both Renegade races and will no doubt be at others although he is, at the time of the interview, unsure of where he will go July 3. Hearing Muskingum County Speedway acquired new clay, Frank indicated he will give consideration to the UDTRA event there.

“He had a beautiful race track last year but it’s been disappointing this year,” said Frank. “But with the new clay he’s bringing in this week that should help and that will be interesting to see what happens. I haven’t decided if we were going there or not. We have a couple races up here that are pretty close so we haven’t decided whether we’re going down there or not. The new clay deal will help make my decision. We’ll see how things go down there this Saturday night and that will help our decision.”

 As for July 4, his return to his “home” track of Stateline Speedway doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a cakewalk, and Frank is the first to acknowledge that.

 “Actually, I think there is more pressure to run at home than on the road,” said Frank. “People expect a lot (laughs)! And Stateline, it’s nice to run on the same racetrack I used to race on. It’s a lot nicer than when I used to race on it. They put new clay on it here 3 or 4 years ago. It’s really, really nice now. The thing is, we haven’t raced on it much. About the only time we get to race on it now is when the Renegade guys are here. It’s quite a little bit different deal than what it used to be. It doesn’t really give me an advantage other than knowing the race track I guess.” 

So there must be obviously a little extra pressure to perform in front of the hometown crowd.

 “I used to let it bother me but I don’t anymore,” responded Frank. “It don’t matter where you do go race, it’s tough! Anywhere you go! The only thing good about it is you get to see a lot of people you haven’t seen for awhile. They’re the ones who think you should be running good when you are at home. But I know Mike (Balzano) and Davey (Johnson) and all of those guys are just as capable of coming up here and hitting it on the money and kicking my ass basically. And everybody’s ass (laughs)! So it doesn’t really make any difference if you are at your home track or not.” 

Following the Renegade race at Stateline, Frank and the troops head east for a two night return stint to Thunder Valley Raceway.

 “We were there before but not very good,” said Frank. “But I learned a lot there. Actually I learned a lot from that place and it paid off for me in Florida at Volusia. I did what I planned on doing at Thunder Valley and ended up winning that $10,000 race on the same basic deal we’re going to run down there (Thunder Valley) for 100 laps.”  

“Actually I learned it from Todd Andrews a little bit too (laughs)! We’ll, you’re supposed to learn something when you’re down there especially if you suck (laughs)!”

 Frank was asked if during his travels did he get the sense that fans were pumped up and anxious to see the travelers. Was the excitement of the sport still evident from a racer’s perspective?

 “The problem this year has been mostly weather,” explained Frank. “I don’t care who it is, they’re chasing weather. But when they do get to see a race they’ve been pretty good. The fans, they are always up and down in the seats and stuff like that, what I can see of them. I’ve seen some tapes and they’ve been pretty excited.”

 There has been more grumbling this year among fans, and drivers, about one-laned racetracks. While they come across them on occasion, Frank explained that for the majority of Renegade races, promoters were doing their best to provide competitive racing.

 “There are some tracks out there that are kind of one lane,” stated Frank. “For the most part promoters are trying so they are all not that way. Some of them don’t get ‘it’. Some of them just don’t get it. I don’t think if you hit them over the head with it, they still wouldn’t get it. I’d say 85% of the tracks, at least the ones we’re racing on, are trying to make them so there are two and three lanes of racing.”

 “We’ve raced on some that are not.” 

With the season nearing the midway point for Renegade, Frank was asked to evaluate his season so far. Despite four wins, two of them Renegade victories, Frank isn’t satisfied. Asked to rate his season on a scale of one to ten, with ten being best, Chub barely marks it past average.

 “It wouldn’t be very good but I’d have to say it would be about a six,” said Frank. “I got to compare it to the last two years. We’re pretty much way behind from the last two years. A lot of it is circumstances. Racing is a circumstantial thing. Could be luck of the draw. There are weeks that go by where everything goes in your favor. No matter what happens you come up smelling like a rose. It just works that way.”

“The cars have been decent and have been pretty fast. But that’s the way it goes. Everybody goes through it. And sometimes it’s just little things.

It always comes back! It’s like I told (Don) O’Neal when we were in Florida and he was on a roll, I said ride her as long as you can because you’re gonna fall off that ride after awhile (laughs)!”

 “When you’re on a roll, you’re on a roll, and you got to keep plugging away.”

 Something every race fan can count on Chub Frank doing.