You won’t see the names Frank Lynch or Antonio Douglas in masters track results, but their two 100-meter match races have gotten more press than many trackos get in their lifetime. Frank, nearing 70, owns a car wash chain in Atlanta. One of his favorite employees is Antonio, in his early 40s. But Antonio was going blimpo, and boss Frank teased him into losing weight by saying he (Frank) would be twice as fast as Antonio in a 100-meter dash. The story played out in fascinating fashion, and led to a rematch. The version I’ve seen doesn’t say what their final clockings were. But they raised tens of thousands of dollars for a cancer charity. Check out this story, with photos of the pair.

Here’s the story that circulated nationwide this past week:

By Errin Haines
The Associated Press
ATLANTA – Frank Lynch had been in Antonio Douglas’s head for nearly 10 years.
The sarcastic sexagenarian seemed to revel in mocking the five-foot-four, 330-pound Douglas, lumbering around the Cactus Car Wash lot. But of all the taunts Douglas had endured from his boss over the years, this was the one that stuck.
“I’m going to be 70 soon,” Lynch boasted in his heavy Scottish burr. “And I can run twice as fast as you can.”
Douglas made a decision: He would make Lynch eat those words.
A year and a half later the two friends have raced twice – each claiming a victory and winning a total of US$22,000 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. But given their fierce competitiveness, it wouldn’t be a surprise to find these two lining up for Douglas vs. Lynch III: The Ultimate Revenge.
Relentless insults aside, this is a tale of an unlikely friendship that saved a life. It kept a boss from giving up – or letting up – on a man he considered not only a business investment, but a personal challenge.
Over the years, as Douglas frequented the fast food restaurants near the car wash, his waistline gradually expanded. He gorged on cheeseburgers and fries, fried chicken and burritos. “If it didn’t move, I ate it. If it moved too slow, I ate it,” he said.
“Antonio, you’re getting bigger every time I see you!” Lynch exclaimed when he came from Charleston, S.C., to visit the franchise.
Lynch had grown fond of Douglas, and watched with concern as his friend grew heavier. By 2007, it had become a real effort for Douglas to get around the car wash, and Lynch took every opportunity to remind him of it.
“His stomach turned the corner before he did,” Lynch said. “We were all getting anxious about his health.”
Douglas didn’t let on – Lynch was getting to him, “but it also motivated me,” he said.
The old man kept wearing on him, but he was worried, too. But when humour didn’t work, the boss turned to scare tactics. He knew Douglas’s son had a promising future.
“I told him, ‘I predict you’re not going to be around that much longer,'” he said.
Lynch admits some of his motives were selfish.
“He’s loyal, he’s hardworking,” Lynch said. “What the hell am I going to do without him if he’s not here?”
When Douglas decided to have gastric bypass surgery in April 2007, he told Lynch and his wife before his own family. When he woke up from surgery, Lynch was his first visitor.
“A lot of people say they care about you, but when they show they care, that means a lot,” Douglas said. “Anybody else could’ve said the same and it wouldn’t have meant nothing to me.”
In the six months after the surgery, Douglas lost 112 pounds. And he challenged the old man to a 100-metre race.
At 42, Douglas post-surgery wasn’t fat, but he wasn’t in shape either. He thought that with so many pounds melting away it would be easy to cross the finish line ahead of Lynch. But he was no match for the spry senior – Lynch beat him by nearly five seconds.
“He’s a freak of nature,” Douglas said of his 69-year-old boss.
The younger man nearly lost his pride from the constant teasing around the car wash. A video of the race was played on a loop in the lobby for a month.
Douglas had to discipline himself, and as he did the pounds continued to fall off and he grew determined to mount a rematch. Lynch got wind of the plan and confronted his skinnier friend.
“I hear you’ve been shooting your mouth off,” Lynch told him. “Are you serious?”
Their eyes locked. “I’m serious,” Douglas said.
And on that Sunday evening as the sun set at Grady Memorial Stadium, the men took their marks. And this time, it was the younger man who crossed the finish line first. Even though both men stumbled and fell towards the end, Douglas won by two seconds.
Which was fine with Lynch. Better to lose the race than to lose his friend.