IN LOVING MEMORY OF A GREAT MAN & FRIEND

Fran Purcell's legacy living on through family and friends

Fran Purcell would be proud. Purcell's race cars have been a permanent fixture on the local dirt modified circuit, particularly Big Diamond Raceway. He frequented the Forrestville oval from the moment it was sculpted out of the Anthracite Region countryside in 1972. Be it a weekly race or a special event, if Purcell had a vehicle eligible to compete it was there.

Purcell watched his final race at Big Diamond in August. At age 71 he lost a valiant battle with cancer in November, ending a motor sports career as a driver and car owner that spanned six decades. However, the famed Purcell Motorsports No. 6 358-modified won't sit idle this season. Through the efforts of Purcell's grandsons, Jason Hernley, 29, and Eric Hernley, 31, the car will be parked in its trademark pit spot when Big Diamond opens the points season April 3.

"This is what he wanted," said Jason Hernley, who will house the race team at his newly constructed shop in Jonestown. "We inherited the cars, truck, trailer and engines, and we are going to give it a try." Boyertown driver Ryan Watt, last year's opening night winner at Big D, returns to the team. "Not only are we doing what he wanted done," Watt, 28, said, "we're doing it the way he wanted it with the open trailer and stuff."

The renamed HP Motorsports team held a fundraiser Feb. 28 in Pottsville, with more than 150 friends of the team turning out. The money raised will help the Hernleys offset the high cost of fielding a modified each week. It was another demonstration of Purcell's reputation in the racing community.

"He had a lot of drivers, but he never disliked anybody after they split," Jason Hernly recalled. "If you did well for him, good; if not, that was OK, too. He still partied at the end of the night. He was always the first one there and the last one to leave."
Purcell was a racer from the start. A local farmer in Branchdale caught Purcell, then 9, racing on the streets, so he constructed a track on his property. Purcell began informal weekly races with his buddies, and the tradition began.

Purcell drove through 1979 and became a car owner one year later. Leading drivers such as Smokey Warren, Paul Koch, Rick Schaffer, Tom Mayberry, Kevin and Jack Hartnett and most recently Watt, who joined the team prior to the 2007 season, slid through the seat. Every week Purcell sat perched on his trademark open trailer towed by a converted box truck, enjoying the sport that dominated his life. "He loved it," Jason Hernley said. "It's what he did."

Even while fighting his health last summer, Purcell remained a Big Diamond fixture. "Toward the end of the year, he couldn't get out of the truck," Jason Hernley said, "but he was there." Purcell's longevity and likeability made him a subject of Big Diamond Raceway lore, so much so that the track's current management team has retired pit license No. 1 in his honor. "The last few years, Pop got the first license," Jason Hernley said. "This year, the track told us they would start with No. 2."

The team will start the '09 season with the same two cars and engines Watt campaigned last year. Local businesses - and even competitors - have jumped on board to provide financial support. "So many people are willing to help us," Jason Hernley said. "My whole family is into it. They will be there supporting the team. That's really why Pop did it - to give everybody something to do together." Purcell's family is giving back by keeping his legacy alive through the team and his business, Fran's Auto Repair in Pottsville, now run by the next generation. "Opening night will be tough without him there," Jason Hernley admitted. "But we all know that's where he wants us to be.