Before the Superbike World Championship existed in its current form, Frantisek Mrazek had been racing motorcycle races for over 30 years. It was not until the age of 55 that the Czech won championship points in a run in the near-series championship.
Frantisek Mrazek was someone who can be called a contemporary witness. When he started motorcycling in the late 1950s, there was a Cold War; today’s Czech Republic was still called Czechoslovakia and was under Russian occupation. That was also the reason why Mrazek was never allowed to take part in events abroad and why he fled to the West together with his wife Jana in the summer of 1966.
The way of the Mrazeks led to North America, where Jana – she was one of the best figure skaters in her home country – got a job with an ice revue. Frantisek earned money as a mechanic in a VW workshop.
The then Yamaha factory rider Mike Duff helped Mrazek get back into racing. It was the beginning of a great career. After he was Czech champion in the class up to 350 cc in 1962, he started in American and Canadian racing series and fought against drivers like Johnny Cecotto. He was Canadian champion 20 times, US champion twelve times and also won once in Daytona. Mrazek earned himself the nickname “Crazy Frankie” through his courageous commitment on the racetrack.
By the way: Duff later had a sex change performed and called himself Michelle in the late 1980s.
Mrazek made a name for himself in the history books of the Superbike World Championship when he took part in the 1991 meeting in Mosport, Canada. Mrazek was the first Czech to finish 14th and 13th in the points in both races. Since then, he has held the age record: he was 55 years old at the time.
The two Superbike races were won by the largely unknown Canadian Pascal Picotte and the American Tom Kipp – they were their only victories in the Superbike World Championship. Because all Europeans and also the North American and Australian top pilots boycotted the meeting in Canada because they thought the runway was too dangerous even for the conditions at the time. The 1991 World Championship run in Mosport consisted of twelve Canadians and five US racers.
Mrazek worked on motorcycles well into old age and competed in classic events, again in the Czech Republic. He died on December 29, 2014 at the age of 78.
– .
