Frank Luptow

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Frank Luptow
Nationality
National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (1995)
Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame
(1988)
Daytona Beach Road Course)
Last race1951 Race No. 5 (Occoneechee)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0

Frank Luptow (born Frank Lueptow) (1914-1952) was an American racing driver. He competed in International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) big cars (now sprint cars) and NASCAR stock cars. He won the 1949, 1950, and 1951 IMCA big car championships.

Background

Luptow was born at Markesan, Wisconsin to Frank and Ida Lueptow in 1914 with Dutch heritage.[1] He later dropped the "E" from his last name.[1]

Racing career

Luptow moved to

Detroit, Michigan and won in his first race at Jackson.[1] He raced in several Central States Racing Association (CSRA) races before World War II. During the war, he was a test driver for tanks.[1] After his discharge from the military, he moved back to Detroit and worked for a tank manufacturer.[1] In August 1946, Luptow won his first "big car" (now sprint car) feature at an IMCA event at Davenport Speedway.[1] In 1947, he had 2 Top Ten IMCA finishes at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and finished 20th in season points.[1]

Luptow won 1948 IMCA races at Lebanon, Ohio, Eldon, Iowa, Danville, Illinois, Nashville, Tennessee, Plant Field (Tampa, Florida), Speedway Park (Tampa), and Birmingham, Alabama.[1] He finished third in season points behind Emory Collins and Deb Snyder.[1] After the regular season ended, he kept racing at Tampa-area venues from October to March 1949.[1]

Luptow started the 1949 season by replacing his Hal engine with an

Daytona Beach Road Course.[2] He started the 1951 season by racing in four NASCAR Grand National races, with finishes of 53rd at Daytona, 5th at Charlotte, 11th at Lakewood Speedway, and 30th at Occoneechee Speedway.[2] In 1951, he won 33 features to win his third straight IMCA championship.[1]

In 1952, he switched to racing the

champ cars and stock cars.[1] Luptow switched to stock cars at the behest of his wife, who wanted him to quit entirely because of the danger of open-wheel cockpits.[3] He failed to qualify for four champ car events including the 1952 Indianapolis 500.[2] In the stock car, he won twice in August at the Milwaukee Mile and the Terre Haute Action Track.[1] During the September 21, 1952 AAA stock car race at Lakewood Speedway, Luptow's front axle broke causing the car the flip.[1] He was partially ejected out of the car and died shortly afterward of head injuries after the car rolled on top of him.[3] Luptow had previously planned on racing at Terre Haute that day but traveled down to Lakewood as a favor to AAA, who wanted more star power at the Lakewood event.[4]

Personal life

Luptow married beauty queen Betty Drake.[1] The couple had a daughter named Susan.[1] Betty later married Bobby Grim and Susan married racer Rocky Hodges.[1]

Career awards

Luptow was inducted in the

Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1988.[5] He was inducted in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1995.[1]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series

NASCAR Grand National Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 NGNC Pts Ref
1950 Frank Luptow 9 Lincoln
DAB

18 		CLT LAN MAR CAN VER DSP MCF CLT HBO DSP
HAM
 DAR LAN NWS VER MAR WIN HBO 128th N/A [6]
1951 Joe Winter 88 Olds
DAB

53 		CLT
5 		NMO
11 		GAR 69th 136 [7]
9 HBO
30 		ASF NWS MAR CAN CLS CLB DSP GAR GRS BAI HEI
AWS
 MCF ALS MSF FMS MOR ABS DAR CLB CCS LAN CLT DSP WIL HBO
TPN
 PGS MAR OAK NWS
HMS
 JSP ATL GAR NMO

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Hall of Fame Inductees / Frankie Luptow". National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Driver Frank Luptow Career Statistics - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Remembering Lakewood Speedway". Georgia Racing History. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  4. ISBN 9781463477103
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  5. ^ "Luptow, Frank 1988". Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  6. ^ "Frank Luptow - 1950 NASCAR Grand National Series". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  7. ^ "Frank Luptow - 1951 NASCAR Grand National Series results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
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