Larry Frank (April 29, 1929 – January 5, 2010)http://racing-reference.info/driver/Larry_Frank Larry Frank Racing Reference Stats was an American

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Grand National Series The name NASCAR Grand National Series refers to former names of the following NASCAR series: *National-level stock car series: **NASCAR Cup Series (known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 to 1970, then the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand Nation ...

driver. He is best known for winning the 1962

Southern 500 The Southern 500, officially known as the Cook Out Southern 500 for sponsorship reasons, is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. The race distance is and consists of 367 laps. Fro ...

Career

Born in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

,Alt URL
Frank was known as a resident of

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. He began racing motorcycles and subsequently moved up to sprint cars and

midget cars Midget (from ''midge'', a tiny biting insect) is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative due to its etymology. While not a medical term like "dwarfism", a medical condition with a number of ca ...

. Frank made 38 starts in the 47-event 1956

NASCAR Convertible Series The NASCAR Convertible Division was a division of convertible cars early in NASCAR's history, from 1956 until 1959, although the signature race for convertibles remained a Convertible Division race until 1962. Two remnants of the Convertible Divi ...

. On October 28, 1956, Frank made his debut in the NASCAR Grand National Division in the Old Dominion 400 at

Martinsville, Virginia Martinsville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,485. A community of both Southside and Southwest Virginia, it is the county seat of Henry County, although ...

driving Lonnie Fish's No. 76

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

finishing 38th after losing oil pressure on lap 77. In 1957 Frank spent most of his time competing in the Convertible Series racing in all but one race. Frank also made four starts in the NASCAR Grand National Division during the 1957 season driving Fish's No. 76 Chevrolet. His best finish of the season was 13th at

Langhorne Speedway Langhorne Speedway was an automobile racetrack in Middletown Township, Bucks County, near the borough of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. According to the book ''Langhorne! No Man's Land'' by L. Spencer Riggs: "With a ...

. In the 1958 NASCAR Grand National Division, Frank competed in 11 events. He finished third in the Nashville 200, recording one top-five and four top-tens. Over the next few years Frank had average runs in both the Grand National and the Convertible series. The high point of Frank's career occurred in 1962 when he qualified 10th for the Southern 500. He led 85 laps and lapped the entire field finishing the race with two blown tires. After a scoring issue,

Junior Johnson Robert Glenn Johnson Jr. (June 28, 1931 – December 20, 2019), better known as Junior Johnson, was an American NASCAR driver of the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s, he became ...

was declared the winner. Frank filed a protest and after a review he was declared the winner of the Southern 500. The car number for this win was No. 66, as of 2019 Frank is the only driver to win a Cup race using this number. In 1966 Frank decided it was time to call it quits. He subsequently opened Larry Frank's Auto Body Shop in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

, operating it with his wife Margaret.

Off-track life and death

Frank had served in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, and was also a

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nation ...

boxer. In 2009 Frank was diagnosed with

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

. He died on January 5, 2010, at his home in Greenville, South Carolina.

References

External links

*
Remembering Larry Frank
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Larry 1929 births 2010 deaths Racing drivers from Indianapolis NASCAR drivers Deaths from lymphoma United States Marines Deaths from cancer in South Carolina