FRANK MRAZEK MAY 8, 1936-DECEMBER 29, 2014

Frank Mrazek was the genuine motorcycle racing legend. ‘Crazy’ Frank’s story is of fairy tale proportions, both on and off his beloved racetrack. His story started in the former Czechoslovakia, still under Soviet rule. He married Jana DocekalovaMrazekova, an Olympic, world and European figure skater. The pair defected to Canada and ultimately returned to the new Czech Republic. Throughout these adventures one common passion prevailed – racing motorcycles. George Jonas in his superb biography of Crazy Frank, A Passion Observed, summed it up perfectly. “Not many people decide their entire lives in a single moment but some do, and Frank was one of them. He knew he was put on this earth to race motorcycles. He knew that he could ride them faster and smoother than anybody else in Brno, maybe in Czechoslovakia, maybe in the world. He knew it before he’d ever swung a leg over one.” Frank was right about Brno and Czechoslovakia on those daunting road circuits where he won the National 350cc Championship but could never have dreamed of his future across the Atlantic in a vastly different world. His defection to Canada in 1965 opened up such legendary venues as Mosport and Daytona and he tackled them with the same desire that brought him success back home. On a plethora of machinery and at circuits unlike those road circuits at home, he won 20 Canadian Championships in different classes and 12 USA Championships, again in different classes. In 1976 Frank was crowned both the North American International and USA Endurance Champion. A year later he won the Daytona Superbike race and in 1978 was voted International Superbike Rider in the USA. When he returned to Europe his racing continued. His presence both on the track and in the paddock swapping stories and offering advice summed up what racing motorcycles is all about. A larger than life character, he achieved what he set out to do from the very first time he rode a motorcycle.