The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
Frank Lance on his 91st birthday.
Making it all worthwhile…
I’m sure you remember the massive nine part article written by Willem Oosthoek about the adventures of Lone Star Mechanic Frank Lance. It was another, and perhaps the best yet, of his histories of American sports car racing heroes.
Indianapolis, May 1967. Delayed during qualifying, Frank Lance and A.J. Foyt are in the process of installing a new magneto in Foyt’s Coyote/Ford. [Photo Frank Lance Collection]
Story by Willem Oosthoek
With John Mecom winding down his racing program, Frank Lance left the Mecom team at the end of 1966, but he had fond memories of his time there.
Frank: “In 1966 Mecom flew in some of his company people, as well as my wife Carolyn, to see the Indianapolis 500. His company airplane was a four-engine Lockheed Electra. They flew up just for the day, and flew back to Houston that night, after celebrating Graham Hill’s win in the Mecom Lola. I got to see Carolyn for a few minutes before the race and for a couple of hours afterward. I had been away from her for the whole month. Carolyn had a seat in the stands behind the pits, with all of the drivers’ wives. I thought it was very thoughtful of Mecom to include her on that trip to Indy. By 1967 the theaters would show the race in closed circuit. My mother came up to Houston to help Carolyn with the kids, and they all went to see the race there in Houston. This was the first time my mother ever got to see what it was that I was doing for a living.
Galveston, Summer of 1966. Frank Lance next to one of John Mecom’s Lola T70s. Although Galveston was not an important race, the car was entered for George Follmer since Mecom liked to support his hometown events. Afterward the crew would have a party at John’s apartment at the Galveston Yacht Club. No, your eyes are not going bad, the face is a bit blurred int the original photograph. [Photo: Frank Lance Collection]
Story by Willem Oosthoek
After a year with Shelby American, the lack of insight in the future with the Ford program after the Le Mans disaster made Frank Lance return to his previous employer, John Mecom in Houston. Little did he know what a success story the Fords would become at Le Mans in 1966 and 1967. He rejoined the Mecom Racing Team in July 1965.
Frank: “When I got back to Mecom’s I never saw the Hussein. I didn’t know where it was. It was not in the shop. The Lola Mk 6 Coupe wasn’t there either. John didn’t keep his old race cars for long. All that was present at the time were two Lolas T70.”
Nassau, December 1963. Frank Lance [right] and Roger Penske next to the Traco Chevy-powered Cooper Monaco that Penske would race. Lining up next, the 2-liter MRT Special [the original Zerex-Duralite], the Scarab/Chevy and one of the Grand Sport Corvettes. [photo: Frank Lance Collection]
Story by Willem Oosthoek
All photos by Flip Schulke [Willem Oosthoek Collection], unless stated otherwise.
When Frank Lance joined the Mecom Racing Team in November 1963, John Mecom had already been involved in road racing for almost two years. Not as a driver, but as a team owner. John’s dad, who ran an oil exploration business out of Houston and, at one time, was among the six richest independent oilmen in the world, would not allow his son to race himself. In 1962 John was 21 years old and his first competition car was a Corvette, raced by Frank’s former colleague at CSSCI, Bob Schroeder. He and Mecom made a trip to Modena and visited the workshop of Alejandro de Tomaso [essentially a two-car garage according to Schroeder] to become the Argentinian’s best customer.
Daytona, February 1962. Two Chaparrals lining up for the start. Jim Hall would race the white #66, while Dick Rathmann of Indianapolis fame was assigned to run Harry Heuer’s blue #0. [photo by Art Huttinger]
Story by Willem Oosthoek
All photos by Bob Jackson [Willem Oosthoek Collection], unless stated otherwise.
With both his successful Maseratis sold during 1961, Jim Hall would race the new season with three other cars: the Troutman-Barnes Chaparral and a pair of 2.5-liter Climax-engined Lotuses, formerly Formula One cars, now racing as InterContinental Formula entries [ICF] in several USAC events.
