For Tommy Franklin, drag racing and leadership have taught him the same lesson: stay in your own lane.
Franklin, a three-time Pro Nitrous world champion and president of the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA), has built his reputation on doing just that. He believes in running his organization with honesty, transparency, and consistency — and letting the results speak for themselves. He’s trained to stay in his own lane, both in driving and management.
“I usually am,” Franklin said. “I’m not a step on a whole bunch of toes, just do what we do. I tell all my people all the time, do what’s right, do what we say we’re going to do. That’s all you can do.”
Franklin and his wife Judy purchased Virginia Motorsports Park in 2017 after years of racing at the facility. Their commitment to the track extended into their ownership of the PDRA, a series he helped launch in 2014 after the collapse of the ADRL and the short-lived XDRL. By 2020, the Franklins were the sole owners of the eighth-mile doorslammer series.
The timing, Franklin said, was crucial. “There was a hole, there was a gap that needed to be filled,” he said. “I feel good that we were able to bridge that gap and have racing to where it is today. And there’s times that I look back and say, ‘Hey, we were able to fill a void.’”
Pro Modified-style racing was struggling when PDRA was formed. With organizations folding, racers had limited places to compete. Franklin said his goal was simple: make sure cars had a home.
“I was just a racer, right? I was just a racer, and I wanted a place to race my car, and that’s all it was,” Franklin said. “It was probably in dire need. But what’s happened since then, this is some of the strongest racing you’ve ever seen, I think, in history.”
The PDRA celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2024, marking a decade of stability of a style of racing that had often struggled for footing. The series has since produced record-setting performances and a loyal racer base that spans the East Coast and beyond.
Franklin said he doesn’t mind the growth of competing Pro Mod-style groups. “All in all, I’m a race fan,” Franklin said. “So as long as the sport is growing and there’s options for it to grow, that is what really matters. I think competition’s good for everybody.”
He pointed out that the biggest challenge is not rival series, but car count.
“What we need is more inventory of cars,” Franklin said. “And if there’s good places to race, then hopefully people will continue to build cars.”
One development in late 2024 was the relaunch of the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA), with new ownership and a push to return to prominence. Franklin said he doesn’t see the revival as a threat.
“No,” Franklin said. “We are obviously partners with Josh Peake at the GALOT race with the PDRA, so we go there. We know Josh and them. I’ve met Larry, I’ve met Darryl [Cuttell] once. They all seem to be good people, all seem like they’re doing good things for drag racing. And again, that’s all I really care is that good things are being done for drag racing.”
Franklin said racers will never be fully compensated for the expense of racing, but safety and stability matter most. “If we all have good places to race and we can go out there and be safe and get paid to, we do,” Franklin said. “We’ll never get paid enough to do what we deserve, but as a racer, that’s all that really matters.”
That philosophy — doing the right thing with the resources available — has guided Franklin since the early days of PDRA ownership. He said the organization relies on its racers, partners, and sponsors to keep building momentum.
“We deal with what we can do with the resources we have, and we have a lot of great sponsors and a lot of great racers, and a lot of people that support us,” Franklin said. “So that’s all we can do is use what we have there and continue on.”
Franklin’s leadership style has been shaped by decades behind the wheel
and in the pits. He has lived through the uncertainty of series collapsing, sponsors leaving, and racers wondering where to compete. That experience, he said, gave him empathy as well as perspective.
“I just wanted to make sure that we had a good safe place to race,” Franklin said. “And I feel like we’ve done that.”
For Franklin, the PDRA’s growth is not about ego or recognition. It’s about sustaining a community of racers who believe in eighth-mile doorslammer racing.
“I wouldn’t call myself a savior of anything,” Franklin said. “But I will say that there was a hole, there was a gap that needed to be filled. I feel good that we were able to bridge that gap.”
As the PDRA enters its second decade, Franklin said the mission remains unchanged: stay in his lane, keep promises, and focus on delivering for racers and fans.
“Sometimes that’s not enough for some, sometimes that’s plenty for some,” Franklin said. “But I’ve always been a guy that says, ‘Hey, we tell everybody what we’re going to do. And as long as we do that, then we accomplish that part of it.’”
