Francisco A. Hernandez

Hernandez, Francisco A.
February 08, 1922 - January 05, 2011
On an April morning in 1949, a young Mexican immigrant named Fran Hernandez drove his 1932 Ford coupe to a makeshift racing strip near Santa Barbara and defeated an old rival in what's considered the first legally sanctioned drag race in America. The Los Angeleno also set drag-racing history that day as the first driver to use a "nitro" fuel in his hot rod. Nitromethane, also used in rockets and model airplanes, remains a drag racing staple.
Mr. Hernandez, whose passion for fast cars led to a distinguished career with Ford Motor Co., died Jan. 5 at a nursing home in Tecumseh, Mich., of complications from a brain aneurysm he suffered in 1994. He was 88.
He was born Francisco Arturo Hernandez in Chihuahua, Mexico, on Feb. 8, 1922, and arrived in Los Angeles as an infant with his family, exiles of the Mexican Revolution. He attended Polytechnic High School and during World War II served in the U.S. Navy as a first class machinist mate on the USS Cabot CVL-28 in the Pacific theater.
Returning to Los Angeles after the war, he became a machine-shop owner with automotive engineer Fred Offenhauser and later a foreman for the Edelbrock Equipment Co. He indulged his love of tinkering and his need for speed by building hot rods in the Edelbrock machine shop and racing, legally and otherwise, on streets and dry salt lakes, including Bonneville.
His 1949 grudge match with a dry lakes racer named Tom Cobbs took place in a legal venue sponsored by the Santa Barbara Acceleration Association, on a service road at the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport. In the highly touted race, Cobbs drove a supercharged roadster, a '29 Model A body over a '34 Ford frame, but it was no match for the souped-up '32 Mercury three-window coupe that Mr. Hernandez drove.
Mr. Hernandez went on to work for Indianapolis 500 racer Peter DePaolo, car builder Bill Stroppe and Electric Auto-Lite Co., which was acquired by Ford Motor Co. in 1961. He moved to Detroit the next year and was a Ford manager for more than 33 years. In the 1960s, he developed a racing program at Ford's Lincoln-Mercury division and is credited with coining the term "Funny Car," originally a Mercury Comet Cyclone GT. ("Funny Car" is an official drag racing car class.)
In 1969-70, Mr. Hernandez managed the Ford facility in Brighton, Mich., that produced the Boss 429, a Mustang variant, and in later years managed Ford's Fabrication & Build Activity, which hand-built a 1988 limousine for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He retired in the 1990s.
Survivors include his wife of 68 years, Patricia (Rathbun) Hernandez of Tecumseh, who married him in Los Angeles in 1943 - after he got out of jail. He had been sentenced to 30 days behind bars for zipping around LA in a roadster with no fenders or running boards; he got out five days early for good behavior.
Survivors also include three children, Randy Hernandez of Tecumseh, MI, Nancy Hernandez of Houston, TX, Rick Hernandez of Agoura Hills, CA; a brother, Luis F. "Phil" Hernandez of Los Angeles; and seven grandchildren.