Folks Of Interest Another legend passes...........

It is with great sadness that I inform you that Fran Hernandez left this world late this afternoon with his family at his bedside.My stepson John(his grandson)came home tonight to tell us.

For those not familiar with the name,Fran had a most storied career.Growing up in Southern California he was a member of the Coupes car club and raced at Muroc in the late 40's.He was supposed to be the first person to use nitromethane in the infamous street race with Tom Cobbs.
He worked at Vic Edelbrock's shop building engines along with Bobby Meeks.He was a crew chief for the Lincoln Mexican Road Race cars in the early 50's eventually going to work for Lincoln-Mercury in their racing department and heading up Kar Kraft when they were building Boss Mustangs.He was instrumental in working on Ford's racing program in many areas and finished his career with Ford working on the Presidential limousines.
His famous 32 Ford 3-window was the first coupe to grace the cover of Hot Rod Magazine(April 1949) and had a 3 page spread including a Rex Burnette cutaway.
He suffered a series of strokes awhile back that left his short term memory gone but he could remember stories of the hot rod scene in California with amazing clarity.
The last time I spoke with Fran was at John's wedding and we spent over an hour yakking about cars(he did most of the talking)before Pat(his wife)finally dragged him away.My only regret is that I didn't have a tape recorder that day.
Anyway I thought I would post this in memory of a great man.Rest in peace Fran!!!!!!!

 

Very sad...never met him, but met many who spoke well of him.

 

**** ! Another hero gone.

 

Sounds like he was an awesome guy. Sorry for your loss.

 

R.I.P.Fran.....another pioneer gone.

 

R.I.P Fran

 

R.i.p

 

He was a true legend. You are correct, he was probably the first to use nitro, learned it from Edelbrock, according to stories, who ran some in his midget. Fran did compete in the first organized drag racing match race at Goleta, 48 or 49, with Tom Cobb, who ran gas in his blown flathead. Fran won the race, loaded up, and went back to LA.

RIP

 

safariknut, you mentioned bench racing with Fran,did he mention how much nitro he used to beat Cobbs in the legendary race in Goleta in '49? Truly a legend.

 

what a great career....most of us would have loved to be in his shoes growing up....RIP old hotrodder...

 

His name brings good memories.RIP,Fran.

 

Fran (leaning over the fender) with my Dad at El Mirage in 1949:

 

This is a sad day. I never met Fran, but have read plenty about him over the years - most recently in the Edelbrock book. Quite a guy, to say the least.
Sorry for the loss to all in the family, but thanks for letting us know. He'll be missed, for sure.
Scotty

 

One of the real legends that a lot of us read about when we were a lot younger. His name always seemed to pop up as being the one who was helping the guy who was out seeking the glory.

 

I don't recall a lot of what we discussed as that happened about 7 years ago.I remember discussing some mutual friends we had;a couple that he used to work with.One was Naz Barnaby(since deceased)who worked in Ford's dynamometer facility and had several experimental Ford engines in his garage that he had purchased for s**** price(something you could do back then)when I had striped one of his cars.
Another was George Miller who worked at Kar Kraft on the Ford J car project.George was a transmission designer who later worked for Doug Nash and was responsible for several designs there.He also designed gear trains for off shore power boats and campaigned race cars.One of his drivers was Mark Kirby(think Motor City Flathead).
Another incident I recall is attending the ground breaking ceremony of the Andy Granatelli Museum and meeting a bunch of legendary drivers and mechanics and it was amazing how many of them knew Fran.As a surprise to Fan,we got just about everybody there to sign one of the programs to give to him as he was not feeling well at the time.When we gave it to him his face lit up when he started reading the signatures and little notes attached.
Here are a couple of pictures of the cover shot and interior of Hot Rod and Fran and I at John's wedding reception.I have a couple more I'll have to dig out.

 

Thoughts and prayers going out to his friends and family.

 

Always loved that cover of Hot Rod, actually have one. Truly a legend has p***ed and nothing but positive thoughts to his family and friends.

 

My thoughts & prayers are with you and Fran's family. He was a true Pioneer.

Jonnie King

 

So sorry to here this another master craftsmen gone Gods speed.

 

Rip

 

The New Year didn't stop the flow of greats going to the hereafter. RIP

Frank

 

RIP. He was truly an innovator and visionary.

 

Sorry for your loss Ray.

R.I.P. Fran

 

R.I.P. Mr. Hernandez

 

........Prayers going out to his family and friends......

 

Knew Fran for decades. It was he and Al "Big Smoke" Turner who hired me to host the 196-970 Lincoln-Mercury "Streep Scene" performance exhibit for amjor car shows.

Although he led a very rich and full existence, I feel his most significant contribution to drag racing was development of the first truly engineered funny car - the 1966 Mercury Comets. He watched early A/FX's run at Detroit Dragway and became determined they were gonna kill both racers and spectators. As boss of Lincoln-Mercury racinmg in those d

 

Knew Fran for decades. It was he and Al "Big Smoke" Turner who hired me to host the 1969-970 Lincoln-Mercury "Streep Scene" performance exhibit for major car shows.

Although he led a very rich and full existence, I feel his most significant contribution to drag racing was development of the first truly engineered funny car - the 1966 Mercury Comets. He watched early A/FX's run at Detroit Dragway and became determined they were gonna kill both racers and spectators. As boss of Lincoln-Mercury racing in those days, he could do something good and he did.

Very neat person. This is a tragic loss.

 

Fran was also very instrumental in design work at Offenhauser Equipment Company. There were Lot of one off pieces built by Offy for Lincoln-Mercury projects thanks to Fran.

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to talk to a Ford drive train engineer and he said that Fran was a genius.

 

R.I.P. ....My Condolences to the Hernandez family

 

Oh no. R.I.P