For some drag racers, the offseason is a time to expand their skills and presence in the sport.

That’s exactly what is happening this week at renowned Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School in Gainesville, Fla.

Classes began Dec. 27 and conclude Dec. 30, and a star-studded class of racers are attending.

National champion Sportsman racer Marco Abruzzi brought his daughter Emily who licensed in Super Comp.

Chris McGaha, a 1995 graduate of Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School, and winner of eight NHRA national Pro Stock events, brought his son Mason, a current NHRA Pro Stock driver who finished 11th in the points standings last season, and daughter Berkley to the school.

The family, which is based in Odessa, Texas, is building a Super Comp dragster and Mason has never driven a dragster so attended with his sister Berkley.

“This a great because Chris McGaha was a graduate of ours when he was 16 years old,” said Hawley, who opened his Frank Hawley Drag Racing School in 1985. “So, to see to these people at the racetrack and see them comeback again is really cool. They have kids and the kids have grown up and they have an interest in the sport, and they want to do some racing.”

Chad Green, a veteran Pro Mod driver, and nitro Funny Car driver brought his wife Giuliana and daughter Lexi to Gainesville and Lexi licensed in Super Gas. 
 
Bill Pink (son of Ed Pink, Bill Pink Carburetors) wanted to drive a dragster and licensed in Super Comp.

Samantha Mitchell, daughter of longtime Funny Car racer John Lawson, attended the school and licensed in Super Comp.

Additionally, there were two nitro crew guys attending in Gainesville, Nick Danner, who works for nitro Funny car driver Tim Wilkerson’s team, and he licensed in Super Comp.

“I enjoy all our classes but when you got a group of people who are that involved in the sport it allows us to have some discussions in the class that we might not normally have just because they have intimate knowledge of our sport. A lot of things I will talk about, and reference and I will see the experienced the racers, the parents sitting in the background, and they are shaking their heads ‘like yes that is what it is really like. If you have raced long enough, you have some good stories and you have a lot of bad ones as well. You can share a lot of that stuff because we all survived it.

“It is just a great experience to get to see these people. We are very honored that they would trust us with their kids. There is probably a lot of people out there who are very qualified at telling you how to stage the car and steer the car and shift the car or whatever it is. I enjoy that aspect but clearly one of things I like most is being able to have these lectures and discussions with the people who are much broader than our sport. These things you can apply to the sport but these principles you can apply them in other places in your life and that’s the part that I really enjoy.”

Danner, for one, enjoyed his time at Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School.

“I only knew Chad Green and his wife and his daughter Lexi,” Danner said. “I had not known the McGahas were going to be there, and it was totally a shock. It was so cool that I was able to be in a class with all those people. After we were done, I told Frank I appreciated the classroom time and the things that he said in there and lessons he tried to get people to learn. That made the driving part a hundred times easier. 

“Myself, I went into it thinking this thing is going to be so fast and am I going to do it right? I didn’t know. You go make a pass and Frank is going to talk about it and the things he teaches you, you are going to sit and think about and come back the next day and it was like you had a clean slate, but you also had a fresh mind. That was cool thing about the class itself, the first day I’m sure for everybody is rough, and the second day is like a 180 degree turn around. Everybody improved. It was awesome.”