PDRA ’ s tight-knit team is like a family .
Jay Cox scores his first Pro Nitrous win over Stevie “ Fast ” Jackson .
BH : That was a bad day . It ’ s really not hard to talk about now because truthfully , it was something that ’ s going to happen to somebody at some point . Unfortunately , it happened to Ronnie . Ronnie Davis ’ s two daughters were very , very , very good about it . There was never a lawsuit from them or any question that we did anything wrong . They were nothing but supportive of PDRA .
It ’ s tough thinking about Ronnie . I got a picture of his car in my office . He was a good friend of mine way before those days . Me and Jason were actually probably some of the first ones to him because Jason was coming up the return road . It ’ s something you probably won ’ t forget . But he was a good guy .
JS : That was a very difficult day for everybody . It doesn ’ t matter who it was , anytime you have a fatality , it ’ s extremely bad . Everybody I knew loved Ronnie Davis . He did a lot for PDRA . He did stuff for PDRA that people don ’ t even know he did . Back in the early days , he was instrumental in trying to get Drag Race Central to cover PDRA . He always supported PDRA with golf carts . Ronnie Davis was always a big supporter of PDRA . He was a wonderful person , which made it that much harder , but it doesn ’ t matter who it was . We ’ re all a big family . It was a terrible day . Then Ian , I was really close with Ian , a good friend through the years , and to see him get hurt so bad … the whole thing was just a terrible day , terrible accident .
That ’ s the thing about race cars . Anytime you get race cars involved , anything can happen . It ’ s not just for the driver . It can be photographers and journalists and crew members . These cars are dangerous . My dad got hit by something in a burnout and he ’ s very , very lucky it didn ’ t kill him . It hit him in the chest instead of the head . If it hit him in the head , it would ’ ve killed him .
It ’ s just a reminder of how dangerous this sport can be . We tried to tech the cars and we did a good job with that . Everything was good on that end , all of our safety aspects . From day one , Bob was always about safety and tech because he had run a racetrack and he had incidents before where people got hurt . He knew that stuff could happen like that . Of course , everybody knows , but sometimes you take it for granted .
November / December 2023
THE TIMES ARE CHANGING
With heavy hearts , the PDRA carried on with the 2016 season , renaming Top Sportsman in memory of Davis , who was the reigning world champion at the time of his passing . During the drivers meeting at the third annual Memphis Drags , Harris addressed internet rumors that the series was folding up or scaling back for the 2017 season , noting that the series was on firm ground . He acknowledged possible competition from a rumored resurgence of the ADRL and confirmed that the Top Sportsman and Top Dragster classes would continue to be a part of the series lineup in 2017 .
The 2016 season also saw the addition of GALOT Motorsports Park to the lineup . Formerly known as Dunn-Benson Dragstrip , GALOT was a sparkling new facility completely rebuilt by GALOT Motorsports owner Earl Wells . Already well-known in the tractor pulling world , GALOT Motorsports has fielded multiple entries in Pro Boost since the inaugural season . Fans packed the track for its first PDRA event in September , with highlights including a grudge race between Pro Extreme star Frankie Taylor and NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car world champion Jonnie Lindberg .
As the series continued to grow , so too did the responsibilities for the ownership group , which was down to Franklin and Scruggs . While they largely remained hands-off from the day-to-day operations , their involvement outgrew their original expectations when they launched the series . At the same time , their motives were at times unfairly questioned due to their unique positions as racers and series owners .
Judy FRANKLIN
JS : I race to take a load off . I race for two reasons : one , I ’ m competitive and I ’ ve always done it and I enjoy trying to make the car go faster , but at the same time , it ’ s something that I do with my family and something my dad and I have always done together . We do it to get away from work . It got to be almost
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