Legendary Canadian motorcycle racer Frank Mrazek died December 29, 2014 in Czechoslovakia. Mrazek was recovering from heart surgery, following a difficult summer of 2014 when he called himself “clinically dead” following an on-track collision with some hay bales. Frank Mrazek was 78.
At the time of his death, Mrazek was in contact with 1980 Canadian National Champ George Morin, planning updates to his race machines for the 2015 campaign.
“Crazy Frank” was a legendary character in Canadian racing, competing on a wide range of machinery following his escape from Eastern Europe with his figure skater wife Janna in the 1960s. Mrazek survived a number of major spills, earning his nick name.
Mrazek didn’t mind “Crazy Frank”, but didn’t appreciate the “Bouncing Czech” moniker. His attention-grabbing behaviour was chronicled in the 1989 George Jonas book, “A Passion Observed.” Jonas also briefly supported Mrazek on an early Ducati 888 Desmo “Battles of Twin” (in Mrazek speak) class racer, and was involved in a strange docu-drama project involving the eccentric Jonas team of competitors.
Mrazek owned a Mississauga, ON area bike shop, and rose to fame competing on production class Kawasaki’s in the early 1970s, especially as Yvon Duhamel’s teammate on the “green monster” Z-1. Mrazek also raced an early twin-shock Yamaha TZ750, surviving a horrific crash on the banking at Daytona and beating works Yamaha Canada ace Steve Baker in the rain at Mosport in 1976.
In 1979, Mrazek had success on Keith Harte’s importer-backed Ducati 900SS twins in the new Superbike class, and returned to his favourite Kawasaki Z-1 equipment with Castrol support on the National tour in 1980. He also competed on a fearsome, somewhat production legal Honda CBX six cylinder machine.
Mrazek then focused on vintage competition, aboard Triumph triples and then a trick Honda CB450 twin built by the late Rick Andrews at Ontario Honda. Next came his Twins class career with Ducati, that program curtailed by a messy divorce that sent Frank back to Europe for the rest of his lengthy career.
