Tommy Frankin knew if he was going to have a place to race for the long-term in eighth-mile Pro Modified style racing, he would have to give back to the sport that had richly blessed him. And ten years later, the richly blessed Franklin keeps getting richly blessed. 

Ten years ago, the major league eighth-mile drag racing scene was in a conundrum. The well-established American Drag Racing League [ADRL] was crashing in a ball of flames, and the silence of uncertainty was deafening. 

Franklin, fellow doorslammer racers Jason and Mitchell Scruggs, Gene Hector, and Roger Henson formed the Professional Drag Racers Association [PDRA].

Ten years later, Franklin is the last man standing. 

"The whole reason we got into this is we wanted to continue to have a place for drag racers to race and now all Pro Mod to race. That's what we've done," Franklin said. "And it's become a love affair."

When Franklin's partners stepped aside, he kept the ship sailing. 

"I just didn't want it to go away," Franklin said. "It's that simple, right? I've always said I didn't wake up and aspire to have a race series. I'm a racer at heart, but what I wanted to do was make sure that we have a good place to race and have a good place for all these people. They're such a great group of people that come out here and race with us. That's why. It's simple."

Frankin's management style as a successful business owner has always been a hands-on approach. It didn't matter if anyone was going to step up and help continue PDRA; he was already invested enough in sweat equity, keeping the ship sailing at full speed ahead. 

"We were already in the rhythm of doing it," Franklin said. "We were very hands-on, so it wasn't like a lot changed. I guess I could have walked away, but I was just like, 'No, let's just continue and keep this thing going." 

"Wasn't a major change other than, 'Hey, when everything's going good, it's easy on everybody. When it's not, there's only one person to return to at that point."

One thing was for sure, at least in Franklin's eyes, the PDRA had to be self-sufficient to a point. And whether it made a dime or a dollar, the racers would get it. 

"I don't pay my mortgage from here," Franklin explained. "I have other stuff that does that. So this has always been, if it can make money, I want to increase purses. I want to do things like that. So that's how it's always been for me: to sustain it, grow it, let it be the premiere drag racing series, and that's what it's become. It's funny, the Professional Drag Racing Association that we named it from the very beginning. Obviously, we didn't know where we were going to have here today, but I feel like it's every bit of that."

And to be a mainstream drag racing show, one must have nitro. They've flirted with it a couple of times. 

"At our ProStars show, we did some nitro cars there on exhibition," Franklin said. "It was really cool. It had a nice flair to it, but it wasn't anything that wasn't the start of something. It was something that we tried just as a partnership that we do with Virginia Motorsports Park. So it's fun because we can share some of those expenses with PDRA and with VMP, and it just became our Night of Fire is what it became there at the racetrack."

If it takes fuel cars to grow the PDRA on some levels, then so be it, Franklin admits.  

"We're going to do whatever it takes just to continue to grow it," Franklin said. "It's probably never as fast a growth as we want, but we're going to do growth that looks good, looks healthy, and will continue to make us go in the direction. And the racer base, I think, proves that they like that part of it."

"We're showcasing our stars, but I think everybody enjoyed the mixture," Franklin said. "We made sure we did everything to still showcase our PDRA racers and make sure they understand how important they are. But then I feel like we put on a great show for everybody that was there to see it."
 
Franklin also made a significant investment in drag racing in November 2020, when he and Judy completed the purchase of Virginia Motorsports Park outside of Richmond, Va. It's just another chapter in a passion for drag racing that transcends winning or losing.
 
"I think it all comes down to I'm still a race fan, period, and I want to do whatever's great for drag racing," Franklin said. "That's really the only reason that I want to do what we're doing. I've said that over and over, that it's not about, 'Hey, there's a great money opportunity there." I love drag racing. I grew up drag racing. It's made a great mark on my life, and I do it now with my kids, and I hope to make a great mark on their life. I don't make them do it. We come. Everybody enjoys it. Everybody can't wait to go to the next race."