Surgery, chemo and flat-out dedication give cancer survivor Fran Eckart the drive to succeed
 

Fran Eckart loves to race.

The 53-year-old Lawrenceville grandmother lives for the thrill of driving her red, white and blue Ford pickup upwards of 100 mph on the race track at Lanier National Speedway.

"It's a constant high when you're racing, like being on a roller coaster," she said.

Racing also saved her life.

It was nine years ago, halfway through her first season racing cars at Lanier, when Eckart was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She had surgery in July 1994 and underwent eight-hour-long chemotherapy sessions every Monday for the rest of the summer. By mid-September, she was back racing her green Datsun 510 on Saturday nights.

"I used my racing as an incentive to get better," she said. "That was the carrot I had dangling in front of me."

Doctors told her she would be too weak to do much more than get out of bed. They told her that one hit could cause her delicate bones to shatter.

Her husband, Jim, gave her the motivation to regain her strength by telling her she couldn't race until she could climb in and out of the car on her own. He was not going to carry her.

"I tried to reiterate to her what the doctor was saying, but I knew in my heart and in my mind that she was going to push herself and do what she wanted to do regardless," Jim Eckart said.

ÊJust in case

That first season, she finished near the bottom of the overall point standings. But finishing at all was prize enough.

"I was bound and determined that I would finish that season," she said. "No one is going to tell me that I can't do something."

Two years later, the cancer was back, but this time in her colon. Again, the disease, the chemo --- the effects worse this time --- couldn't keep her off the track.

This time, Jim pasted a "just-in-case" barf bag on her dash, partly as a joke, partly in case she got sick during a race. Eckart never used the bag, but she showed it off to other drivers and visitors in the pit.

"It was our little joke," Jim Eckart said. "We had fun with it, but she just thought it was great."

Eckart has been cancer-free for nearly seven years, but she will forever have the survivor mentality. Proudly displayed on the driver's panel of her new truck, just as it has been on her past vehicles, is a big pink ribbon decal, a reminder to herself and others of what she's been through.

"It's a sign that you can't just sit back and let [cancer] get the best of you. It shows that you can do things during chemo and after the disease," she said. "If you have a dream, you need to follow it."

Cars had always been Eckart's dream. As a girl growing up in New Jersey, she watched NASCAR on television, frequented the local track to watch races and "babied" her first car, a red Ford Falcon. Her favorite driver was Bill Elliott.

Gaining respect

But Eckart never raced a car until she and her husband purchased a Datsun in 1994. Soon she moved up to a Ford Pinto, a more competitive car that helped her move up in the standings. In 1998, Jim Eckart built his wife her first truck.

Eckart is the only full-time female driver in Lanier's truck division. She finished in the top 10 in overall points in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series every season from 1995 through 2001.

In 1997, her last year in the Pinto, she was leading in the points competition going into the last race of the season.

But another driver ran her into the wall, forcing her out of the race, costing her the championship by only four points.

"I think I could have killed him," Eckart said.

Still, the chest-high trophy she won for finishing second that year is her most prized possession in her "NASCAR room" on the second floor of the house, even more than the signed photo of her new favorite driver, Dale Jarrett.

Though the 1997 defeat stung, Eckart continued to fight for acceptance among the male drivers, and eventually secured her spot as "one of the guys." She talks racing with the guys in the pit, helps them out when they need something and hosts an annual Daytona 500 party at her Lawrenceville home.

Her success on the track hasn't hurt either.

"It took me a long time to gain their respect," she said. "Many feel like a woman's place is not on the track. It's anywhere but on the track. But I just had to show them that I'm a racer and I belong out there just as much as they do."

Legion of fans

What has helped Eckart earn respect among the other drivers is her dedication to the sport, said George Williams, last year's points winner for the truck division, and a friend of the Eckarts' for more than five years.

"She's been around up there for a good many years and she gets along fine with everybody," Williams said. "She will hold her ground; she won't let anyone beat her around."

Because Eckart is the only woman truck racer at Lanier, Williams said she attracts her own legion of fans, which includes his 6-year-old daughter Sarah.

"She just loves Fran," Williams said. "She's her favorite driver, besides me, I hope."

Williams might have something to worry about. Sarah drew Eckart a picture of Jarrett --- a surefire way to her heart --- that now hangs on the center of the Eckarts' refrigerator.

Last season, the Eckarts finished 11th overall, a disappointing finish for both Eckarts. A series of complications with their Chevrolet truck --- a wiring problem here, a flat tire there --- kept them out of the top 10 for the first time since her first season.

'A beautiful thing'

Armed with a new sponsor, All-Pro Radiator, a brand new Ford truck built by her husband and memories of last year's disappointing finish, Eckart hopes she will win her first points championship this season, which kicks off Saturday at the Lanier Speedway.

"I feel really confident," she said. "We've done some different things with the truck. This is the year we're going to be competitive like we were before."

And while the pink ribbon decal is a reminder of where she's come from, she has added a sticker this year that show's where she is going.

Proudly displayed on the truck's back gate is a sticker that reads, "A woman and her truck; it's a beautiful thing."

Other racers can see it after she has passed them.