With a quick turnaround on the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) schedule, Musi Racing enjoyed a step in the right direction last weekend at the PDRA Carolina Showdown.
Lizzy Musi and the team made major improvements from the PDRA opener two weeks prior in Pro Nitrous, winning a round in the Frank Brandao-owned Edelbrock/Lucas Oil “King Kong 7” 2018 Dodge Dart at Darlington Dragway.
That was a positive move as the team made strides, while Pat Musi Racing Engines customer Tommy Franklin also enjoyed another banner weekend, winning his second straight Pro Nitrous race in his Musi-powered “Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro.
“We came out of this weekend feeling positive,” Pat Musi said. “We finally figured what was going on and we almost snuck up on it. As a team, we’re getting there and we made some progress. We’re coming around, we just have to continue to make some adjustments. Tommy is running really well and that team has it figured out right now. I’m happy to see a customer succeed and perform at that level. Everybody gets the same power from our shop and their car is running great.”
Franklin again qualified second for the second straight race with a run of 3.675-seconds at 204.55 mph, staying in the 3.60s for all four passes in eliminations for the second straight event as well.
One of those came against Lizzy Musi in the second round, as Franklin just slipped by with a 3.681 at 205.10 mph. Musi was a dynamite .006 on the starting line, running 3.736 at 204.55 mph in a great side-by-side matchup.
Franklin upped it in the semifinals with a 3.659 at 204.64 mph, putting together the quickest run of the weekend in the final round on a standout pass of 3.648 at 204.73 mph.
It gives Franklin a dominant start to the 2020 PDRA season, while Lizzy Musi made a number of consistent passes in qualifying.
She qualified far better last weekend as well, going 3.768 at 203.16 mph to head into raceday from the No. 7 spot. She went 3.782 at 204.08 mph to pick up the first round win before falling in the quarterfinal thriller.
It’s not quite the 3.60s runs the Musi Racing team has become accustomed to, but Pat Musi promises those runs are coming.
“We made it down the track every time and we almost beat Tommy, so we’re getting closer to where we want to be,” Musi said. “We’ll get it and we’re almost there. The crew is working hard and we’re happy. We had some good speed and everyone knows we’ve got big power. We’re coming along. Lizzy is doing a great job driving and I wouldn’t be satisfied with anybody but her in the car. She’s doing her job and we’ll get there as a team.”
The Musi Racing team returns to action July 16-18 at the PDRA North-South Shootout at Maryland International Raceway.
This story was originally published on June 17, 2020. 
