Frank Kurtis became the first
non-driver to be inducted into the National Midget Hall of
Fame and rightly so. His Kurtis-Kraft, Inc. firm produced some
550 “complete-and-ready-to-run” midgets and over 600 more in
kit form! The combination of the Kurtis chassis powered by a
smaller version of the famous Offenhauser engine was virtually
unbeatable for over twenty
years and a few of the 40-odd-year-old chassis can still be
found racing with some clubs even today. Kurtis also built
over 120 Indianapolis cars including five winners.
The young sheetmetal worker got his start in racing
when he was hired by Tommy Lee and Willet Brown to rework the
bodies of the Don Lee Racing Team midgets.
He began producing his own midget chassis in the late
30s and the rest is history.
Kurtis sold his midget business to Johnny Pawl in the
late 1950s and sold his Quarter Midget operation to Ralph
Potter in 1962.
He passed away in February of 1987.
