TOMMY FRANKLIN
tional ET record twice before. “We have a group of
competitors that have created one of the strongest
classes out there. To be able to do it with that kind
of competition speaks even louder in my mind.
“We’re blessed with the opportunity that we
have. It’s a dream come true. I’ve always wanted
to be a frontrunner, always wanted to hold a national record, be able to win races and be able
to win titles. We’ve accomplished some of those.
We still have a title that we definitely need to get
accomplished.”
At the PDRA Finals in 2014, Franklin reset the
ET record with a 3.73 run. He then reset his own
record at the first event of 2015 with a 3.71. Travis
Harvey then reset the PN record at St. Louis that
same year with a 3.703, a number which currently
still stands as the official record. Pat Stoken would
be the first to the 3.60s at the Summer Drags in
Martin, Michigan with a 3.69 run, but was unable to back it up for the record. When Franklin
and Stevie “Fast” Jackson recorded side-by-side
3.60s runs at Tulsa this year, it set the drag racing
world took notice.
It’s clear that while Franklin is proud of his
accomplishments, the thing he desires most is
to rid himself of the number 2. While finishing
second in points in a class that’s arguably one of
the toughest in racing is nothing to hang one’s
head over, it’s also one of the toughest badges to
wear, a narrow miss of racing’s greatest accomplishment. Having finished second the last two
years, Franklin is more determined than ever to
grasp his first Pro Nitrous World Championship.
Although a long season remains between him and
the title, the businessman from Virginia is making
his presence felt early this season.
“During the off season Pat Musi and I really
worked a lot of stuff on the dyno, trying to find
some gains. We found some good horsepower.
You don’t always know if it shows up at the race
track, especially with nitrous motors [motors
aren’t dynoed with nitrous], but it did it. It went
204 mile an hour [in testing] and then it went
to Tulsa and went 3.68 at 203. It showed up and
we’re not done. We’re still working at this thing
and trying to get it better and better.
“The competition is stiff, though. Lizzy Musi is
going to be extremely fast. She’s got a lot of the
same stuff that I have and I know she’s going to
be fast. It’s hard to take away from guys like Jay
Cox who are also right there. Travis Harvey, Stevie
Jackson those guys are extremely fast, too. The
semi-finals from Tulsa were exactly who I thought
it would have been. That doesn’t mean there’s not
a handful that can step up at any given time, but
those are the ones that already running there.”
Franklin holds that since horsepower is incredibly close between Pro Nitrous competitors, this
season may well turn into a driver’s game.
“Drivers have a big opportunity. Obviously with
tuning you have to get down the race track, but,
let’s be honest, if both of us tune to the potential
of the race track, it’s anyone’s race and ends with
the driver at that point. With having each round
within a couple of thousandths I definitely think
you can see some holeshot upsets. Racing on the
PDRA race track, our prep is always so good, tuners can really throw a lot of power at it. Most of
the time we underestimate it and are a little on
the conservative side. The race track can really
hold a lot. The ability to get down the race track
easier, knowing it’s prepped well, puts it back in
the driver’s hands. You saw Stevie and I go 3.68
and 3.69 side by side. That’s incredible”
As evidenced by the recent quickest and fastest
side-by-side pass in the category, the performance
level of the class has taken leaps and bounds in
the last few years. So much so, that the “no rules”
series has decided to put a few restrictions on the
class in order to keep costs down.
“In drag racing in general everyone wants to
go faster. But what we’ve done in Pro Nitrous
is try to put the limits in place to put a cap on
the class. We have the cubic inch limit this year.
We have a bore space limit, a weight limit. And
while none of us like rules, it allows everybody to
work on the same platform. It allows everybody
to fine tune and really get the most out of what
they have. For a while there the mindset was just
to build bigger and bigger. It’s good now because
we have a ceiling that we have to stay under and
we can go out there and really just fine tune what
we have,” Franklin explained
“The class is getting fast and while that does
take a few racers out of it, overall it makes the
class more appealing and attractive and others
come into it because of the high level of competition. The goal of adding restrictions to the
class was to help it. A lot of people didn’t know
where the ceiling was going to be. So there were
teams that were sitting on the outside saying,
‘Hey, I want to build a new motor, but I don’t
know what to build. Where’s this thing going to
land?’ That was the motivation behind putting
a cubic inch and bore space limit in place. Everybody knows where the ceiling is at. If you’re
a guy that’s going to go out and build one engine,
well now you can build that one engine and know
how big you can go.”
While such rules have been put into place,
Franklin is confident that the PDRA rule makers are committed to keeping the class and the
series to as few as rules as possible, honoring the
heritage of professional eighth mile drag racing
and the foundation of the series itself.
“The minds behind the tech committee and
rules committee think we already probably have
more rules than we need,” Franklin admitted.
“Rules aren’t really what anybody wants, but at
the same time, we’re trying to keep the cost from
running people out. The goal is just to try to give
everybody the opportunity to be competitive withDI DI DI
out having to start over.”
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 109
PHOTO : IAN TOCHER
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