Frank
Hawley
drag racing legend, Joe Amato, for advice. “Joe
said ‘just start it’ and I said that I couldn’t without
money, and he said ‘of course you can, no one
else knows you don’t have any money… just tell
‘em you have a school and see what happens,’”
explained Hawley, of the gentle push he received
that fueled his motivation. Having once been
hired as a drag racing photographer without ac-
odds being against him – was richly rewarded.
“We came up with $27,000 in deposits in the
first two weeks,” exclaimed Hawley, who called
Amato again, panicking, and found peace of mind
when investors finally agreed his drag racing
school idea was a good one. “We never lied to
people, but we would say things like ‘this is such
an amazingly popular idea, we can’t believe the
“People often underestimate how much
energy, effort, concentration and attention
it takes to do this - drag race - properly.”
tually owning a camera, the idea of “fake it ‘till
you make it” wasn’t necessarily a foreign one, and
Hawley decided to give it a shot.
A logo was developed, some promotional flyers
(complete with pictures of cars he didn’t own)
were created, a post office box was obtained, a
separate phone line running to a spare bedroom
in a house that he rented was installed, and Frank
Hawley’s Drag Racing School was born. His de-
termination to make his idea work – despite all
84 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
response, and we can’t get you in a class for six
months’ because we actually didn’t have any cars!”
Hawley and his crew worked nonstop for 186
days in a row before they ran their first student
down the track in 1985, but they had done the
impossible – they made a legitimate business
from nothing but a far-fetched idea.
In the beginning, Hawley’s school featured
alcohol Funny Cars. “I had raced fuel cars all my
life, and thought nobody would want to drive
anything slower than that. If you had a credit card
and could breathe, we would let you drive one,”
joked Hawley, who is the first to point out that
might not have been one of his brightest ideas.
Eventually, the school purchased some slower cars
and Super Comp dragsters – things that made a
little more sense for the average person wanting
to get involved.
Over the years, Hawley’s innovative idea grew
into one of the most well-respected and well-
known driving schools in the country. The pre-
mier drag racing education entity, Frank Hawley’s
Drag Racing School now offers courses at drag
strips throughout the United States where rookies
and seasoned racers alike can hop behind the
wheel of anything ranging from their own daily
drivers to dragsters and Funny Cars alike. Basic
“how to drive” courses as well as NHRA or IHRA
licensure courses are available, and Hawley enjoys
being the driving force responsible for educating
generations of drivers.
Since his school’s inception, Hawley has seen
tons of drivers climb into the seats of his racecars.
He’s watched countless passes down the drag
strip, and has amassed an incredible knowledge
of the common issues that arise. For new drivers,
or someone who just showed up and wanted to
learn to drive, Hawley says the biggest problem
is simply not knowing what they don’t know. “If
I don’t know anything about drag racing, I can
Issue 124
CLASSMATES
Frank Hawley poses with better than
a dozen graduates from a school held
at Gainesville Raceway in Florida.