The Teen Who Would Be King : Frank Deiny Jr. of Burbank Aspires to Race With Likes of Richard Petty on Winston Circuit

Up stepped Richard Petty, the King of them all.

“Richard, do you remember Frank Deiny?” the man said by way of introduction.

“Frank Deiny? Why, sure I do,” Petty said.

“Well, this is Frank Jr.,” he said.

“Frank Jr .? How are you?” Petty said with renewed enthusiasm.

The blond 17-year-old, slightly built at 5-foot-10 and 135 pounds, extended his hand. Frank Deiny Jr. eyed Petty with admiration but not awe. After all, one day this man could be his competitor.

So it went last month at Sears Point Raceway where Frank Deiny Jr. of Burbank and his manager, Larry Smith, made the rounds at the Banquet Frozen Foods 300 in Sonoma. Davey Allison, Dale Earnhardt, all the stars of the Winston Cup Series were introduced to Deiny. And, in turn, each brightened at the mention of Deiny’s late, great father.

Frank Deiny Sr. died of cancer in 1986 at age 50, leaving Frank Jr., a younger daughter, Diana, and wife Claudia. But while he lived, he cut a substantive figure in the racing community. First as a racer, when he was a champion at Saugus Speedway in 1966 and set a track record in 1965 by becoming the first man to win four consecutive main events. Then, after his racing career, as an engineer.

Deiny could build cars with the best of them. He started making parts for his own cars, then became in demand by other drivers. He started a small business. The business grew.

Deiny built cars for Petty, and other notables in the racing community--from the ground up--and eventually moved to the spacious warehouse at Speedway Engineering in Sylmar.

But the competitive blood never left him, and in his bright-eyed boy he saw an opportunity to carry on the Deiny name in the racing arena.

Frank Jr. never doubted that he wanted to race cars. When he was 3 1/2, he drove his first Midget car.

Being a Deiny, Frank Jr. naturally aims high. In fact, his most common catch phrase--”If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right”--speaks volumes for this young man who is mature beyond his years.

Petty? Allison? Earnhardt? Sure, they are legends. But one day soon, Frank Deiny Jr. plans to be right next to them, burning rubber and flying for that checkered flag.

“It was (impressive meeting them),” he said. “But I’m trying to be a businessman. I can’t be in awe of another guy, because then he has something over you for when you get there. Because I will be racing against those guys I met.”

Currently, Deiny is between his junior and senior years at Burbank High. He races in the USAC Western States three-quarter Midget circuit for crew chief and mentor Larry Hart, a friend of his father’s. Deiny, who finished second last year in the competition for rookie of the year, is 10th in the points standings.

But Deiny is at a more defined stage. He is in the first step of the three-step grand plan designed by his father. The elder Deiny, fearing for his son’s safety, wanted him to give up driving before an accident occurred. But Deiny’s mother knowing how much racing meant to her son, pleaded the boy’s case.

Frank Sr. relented, and, following the family creed--”If he’s going to do it, he’s going do it right”--plotted a course for young Frank.

Step one: To race three-quarter Midgets.

Step two: In two summers, to race back east in the Busch Grand National Circuit.

Step three: To race in the prestigious Winston Cup Series.

If all goes well--meaning Frank Jr. drives well enough to attract a major sponsor--he will reach step three by age 22. Which leaves plenty of years for big-time racing.

To facilitate the plan, Frank Jr. plans to attend college in North Carolina, in the southeastern United States, the hotbed of racing.

“I’m going to major in business management,” he said. “So when I retire from racing, I can come back and run (Speedway Engineering).”

And to think, the average teen-ager’s most pressing matter is getting a date on Friday night. But Frank Jr. is no ordinary teen-ager. He carried a 4.0 grade-point average at Burbank--until he received a B in chemistry last semester--and is MVP of the school golf team. Deiny is a young man who decided at an early age that if he was going to live life, he was, well, he was going to do it right.

“My mom’s the real stickler,” he said, grinning sheepishly. “She wants me to get straight A’s. She thinks I’m Superman or something. I come home from a race and she says, ‘You done with your homework yet?’ ”

School is a priority. But racing, in Frank Jr.’s own words, “comes first.” Literally. Before Frank Jr. ever crossed a school’s doorstep, he had experienced the feel of a wheel in his innocent young grip.

After a trip to an old quarter-Midget track in Northridge in 1976, the elder Deiny noticed his son’s enthusiasm--present at even that early age.

“Would you like to drive these?” he asked.

“Yeah, yeah, that’d be really neat,” Frank Jr. recalls saying.

Father put son in a Midget car, where the youngster sat happily behind a wheel.

“Do you really want one of these?” he asked.

“Yeah, yeah.”

The next night, Frank Deiny Jr.--at age 3 1/2--was the proud owner of a real quarter-Midget car. From there, his racing career sped off. At age 5, he consistently broke the Junior Novice qualifying record. He won the Quarter-Midget Grand National Championship Junior Stock title in 1980, the Light Modified National Championship in ’81 and the Light B Class title in ’83.

In addition, he was the only driver to win the state Monza Championship five years in a row. All told, through 1988, Deiny was eight-time consecutive national quarter-Midget champion and eight-time state champion.

He began racing three-quarter Midgets last year and by his fourth race--his first at Saugus Speedway--had won a main event.