History The Timing Tag Collection Of Fran Hernandez

Sharon Baker was a fast chick who liked to run with the boys! Was Russetta her only choice, running a sedan?

 

Dang! Very cool

 

It's kind of a who's who of 1949 racing. Very Nice!!

 

Timing Tags,,that little something that's says -'This is how fast I went!"
I have a tag sitting on my desk for a pass I made in our roadster, not very fast 139.05.
But it was how I got it.
It was a windy 11/15/2015 meet, the dust would cloud the course causing delays.
I was in the car and the starter asked if I wanted to make a pass, it was dusty mid course but should clear at the finish.
Of course I said yes.
Fired the motor for the warm up
The starter, Jill Iverson, held her hand for hold, she turned and checked the course, talked to the tower, then turned to me with the question in her eyes,,, Was I ready?
I nodded yes, she gave me the drop my visor motion. I dropped my visor and felt the shove of the push truck, and I was down the tract.
25 or so miles an hour I pop the clutch and pull away from the truck right into a blinding dust storm.
I can see nothing, but I continue powering as Jill said it clears.
Second gear, no visuals
Third gears, nothing and know my mind is playing with what I am trying to see.
Still powering hoping for a break, when suddenly an orange blur fly's by my side vision, then another, then another.
Cones,,,, pull the chute, turn off the course, hit the brakes as the return road is closer than the shut down area.
I break through the dust, I am back from the return road.
My heart is pounding, breathing hard, but all is quiet.
Kennedy appears at the side of the car
"Man we lost you,, we could hear you but you were gone,,, you did the right thing..."
"Do you want to make another pass? We'll put you at the head of the line?"
Of course, and I did made a 139.105 pass
And I know that because I have a 2 X 3 black and brass plaque that says so,,,,

 

That 3W though....

 

Sharon Baker was not a chick. He was a friend and fellow Coupes Club member of Fran's and the Pierson Brothers. His son Scott is a member of this board.

 

There`s some great history in those tags.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Can anybody shed some light on who the "Meeks" was, of Hernandez & Meeks?

 

Such cool History!!....Thanks for posting.

 

Having experience with names that are usually applied to the opposite gender, (my Mother was named Cecil) I suspected that might be the case. But this is my first encounter of Sharon being used as a masculine name. My apologies are given, if needed. I noticed Sharon was racing a Sedan. What was it in 49? And is Scott lucky enough to retain ownership?

 

Thanks Ryan-- That makes sense that its the same guy that worked for Vic Edelbrock...
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/mus/2014/07/Bobby-Meeks/3740001.html

 

Randy lives right down the street from me in Tecumseh and is also my wife's ex-husband. He has amassed an amazing collection of his dad's effects and has a website dedicated to it. The last time I saw Fran was when he attended his grandson's wedding some years ago. We talked for about an hour about the old days and my only regret is that I didn't have a tape recorder. He was suffering short term memory loss but had a remarkable recollection of the old days. RIP Mr. Hernandez.

 

Love these History lessons.

 

Fran did R&D work for Offenhauser and Edelbrock and ended up at Ford working on Mercury specials. He pushed a lot of work to the speed equipment companies in SoCal. Met a Ford executive on a cruise and he said that Fran was a genius when it came to drive trains.

 

Killer coupe.

 

Simply awesome. Thank you for posting.

 

I have a picture of it racing at Saugus in the early '50s, will try to find and post -- it was a white '40 Ford sedan, if I remember right



I think this is the sedan

 

Bobby Meeks (Engine Builder) and Fran Hernandez working the dyno at Edelbrock's Shop in the early 1950s.

 

cool stuff there Ryan - my uncle finally gave me the go ahead to get his plates off the garage wall where they have been since he put them up there in the early sixties......they're more desired by me than his purple heart.....another cousin will get that....thinking it's going to be a real sad day when I pull them down.....

 

Very cool, thanks westendofdz.

 

Cool photo westendofdz, is that flat head mounted on a 2x4 wood frame for dyno testing? Blimey! Then again Morgan and MG built the chassis for their cars out of wood for years. Great history, thanks for posting.

 

Of topic, but can anyone identify those headlight stands? They look like he modified the top portion of those tube shock top mounts.

 

I think they are modified 32 fender braces, that was done quite a bit back then.
The headlight brackets on my old roadster were cut off fender braces.
This picture was taken in 1959.

 

One nice coupe, not to change the subject, but do you have a photo of the dash
in Fran's car Ryan? It is a thing of beauty.....

 

Here's a picture of that dash from my Dad's car.

 

Here's a better picture of the headlight setup.