AMBER DENTON ON HER MOM, JUDY FRANKLIN
BY NATE VAN WAGNEN
WHENEVER Amber Denton takes to the starting line, her mother, Judy Franklin, isn’ t far behind. She takes her role as the“ team mom” very seriously, cheering on and supporting the four Tommy Franklin Motorsports drivers and their crew members with passion and purpose.
“ She comes along every weekend, week in, week out, going to the racetrack,” Denton says.“ And it’ s not always the perfect weekend, whether it’ s 100 degrees out or 50 degrees out, and she’ s out there sweating or freezing with us and making the sacrifice to allow us to accomplish our goals, and I’ m really grateful for that. She’ s always making sure we’ ve got all the right safety equipment and all the small things that a lot of people forget about. She’ s the one that makes sure we have what we need.”
Every once in a while, the roles will reverse and Judy will hit the track in the family’ s bracket truck at one of VMP’ s weekend points races or test-n-tune nights. It gives Denton and the rest of the family the chance to return the support Judy provides, though getting behind the wheel is more about having fun than collecting trophies or earning points for Judy.
“ We have more fun watching her than I think she realizes because she just doesn’ t care,” Denton laughs.“ She’ s like,‘ Yeah, if I want to race, great. If not, oh well.’ She really, truly does it just to have fun, and I think that’ s what’ s important. At the end of the day, that’ s why we all do it. It’ s great to have passion, but realizing that at the end of the day we do this for fun, and if we’ re not having that, then there’ s no reason that we should even be doing it in the first place. I think she’ s a good reminder of that to us all. Watching her have fun while she does it and being in reverse roles and being able to do that for her is really fun.”
Drag racing has become more than just a hobby for the Franklin family. In addition to businesses outside the sport, they own and operate the PDRA and Virginia Motorsports Park, with Judy playing major roles in each of those ventures. But team matriarch at TFM is where she thrives, and her family takes notice.
“ We always say she’ s our biggest cheerleader, and we mean that loudly too,” Denton says.“ And now with Blake, too, she cheers him on just as much as the rest of us, and that’ s something that means a lot to me and I know it does to him too. She is going to cheer us on no matter what, and she always has our back at the end of the day, and we’ re really grateful for that.” DI experience.“ You don’ t know what you’ re going to get into. Getting the first-round win was a huge confidence boost for me going into the rest of the day, and I feel like we were extremely happy with the way the weekend panned out. There’ s tons of great racers at those events, and getting a round win in our second competition event with that combination was a huge accomplishment for us.”
Since moving out of Jr. Dragsters, Denton has methodically stair-stepped her way up to Pro Nitrous, starting with Top Dragster before Pro 632. She didn’ t rush through her time in Pro 632, instead waiting until everyone involved felt comfortable with her making the next move. Her performance at the WSOPM made the statement that Denton is indeed ready to compete on doorslammer drag racing’ s biggest stages.
“ I feel like I know I’ ve been ready for this next step, but I hope that other people can see the work we’ ve been putting in to make sure that I’ m ready to compete at this level,” Denton asserts.“ I definitely don’ t want people to take us lightly. I’ m confident in our team and know that they’ re going to provide me with a fast race car and everything I need, so hopefully I can prove myself as a driver. I feel like that race helped me do that and show that I’ m ready to compete at that level.”
A month after the WSOPM, Denton arrived at GALOT Motorsports Park for the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series season opener, the East Coast Nationals, to make her long-awaited Pro Nitrous debut. It was a childhood dream come true just to enter the class, but ever the competitor, Denton made the most of the opportunity. She qualified No. 3 behind Franklin and fellow rookie Tim Paap and notched a first-round win over Corey Smith before falling to Jackie Slone Jr. on a holeshot in the second round.
“ The Winter Series was fun, and I am extremely grateful to be a part of that, but it’ s a whole other set of emotions when I’ ve grown up watching Pro Nitrous,” Denton says.“ Being in that class was just a lifelong goal. It was very surreal to me to be going up to the lanes with that class and pulling up for Q1, and just even seeing my name on the sheet in that category was extremely exciting. I was just super, super grateful the whole weekend just for the opportunity.”
At the next race on tour, the Mid-Atlantic Showdown at Virginia Motorsports Park, Denton qualified No. 4 and defeated Jim Widener, Corey Smith, and John Vergotz on the way to her first Pro Nitrous final round. After running in the mid-3.60s in the previous two rounds, she slowed to a 3.772 at 189.95 and lost to Marcus Butner and his 3.639. But the fact that Denton made it to the money round in just her second start was further proof she’ s where she belongs.
“ The competition is stout in Pro Nitrous and I knew that it would be a tough class for us to compete in as a driver just getting used to things,” Denton admits.“ But I definitely have the confidence in my team. I know they’ re going to do the right things and make the right decisions, and if I can do my part, I felt like we could be at that level and be in a final round. I was extremely proud of the team that weekend making it there. That was another really surreal moment.”
Denton qualified third again at the North vs. South Shootout at Maryland International Raceway before a mechanical issue cut her weekend short in the second round. Still, she left Budds
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