At Daytona in February, for the inaugural 3-hour Continental race, the first two Chapparals built lined up next to each other for the Le Mans start. Hall did well by finishing 3rd overall behind winner Dan Gurney [Arciero Lotus 19/Climax] and Phil Hill/Ricardo Rodriguez [NART Ferrari Dino 246S], but Rathmann’s ride was outstanding. In spite of a delayed start, losing almost two laps due to engine flooding, and a time penalty for a bungled fuel stop, Dick broke the track record a number of times to finish 6th overall. According to the Daytona program, their Chevy V8s measured 5,227 cc [around 329 cu in] but that would change.
Mansfield, March 1961. Based on Jim Hall’s grimy face, a photo taken just after the race. From the left: Frank Lance, Jim, body man Foy Barrett and part-time mechanic Billy Billings, next to Jim’s feature winning Maserati 570S. Harry Heuer’s Meister Brauser Scarab is in the background.
As told by Frank Lance to Willem Oosthoek
All photos by Bob Jackson [Willem Oosthoek Collection], unless stated otherwise.
The 1961 season started well for Jim Hall. During the Polar Prix at Green Valley in February he raced a Porsche RSK to a feature win, beating preliminary winner Delmo Johnson in his Jaguar XK-SS [chassis 701].
Frank: “That was the former Penske RSK. Jim had a new Porsche RS-60 that he raced at Green Valley in August 1960, beating Delmo’s XK-SS for first overall. Roger wanted an RS-60 because Bob Holbert was beating him with his own RS-60. So, Roger made a deal with Jim to swap cars, although not engines. I had to remove the engine from the RS-60 and reinstall it in the tired RSK that Penske sent us. We took it to Green Valley in the new year and again won overall in a race against my old friend, the XK-SS Jaguar, now with Chevy power.
Dallas, October 1960. Frank Lance and Bob Schroeder working on Jim Hall’s second Birdcage Maserati, chassis 2463, before the Times Grand Prix at Riverside.
As told by Frank Lance to Willem Oosthoek
All photos by Bob Jackson [Willem Oosthoek Collection], unless stated otherwise.
After their adventures In Nassau, Frank and Red Byron stopped at Sebring to watch the first U.S. Grand Prix, won by Bruce McLaren in a works Cooper/Climax. It had been a busy 1959 year, and not only confined to competition cars.
Frank: “In the latter part of 1959 we also restored a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing coupe that Jim had taken as a trade-in. Red and I did an in-car rebuild of the engine as well as installing a made-to-order air conditioning. This may have been the only 300SL to be air conditioned. Foy Barrett did a total body job with a candy apple red paint job. Red and I took it for a shake-down run going through Plano at 142 mph, with Red driving. Jim kept that car until several years ago and sold it for a nice sum.”
Dallas, November 1960. Frank Lance welding the cracked tubes on Jim Hall’s Birdcage Maserati, chassis 2463. The tube structure between the shock absorbers needed reinforcing as well.
As told by Frank Lance to Willem Oosthoek.
All photos by Bob Jackson [Willem Oosthoek Collection] unless otherwise stated
I met Frank at the Old Race Drivers Reunion, organized by R. David Jones, a former SCCA top official, at his Soldier Creek Ranch in Fort Worth a few years ago. In addition to Frank, I met Bill Janowski, Delmo Johnson, Bob Schroeder, Jim Hall, Willis Murphy, J.C. Kilburn, Enus Wilson, Toly Arutunoff, John Mecom and many other people associated with motor racing in The Golden Age. Frank stood out with his excellent memory at 90 years of age, and I decided he deserved to have his race history in writing. Frank and I put together his story via email and I used the many photos from my collections. Parts of this series appeared earlier in my book “Sports Car Racing in the South”(Dalton Watson). Most images of Frank’s early years were the work of Dallas Times Herald photographer Bob Jackson, a racing enthusiast. Jackson became a winner of the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Photography for his image of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in the Dallas Courthouse.
Race drivers are the ones who receive all the attention and glory in the press. Their mechanics seldom do. Yet, Frank Lance’s career should get our attention as well. Frank served as the racing mechanic for five of the most prominent Texas drivers and team owners of the fifties and sixties: Jim Hall, Ebb Rose, Carroll Shelby, John Mecom and A.J. Foyt. He saw it all, from amateur [SCCA] and professional [USAC] sports car racing in the U.S., international long-distance racing at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans, Formula One racing at Watkins Glen, Riverside and Mexico City, to the Indianapolis 500, where he was part of the winning team twice. And all that in only a ten-year timeframe.