It’s always great to see a racer do well on Phoenix Race Tires, but one team that sticks out in the drag racing world is the DeFrank family and their Super Stock supremacy. Jim DeFrank has been in the game for a long time, and the drag racing bug is obviously hereditary as his sons followed closely in his foot steps. Jim and his sons Jimmy and Tony are dedicated to the sport and prove the undeniable performance of Phoenix tires every time they hit the track. World championships, national events wins and all around great performances speak volumes of DeFrank’s world class operation and the consistency of Phoenix tires.

Jimmy DeFrank qualifies his California Car Cover Cobalt at the 50th Annual Winternationals. Thanks to Bobby Bennett at Competitionplus.com for the photos.

The DeFranks are a racing family, but Jim does a great job of balancing his racing habits with his business, the California Car Cover Company. You’ve probably heard of the company, as it produces way more than just car covers–everything from memorabilia, apparel and car care products are available from California Car Cover, so check out the website if you haven’t already. The DeFranks obviously did their homework during the winter months and started off the 2010 season with a runner up finish at the 50th Annual NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California.

A scene from the finals at the Winternationals. Jimmy is in the far lane. Thanks to Bobby Bennett at Compeitionplus.com for the photos.

When you hear about a racer fighting through the brackets, you might sometimes think of a 16 car field like you see in the Pro ranks, but the Sportsman series are generally packed with many more racers. This past weekend in Pomona, the Super Stock field consisted of 79 entries. That makes for a long weekend at the track, especially if you make it all the way to the finals. The weekend started and ended great, as Jimmy qualified his California Car Cover Cobalt in the 12th position with a time of 8.67. After battling through 7 rounds of racing, and taking out some of Super Stock’s biggest contenders, Jimmy DeFrank lined up in the finals against Jeff Lane. And though Jimmy didn’t take home a Wally, he certainly represented Phoenix Race Tires in a positive way.

So I got a phone call yesterday from my long lost dysfunctional brother from a different mother and it looks like he’s gone and made himself famous again…and this time it didn’t involve law enforcement.  Last weekend at the 2009 Bonneville World Finals, driving the Guldstrom and Jesel ’32 Ford Roadster, Jimmy set a B/ST world record of 223.623 mph on the 5 mile long course.  Consider this for a moment…since 1953 there have been 658 people that have climbed Mt. Everest, to date there are only 458 people in the Bonneville 200 mph club.  What makes his accomplishment all the more impressive is the fact that two short months ago, in the same car at Speedweek, he went through the 5 mile banner sideways at 200+mph with the parachute out, slamming into a marker and causing extensive damage to the car.  See the links below for details on that one…

www.jimmyshine.com

www.popularmechanics.com article

Jimmy’s been my pal for a while, and I feel comfortable in saying that California is probably a safer place now that the two of us are 2,200 miles apart.  No matter how hard I seem to try, I’ll never forget our Thanksgiving weekend trip of ’06 and riding a 4-wheeler across the desert in the middle of the night with ding-dong on the back, on our way to check trout lines that we’d set earlier in the day.  While cruising along flat out at 40+ mph Jimmy started singing, howling, and flailing around like a lunatic…and in the process kicked the handle bar out of my hands.  Suffice it to say, the only thing we caught was road-rash as we jack-knifed then went flying through the air planting it face first on the unforgiving desert floor.  I recall glancing up and seeing this large, green, 4-wheeler (affectionately named “Broc”, short for broccoli) going end over end, landing on its wheels and then circling around us with its lights on like an abandoned jet ski.

We didn’t say a word to each other the whole way back until we pulled into camp…at which point Jimmy reassured me that even though we looked like a couple of bloodied up Spanish-American war veterans, he would do the talking to the wives, moms, etc. and that everything would be fine.  Keep in mind, he’s a fabricator, not a diplomat, so we got grounded for the rest of the weekend and were not allowed to ride anything capable of going over 8 mph, which relegated us to the kiddy-go carts (with roll-cage).  To this day, I can’t hear him say the word “fishing” without having the side of my head convulse and my knee’s start knocking.  Good times.

Jimmy’s ’06 World Record

Congratulations amigo Shine…very well done!!!
As for drag racing, we had last weekend off, ORSCA Atlanta was cancelled due to weather.  So, it was time to catch up on all things neglected…namely grass cutting, dog washing, etc.  Look for another update in a couple of weeks…until then…
Godspeed,

EG

Greetings from the foothills of the Tennessee Smokey Mountains.  It’s gone from brisk here to flat-out cold.  Somebody told me the other day that this weird form of condensation on my truck in the early mornings is actually frost…or frozen water.  Well, when I let my oh-so spoiled dogs out for bathroom & breakfast, they walk gingerly across it, then usually stop, turn around and glare at me like they’re being punished.  Oh well, I can’t do anything about the weather, cold paws, (or the air conditioner that’s still running in my office) and in spite of it all, we’ve managed to get things pretty heated up here in the Performance division of Coker Tire. (more…)