Hi!
Matich was the dominant driver in Australia
in the late 60s/early 70s, as I understand it. Should he have gone to Europe like Brabham? What do you think of him, Ray?
Did he design the F5000 A50-A53s and did
Walker race for Matich in 1972/1973?
When Walker drove that yellow Lola in the
mid-70s, there were no sponsor decals.
How did he finance his racing and how good
was he compared with Bartlett, Stewart & Co?
Frank Matich & John Walker
Started by
island
, Apr 20 2000 21:56
5 replies to this topic
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#2
Ray Bell
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Posted 21 April 2000 - 06:46
Walker had some relationship with Matich for a while, but it may have been a result of both being tied to Repco.
As for Matich and going to Europe - he had four kids etc, but there's no doubt in my mind he could have made an impact there. Nor in the minds of many others. He may have gone had he not had that 1965 crash, and he claims to have had invitations from McLaren and Brabham to drive their cars over there. He also claims to have been the official test driver for the M10s..
What he really was is hard to define. So much information would be hard to obtain, especially exactly what Bruce McLaren promised him. Bruce and he were quite good friends, by the way.
Walker had raced for the City State team, funded by a large car dealer in Adelaide, otherwise I don't know where his money came from. Magnum wheels sponsored him later on, when he won the Australian GP... he was younger than Bartlett and Stewart, reaching his prime rather than going past it, so it's ultimately hard to judge the relativity. I think it would be hard for anyone to say he was better than Bartlett.
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Life and love are mixed with pain...
As for Matich and going to Europe - he had four kids etc, but there's no doubt in my mind he could have made an impact there. Nor in the minds of many others. He may have gone had he not had that 1965 crash, and he claims to have had invitations from McLaren and Brabham to drive their cars over there. He also claims to have been the official test driver for the M10s..
What he really was is hard to define. So much information would be hard to obtain, especially exactly what Bruce McLaren promised him. Bruce and he were quite good friends, by the way.
Walker had raced for the City State team, funded by a large car dealer in Adelaide, otherwise I don't know where his money came from. Magnum wheels sponsored him later on, when he won the Australian GP... he was younger than Bartlett and Stewart, reaching his prime rather than going past it, so it's ultimately hard to judge the relativity. I think it would be hard for anyone to say he was better than Bartlett.
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Life and love are mixed with pain...
#3
Ray Bell
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Posted 25 June 2003 - 08:22
Might be time to resurrect this thread...
I've started a dialogue with Frank, spending a few hours with him on Monday and trying to concentrate on the very early days (MG TC, Austin Healey). But naturally there was some overlap...
One thing that stood out was his emphatic statement that the European scene was his if he wanted it. My guess above about what might have happened had he not crashed at Lakeside was borne out too, for he said he had arranged a two month gap in his commitments here to spend time testing the Fords with Bruce McLaren.
Once he got there, one wonders how differently he'd view his family situation... and of course, we'll never know. But it remains hard to see him uprooting his wife and four kids to take that step. Not impossible, but I know he wouldn't have done such a thing lightly.
Once he had the crash he went into a business that really meant he was stuck here.
Of course, the reason for my commencement of this is that I'm gearing up to do his biography. We got into some family history too... his father was a Croatian who was youngest in the family. He got out of Croatia in 1922, aged 14, and became a cellarman in a hotel about a quarter of a mile after he disembarked from the ship that brought him here.
The thing I always wanted to know, but never got around to asking until now, was about his mother. She was Australian, very Australian.
Frank's father, another Frank, Croatian surname Matic, lost all his family in WW2...
I've started a dialogue with Frank, spending a few hours with him on Monday and trying to concentrate on the very early days (MG TC, Austin Healey). But naturally there was some overlap...
One thing that stood out was his emphatic statement that the European scene was his if he wanted it. My guess above about what might have happened had he not crashed at Lakeside was borne out too, for he said he had arranged a two month gap in his commitments here to spend time testing the Fords with Bruce McLaren.
Once he got there, one wonders how differently he'd view his family situation... and of course, we'll never know. But it remains hard to see him uprooting his wife and four kids to take that step. Not impossible, but I know he wouldn't have done such a thing lightly.
Once he had the crash he went into a business that really meant he was stuck here.
Of course, the reason for my commencement of this is that I'm gearing up to do his biography. We got into some family history too... his father was a Croatian who was youngest in the family. He got out of Croatia in 1922, aged 14, and became a cellarman in a hotel about a quarter of a mile after he disembarked from the ship that brought him here.
The thing I always wanted to know, but never got around to asking until now, was about his mother. She was Australian, very Australian.
Frank's father, another Frank, Croatian surname Matic, lost all his family in WW2...
#4
eldougo
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Posted 25 June 2003 - 09:03
Frank's father, another Frank, Croatian surname Matic, lost all his family in WW2...
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Well i never know that ,I never thought that he had a european family background seemed
trueblue to me ........... Thanks for that info RAY.
An for what it,s worth i was always of the opion that he would have DONE GOOD if he could
have made the BIG step to UK. : we will never know just how good he was.
An speakingof John Walker he was good but not up to KB league. That big crash at Sandown was unreal
he came close to meeting his Maker that day.
#5
275 GTB-4
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Posted 25 June 2003 - 10:29
Originally posted by Ray Bell
I think it would be hard for anyone to say he was better than Bartlett.
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Life and love are mixed with pain...
Ray, please let us all know when the Match Bio is in print!
I was a big fan of Franks achievements at the time, lower down the order of course, but almost akin to the exploits of Black Jack! I assume Frank engineered the F5000s and the SR sportscars which I just idolised as a yound man (still admire the design and their elegance every time I see them going round). I seem to recall him easing out of the scene to concentrate on the Tyre? and Bell helmet businesses.
Am I right in thinking that constructor/drivers can generally be considered a cut above the rest?
#6
Ray Bell
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Posted 25 June 2003 - 10:39
That comparison with Bartlett is about Walker...
The whole thing will take a while, I'm just starting and there will probably be two manifestations of it. If I can find a sponsor, I can devote more time to it and it could happen much more quickly, of course, but I have to fit it in when I can, so there are no promises from me.
The fortunate thing for me is that I did spend a lot of time with Frank in his best years. A lot of the perspective is already in place for me...
The whole thing will take a while, I'm just starting and there will probably be two manifestations of it. If I can find a sponsor, I can devote more time to it and it could happen much more quickly, of course, but I have to fit it in when I can, so there are no promises from me.
The fortunate thing for me is that I did spend a lot of time with Frank in his best years. A lot of the perspective is already in place for me...
