Frank Harrison behind the wheel of Birdcage #61.2467 at the 1960 Nassau Trophy race. (photo: courtesy JFH collection)
J. FRANK HARRISON JR, DEAD AT 72
On November 26, at the age of 72, legendary team owner and TMC member J. Frank Harrison Jr. died of a heart attack in his office. Frank ran the first franchised Coca-Cola bottling plant, a business started by his family in Chattanooga, TN around the turn of the century. America’s love for this soft drink would allow him to indulge in a wide range of racing activities between 1958 and 1967.
Maseratis were his first and foremost passion. In 1957 Frank fell in love with the 450S while seeing Carroll Shelby race one at Virginia International Raceway. He placed his order with Maserati agent Jim Hall in Dallas and bought what would turn out to be the last 450S made: chassis 4510. Dan Clippenger, Walt Cline and Jim Hall raced it for him during 1958/59. When the 450S became obsolete, Harrison bought two nimbler Tipo 61 Birdcage Maseratis and sponsored Jim Jeffords and Carroll Shelby for the 1960 USAC Road Racing Championship. He helped Shelby win the crown in his last year of competition, while Jeffords won the Road America 200 for the Harrison team. By early 1961 Frank must have cornered the market for 450S Maseratis, as he owned three of them: 4508, 4509 and 4510. Fred Gamble was sponsored in a Birdcage and Harrison also engaged in Formula One racing. During the 1961 U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Lloyd Ruby raced Frank’s gold/blue Formula One Lotus 18. Ruby ran 8th in a highly competitive field until a throttle linkage broke.
For 1962 Frank bought a new Lotus 19 sportsracer. After luring master mechanic Jerry Eisert away from Frank Arciero, the Harrison team became a major force in professional racing. Ruby won the second heat of the Pacific Grand Prix at Laguna Seca in 1962 and when the Lotus was upgraded with Ford V8 power into the first Harrison Special, he won the 1963 Northwest Grand Prix near Seattle. Another attention grabber was the entry of the old Formula One Lotus 18 in the April 21, 1963 Trenton USAC race for Indianapolis type Championship cars. The Lotus wheelbase had been stretched to meet USAC specifications and it still used the relatively underpowered 2.5-liter Climax engine. To the surprise of the establishment, Ruby ran away from a field with known chargers such as A.J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones and Jim Hurtubise. He set the fastest lap, only to be let down by his Colotti gearbox. It is a little known fact that Frank Harrison beat Colin Chapman as the first Lotus entrant in an Indianapolis-type race.
From then on, Harrison would embrace open wheel racing. Copying a Lotus Formula Junior, Jerry Eisert spent 1964 building the Harrison Indy car, powered by a push-rod Chevy. Unfortunately, Skip Hudson could not qualify it at Indy in 1965 and later in the year a range of other drivers -Billy Foster, Johnny Rutherford and Al Unser- tried in vain to make it more competitive. In 1966 the Chevy engine was replaced by a Ford and Ronnie Duman finally qualified the Harrison Special at the Brickyard. But more bad luck lay in store, as Frank’s entry was among the 15 cars caught and eliminated in that infamous first lap accident. By the end of 1967 Harrison pulled the plug on his racing team. The bottling business was picking up, requiring more of his personal attention.
That is not to say Frank stopped caring about cars. During the last decade he became heavily involved again in building a car collection, starting with the MG-TD. Various original Hummers featured prominently, before they became commercially available. Just before he died, the former team owner bought two new Aston Martins, a DB7 and a Vanquish, in matching colors. The new Maybach was also on his list. J. Frank Harrison Jr. remained a car guy till the very end.
–WNO