Despite a moody Mother Nature, the PDRA completed two qualifying sessions at the Northern Nationals at U.S. 131 Dragway outside Grand Rapids, MI.
Tommy and Amber Franklin, a father-daughter duo, qualified No. 1 in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous and PDRA Pro 632, respectively, while Todd Tutterow (Pro Boost), Elijah Morton (Extreme Pro Stock), and Nick Agostino (Pro Street) led qualifying in the professional categories.
The 2024 season has been a family affair for the Franklins.
Just last month, Franklin, a three-time and defending world champion, and daughter Amber, a past Pro 632 champion, shared the winner’s circle in a Father’s Day weekend double-up at the North vs. South Shootout in Maryland.
Last evening, they both qualified No. 1 in their respective classes at Martin. Tommy Franklin thundered to a 3.644-second pass at 206.71 MPH for his first low qualifier of the season. He holds a slight points lead over four-time world champion Jim Halsey.
“We’ve got a good team over here,” Tommy Franklin said. “Pat Musi Racing Engines just builds us a great piece. That’s where it starts. Hopefully, I get a chance to say this so many times this year, but I always want to dedicate it to Lizzy [Musi]. We miss her forever and just love Pat and Liz tremendously. They work hard at the shop and give us good pieces and that’s what we rolled in here with. All the competition is good out there, but it just makes us push a little harder. We’re going into race day like we usually do, taking it one round at a time. We’ll just try to gather points and try to put some gap on it and see what we can do to get a championship.”
Amber Franklin nailed down the top spot in the PRO 632 division for the fourth time in five events. She recorded a 4.189 at 169.30 in the final qualifying session to get around reigning world champion Jeff Melnick. In an interesting twist, this race is the first with PDRA-provided, randomly assigned nitrous jets thanks to a new spec jet policy that was put in place for the Pro 632 class.
“These guys go to work for me, and they are constantly having my back, which is more than I can ask for as a driver,” said Franklin, thanking her Jeff Pierce-led crew and partners like Pat Musi Racing Engines, Red Line Oil, and Hoosier Tires. “It’s a good confidence booster going into race day as the No. 1 qualifier. We struggled a little bit in testing, and that put us behind a little bit for Q1, but they were able to get after it on Q2 and show everyone that they know the car. We just want to keep the momentum going, keep doing our thing, and hopefully turn on a lot of win lights tomorrow.”
Pro Boost veteran Tutterow scored his second top qualifier of the season, a 3.613 at 206.90, to grab the top spot. He has two wins this season to his credit.
“We’ve been a little soft all weekend, and I felt it, and I knew I was gonna try to go after it,” Tutterow said. “It’s one of them deals where I just pick at it and sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t. I only made one test run [Thursday] because we had a parachute suck up under the back of the car, and we missed the second test run. The information was good on the first one, and Q1 was good, so I knew what to do [in Q2]. Everything’s good – good crew, good car owner. Very, very fortunate to be doing what I’m doing.”
Veteran Mountain Motor Pro Stock racer Morton has been on a hot streak this season, but in qualifying Friday night, he secured his first No. 1 qualifier of 2024.
He set the standard amongst the large displacement factory hot rods with a 4.096 at 175.64. He’ll receive a first round bye in Saturday’s eliminations.
“Mike [Allen Jr., crew chief] did a little tuning between round one and two, and he said I better hold on,” Morton said. “The conditions were real foggy. They did a good job of wiping the windshield off right before I left, so I was able to shift the first three gears, not being able to see. The next two were a little bit iffy. I may have let out a little early, but we done good. We made a good run. My Allen Competition guys tuned it up, and running those AED carburetors, we ran a good number. I’m getting back in my groove a little bit. We’ve got the car working a little different. Hopefully, we can just turn on some win lights. We’re looking forward to doing it.”
Sportsman top qualifiers included Glenn Butcher (Elite Top Sportsman), KC Ingram (Elite Top Dragster), Lorenzo Brooks (MagnaFuel Top Sportsman) and Chuck Stirdivant (Top Dragster).
In addition to PDRA eliminations, the Saturday show at the Northern Nationals will feature modern Top Fuel dragsters, nostalgia front-engine Top Fuel dragsters, nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars, Fuel Altered, jet cars, and more.
