SPECIAL SATURDAY AT AUTOBOOKS ... HISTORIC PAPERS AND PHOTOS ON DISPLAY

DOCTOR FRANK FALKNER'S PERSONAL PAPERS, PHOTOS, & RACING CREDENTIALS  “THE SULLIVAN COLLECTION”
To Be Transferred To International Motor Racing Research Center 
July 15, 2006 At Autobooks-Aerobooks In Burbank - Public Invited


Burbank, Calif. - - Saturday, July 15 will mark an important day for motorsports historians and true fans of racing alike.  On that day the collection the papers, letters, photos, credentials, and other items relating to motorsports of the late Doctor Frank Falkner will be formally placed into the hands of Mark Steigerwald, representing the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen, New York.

Frank Falkner, was a slightly-built, quiet, reserved English gentleman, who had the talent to have had a life as a concert pianist, but who instead became a world-renown teaching pediatrician.  But this courtly man also figured prominently in many of the milestones of motorsports history.
At the time of his death in 2003 he was professor emeritus and former chair of maternal and child health at the University of California, Berkeley, and an internationally recognized leader in the field of pediatric growth and development. Falkner, who had prostate cancer, died in his sleep at his Berkeley home on Thursday, Aug. 21.
Known by his friends and colleagues as both a modern-day Renaissance Man and a consummate gentleman, Falkner left an imprint in fields as disparate as child health research and professional auto racing. 
During his career, which spanned more than 55 years, Falkner published more than 160 papers and led several major studies on child development. His studies on how child and infant development can impact adult health helped lead to the first international growth standards. 
"Frank Falkner had a profound effect on the thinking of a whole generation of physicians who were working to understand disturbances in growth among children and infants," said Dr. Melvin Grumbach, Edward B. Shaw professor emeritus and former chair of pediatrics at UC San Francisco. "Falkner and his colleagues had a major impact on the use of growth curves to assess development and the dynamics of growth." 
Born in Hale-Cheshire, England, on Oct. 27, 1918, Falkner received his clinical training at two London hospitals during the "Blitz," Nazi Germany's intense bombing of the city. He received his medical degree from the University of Cambridge in 1945, the same year the war ended. 
Falkner is well known in the international child health community, having served as a U.S. diplomat with the Family Health Division of the World Health Organization and as coordinator at the Centre International de L'Enfance (CIE) Growth Studies in Paris. 
Falkner earned numerous awards and honors for his work, including the International Pediatric Association Medal in 1995 in recognition of his long and outstanding service to children. In 1985, he was elected a member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health. 
A member of the British Racing Drivers' Club, Falkner was an avid race car enthusiast and, whenever possible, coordinated attendance at medical conferences with Grand Prix events. He served as the unofficial "team doctor" for several giants in the field of motor sport. Among his friends were Ken Tyrrell, founder of the Tyrrell Racing Formula One Team, and John Cooper, founder of the Cooper Car Company, both of whom died in recent years. 
Falkner's connections helped him launch the career of race car champion Danny Sullivan, who was a childhood friend of Falkner's son, Michael. Not only did Frank Falkner send Sullivan to driving school in England, he persuaded Tyrrell to give Sullivan a driving test. Tyrrell hired Sullivan, who went on to win the Indianapolis 500 in 1985 and the 1988 CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) championship. 
"I had never followed racing until Frank introduced me to the Mini Cooper and the (Triumph) TR-2," said Sullivan. "I was 21 and bumming around New York when I told Frank I wanted to get into racing. He said that if I'm going to do it, he was going to make sure I did it right. I wouldn't be where I am now if it weren't for Frank." 
One week before Falkner's death, Sullivan carried Falkner from the house into the passenger seat of a new Porsche and gave the racing enthusiast one last ride around the block. 
And it is that great American racing champion Danny Sullivan who must be thanked for keeping this very important collection intact and for its eventual delivery to the IMRRC.  
“Danny called and asked if we would look at some racing photos and letters for him, we did, and we were knocked back by the scope and importance of these pieces of motorsports history … Our first thought, as was Danny's, was that this collection had to be keep together and be made available to motorsports historians.”  said Autobooks owner Chet Knox.  
“We owe Danny Sullivan a tremendous debt in that he saw and understood the historic value of these wonderful  items, that's why we refer to it as the 'Sullivan Collection' … He honored his friend's memory by preserving it and we honor him in this effort.”
“All too often, close family members discard personal items upon the passing of a relative,”  Knox continued … Much history has been lost in that way or has gone into private hands, never to be seen again, nor shared by the public.
Among the important motorsports items that will be accepted by Steigerwald on July 15, are papers like the original entry blank for the Jack Brabham Cooper in 1961 Indianapolis 500, an event that is considered by many to be the turning point in 500 racing equipment; letters from many of racing's greatest heroes like Stirling Moss, Roy Salvadori, Jackie Stewart,  Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Colin Chapman, Leo Goosen, Tony Rudd, John Cooper and many more.
His personal photographs, autographed by their subjects to Doctor Falkner include candid shots of racing luminaries the likes of James Hunt, Rodger Ward, Frank Williams, Louis Stanley, Walt Hansgen, Bruce McLaren, Jody Scheckter, Emerson Fittipaldi, Vic Elford, Peter Revson, Bernie Ecclestone, and Jochen Rindt, will also go to the research center in New York for eventual display.
The International Motor Racing Research Center at Watkins Glen holds approximately 2500 rare and reference books; hundreds of periodical titles; programs; manuscript collections; historic scrapbooks; posters; historic videos, fine art, and many other items relating to motorsport. Individual guides and lists itemize these holdings.

NOTE: THIS IS ALREADY A 4-PAGE PRESS RELEASE WITH A 4-LINE TITLE … BUT THERE'S SO MUCH MORE HERE.  

WE INVITE ALL OF THE INTERESTED MEDIA TO VISIT ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON , JULY 15 TO TALK TO MARK STEIGERWALD AND MYSELF ABOUT THIS REMARKABLE AGGREGATION OF HISTORIC MOTORSPORTS ITEMS … DOCTOR FALKNER WAS ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO MADE SO MANY PEOPLE'S LIVES BETTER … HOPE THAT YOU CAN SEE THIS.  

CONTACT:  DOUG STOKES (818) 845-0707





THANKS VERY MUCH!
DOUG STOKES
AUTOBOOKS-AEROBOOKS
(818) 845-0707