For those TNF-ers not familiar with the weekly website VeloceToday.com, starting today it will feature a multi-part series on Frank Lance. For ten years Frank worked as a racing mechanic for various Texas drivers and team owners: Jim Hall, Ebb Rose, Carroll Shelby, John Mecom and A.J. Foyt. He is 90 years of age now, with a great memory, and has some interesting tales to tell.
![Photo](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7bd3c39cfba5e59b4147f192c7222ebd?s=100&d=https%3A%2F%2Fbb2.autosport.com%2Fpublic%2Fstyle_images%2FTheo%2Fprofile%2Fdefault_large.png)
Frank Lance, Lone Star Racing Mechanic
#1
Posted 07 November 2023 - 12:25
#3
Posted 07 November 2023 - 22:09
Thanks, ReWind. Much appreciated! Eight more parts on Frank to come in the next weeks.
Willem
#4
Posted 08 November 2023 - 00:34
Mr Lance had a front row seat to the Golden Age, I look forward to reading every installment.
#5
Posted 08 November 2023 - 00:46
Excellent interview, Willem, with marvellous archive photos. Many thanks for posting them. It is intriguing to see three small euro motors behind the Temple Buell Maserati. It looks like a Borgward/Hansa in front of a Morris 1000 with and A35 in the rear distance, which must have left some folk a little bemused.
Roger Lund
#6
Posted 08 November 2023 - 00:55
Roger,
Growing up in Holland in the 1950s, I recall those small cars were a dime a dozen there. But, apart from the Morris and Austin, I had a hard time identifying the other one in the photo. And I still wonder what kind of a market there would have been for them in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Probably another reason for the demise of the CSSCI retail business?
Willem
#7
Posted 08 November 2023 - 10:13
An earlier Jerry Entin thread on Mr. Lance:
Frank Lance - The Nostalgia Forum - The Autosport Forums
#8
Posted 08 November 2023 - 11:12
A massive thanks, WINO.
Why would I click on a link to an article about a mechanic I'd never heard of, based 5000 miles from me, in a time long past? My goodness, I'm glad I did!
#9
Posted 14 November 2023 - 18:31
It is Tuesday, so Part 2 of the Frank Lance story is on VeloceToday.com.
A brief employment with Ebb Rose in Houston, then back to Jim Hall in Dallas.
#10
Posted 14 November 2023 - 18:54
Thanks!
And I just smile at the very thought of Toly. We witnessed him win two H-Prod national championships in his Morgan, during a time my dad had one, in ‘73 and ‘77. He was unfairly disqualified in ‘73 so we were really thrilled when he earned it back in 1977. A real character.
#11
Posted 21 November 2023 - 12:31
Tuesday again, so Part 3 of the Frank Lance story is out. VeloceToday.com covers Jim Hall's 570S and Tipo 61 Maseratis, and his first Chaparral.