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. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

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 (the top NASCAR series, known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 and 1970, then the NASCAR ...

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. ...

. Larry Frank won the Southern 500 in Darlington in 1962 driving a 1962 Ford owned and built by Ratus Walters. Junior Johnson received the checkered flag but Car owner, pit chief Ratus Walters challenged the finish. Officials found the scorers had missed one of Franks laps and, therefore, declared him the winner - 3 hours after the finish of the race.

Career

Born in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

,Alt URL
Frank was known as a resident of

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

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

midget cars Midget cars, also Speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small, with a very high power-to-weight ratio, and typically use four-cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most ...

. 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 Div ...

. 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 Political subdivisions of Virginia#Independent cities, independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 13, ...

driving Lonnie Fish's No. 76

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

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 ...

. 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 professional stock car racing driver, engineer, and team owner as well as an entrepreneur. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career befor ...

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 ( ; ) is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, sixth-most pop ...

, 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 or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

, and was also a

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves of America is an organization that promotes annual competitions of amateur boxing in the United States, in which winners are awarded a belt and a ring, and the title of national champion. The organization currently owns 30 fr ...

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). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

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

References

External links

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Remembering Larry Frank
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Larry 1929 births 2010 deaths Racing drivers from Indianapolis NASCAR drivers Deaths from lymphoma in the United States United States Marines Deaths from cancer in South Carolina Racing drivers from West Virginia People from Glen Dale, West Virginia Sportspeople from Marshall County, West Virginia