WOMEN OF POWER • 2025 AMBER DENTON
Creek as the points leader with just 15 points separating her from Marcus Butner. Her next focus is securing her first career Pro Nitrous victory, while the thought of a championship pursuit in the fall also looms.
“ As a driver, I’ m going to have to be on my A-game every single pass,” Denton says.“ There’ s no‘ gimme’ rounds. There’ s not any part that we can take lightly. Another big part of it is just making sure we’ re racing smartly and making the right decisions on race day. As a driver, I’ m always looking to see what I can improve on. Each round, I’ m getting more and more comfortable in the car and just learning more every single pass.”
Along with having watched her father make hundreds of runs in a Pro Nitrous car, Denton also grew up idolizing the late Lizzy Musi, who followed in the footsteps of her father, engine builder and former Pro Stock, Pro Street, and Pro Mod racer Pat Musi when she made her Pro Nitrous debut in 2014. Lizzy became the first woman to compete in the category, and starting with her first win at the PDRA World Finals that season, she became one of the most accomplished competitors in the class, period. The Franklin and Musi families have been close for years, and Lizzy mentored both Amber and her younger sister, 2024 PDRA Pro Jr. Dragster world champion Ashley Franklin. Now, Denton looks to honor Lizzy’ s memory as just the second woman to compete in Pro Nitrous.
“ I definitely think about it quite often,” Denton says.“ I feel I’ m extremely blessed to be in the position and honored to just race the class in general. But having watched her, and being a female in a male-dominated category and sport, it’ s something that we learn and feed off of each other from.
“ I tell people all the time, no one is ever going
Amber and Blake Denton tied the knot last September. Just a couple weeks earlier, Amber doubled up with her father, Tommy Franklin, at Bristol, winning one last time as a Franklin.
to be like Lizzy,” Denton continues,“ but I strive to follow a lot of her driving characteristics and the passion that she had in the class and the sport. Hopefully we can shine that through us and in the‘ Bonnie’ car as well, just honoring her as much as possible and keeping her name going in the class.”
“ Bonnie” refers to Musi’ s Robert Hayes-built’ 69 Camaro that she drove in Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings competition, where she earned seven invitational wins in 12 final rounds. Following Lizzy’ s untimely passing in June 2024 after battling cancer, the Musi family sold the car to the Franklins to field in PDRA Pro Street with Amber’ s husband, Blake Denton, driving.
Pat and his wife, Liz, now travel the full PDRA tour with the Franklins to support the team and watch their daughter’ s car continue to make
laps down the track rather than sit cobwebbed in the corner of the shop or even on display in a museum. The“ Bonnie” Camaro, which still looks almost exactly as it did when Lizzy last raced it to a runner-up finish at Empire Dragway in the spring of 2024, has carried Blake to two Pro Street wins in three consecutive final rounds this season.
The Dentons grew up racing together, though not always in the same class as they climbed the ladder. Amber and Blake have cheered each other on at every step, but it’ s reached a new level now that Amber is in Pro Nitrous and Blake is in Pro Street.
“ Being at this level and seeing him chase his goals, as a wife, I’ m extremely proud of him and I know I’ m his No. 1 fan,” she says.“ He gets to watch me accomplish my goals and it’ s some-
Amber and her younger sister, Ashley Franklin, achieved a longtime shared dream of winning championships together when Ashley picked up her first Pro Jr. Dragster world title and Amber got her second in Pro 632.
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