PRO NITROUS

Lizzy Musi (near lane) and Tommy Franklin.

After losing in the Memphis final round on a holeshot last month, Lizzy Musi went into the GALOT race on a mission to redeem herself. The 25-year-old daughter of nitrous engine-building master Pat Musi was successful in her quest, using a .010 starting line advantage to beat the Musi-powered ’69 Camaro of Tommy Franklin in the final round. She won by a margin of seven thousandths of a second – 3.753 at 204.20 to Franklin’s 3.75 at 202.67 at the finish line stripe.

“Tommy and I have been wanting to run each other in a final round and it finally happened. Tommy is good on the tree and he’s fast. I knew I had to do my job. It was so tight at the finish line, we were nose to nose. I was so excited when I saw the win light come on,” Musi exclaimed.

Musi started eliminations from the fourth-place spot, first driving her Frank Brandao-owned 2015 Dodge Dart to a 3.815 round win over Chris Rini’s 3.839. Second round opponent Ray Schuler was unable to start his former Rickie Smith championship Camaro, but Musi was ready for a race with her 3.767 at 203.92. A consistent 3.768 at 203.46 against Musi customer Johnny Camp’s 3.793 at 201.91 sent Musi to the final round meeting with Franklin.

Stevie “Fast” Jackson

Randy Weatherford

Meanwhile, Franklin used a string of ever-improving 3.7-second passes to dispatch Keith Haney, Travis Harvey, and Steve Jackson, firing off low ET of the event – 3.749 – in his semifinal win over Jackson.

Musi was relieved to earn her first PDRA event win of 2016 after a long weekend in the North Carolina heat. “We were struggling through testing and the beginning of qualifying. The car just wasn’t running the way it should. We ended up changing motors, manifolds, coils – everything. My dad ended up putting more power to it, and it turns out that’s all it wanted. The car started running its number again. The car did its job and I had to match its performance level with my job,” claimed Musi, who thanked sponsors Drag 965, Edelbrock, and Lucas Oil, whose director of motorsports, Tom Bogner, was on hand to support customers and drive the Lucas Oil/MAVTV jet dragster.