Amber Denton has never been one to back down from a challenge. After racking up two PDRA Pro 632 world championships in 2022 and 2024 and a PDRA Pro Jr. Dragster title in 2017, the young driver is taking the next big step in her racing career: moving up to the ultra-competitive Pro Nitrous division. Denton – the daughter of three-time Pro Nitrous world champion Tommy Franklin and his wife, Judy – made her Pro Mod debut during the inaugural Drag Illustrated Winter Series, turning heads with her smooth transition into the faster, more demanding class. Now, as just the second woman to compete in Pro Nitrous since the late Lizzy Musi, Denton is carving out her own legacy in one of doorslammer racing’s most iconic divisions.
Editor’s Note: This story appeared as one of two cover stories in DI #195, the Women of Power Issue, in July/August of 2025.
Denton, who married her longtime boyfriend, 2023 PDRA Super Street world champion Blake Denton last September, enjoyed a dominant final season in Pro 632 competition. Driving the Musi-powered “OG Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro – the same car her father drove to Pro Nitrous world championships in 2016 and 2017, Denton qualified No. 1 at all but two of the eight races on the 2024 PDRA schedule. She won three races – the North vs. South Shootout at Maryland International Raceway, the inaugural Thunder Valley Throwdown at Bristol Dragway, and Drag Wars at GALOT Motorsports Park, the latter allowing Denton to secure the 2024 world championship before the season-ending Brian Olson Memorial World Finals. Denton also set a new class E.T. record at the World Finals, becoming the first person in the class to dip into the 4.00s with a 4.086-second pass. She closed the weekend – and her Pro 632 career – with a runner-up finish to longtime best friend Lexi Tanner.
With Denton having made a statement in Pro 632, onlookers expected her to soon make the move up to Pro Nitrous. The Franklin family had been quietly preparing for the transition since earlier in the season when they made some reconfigurations in the Pro 632 car to prepare her for the driving motions of the Pro Nitrous combination. Those close to the family knew what was going on, but Denton kept the move quiet through the World Finals weekend.
“It was very hard to keep it a secret,” Denton says. “At the last race we already had both motors sold out of the 632 program, so we tried to keep that under wraps. I was excited about it and my parents were excited about it, so keeping that a secret until we were confident that that’s the direction we wanted to go was definitely difficult.”
About a month after the World Finals, Denton and the Tommy Franklin Motorsports team returned to their own Virginia Motorsports Park in mid-November so she could make her first passes with a Musi 974-cubic-inch mill between the frame rails. Unsurprisingly, Denton was ripping off numbers in the 3.60s in just a few passes.
“It was wintertime in Virginia, so the air was quite good,” Denton offers. “Having my dad and my husband, Blake, and then [tuner] Jeff Pierce and all of our crew guys, of course, having that support made the world of difference. They were extremely patient and just took it one step at a time, doing burnouts and everything. A lot of the procedure was close to the same as what I was used to in 632, but at the same time, it’s quite a big difference when there’s a lot more horsepower involved. Our VMP staff and Gavin Carter had the track set that weekend, so it made the adjustment very easy for us. We made good laps and got ready for the Winter Series, which we were excited about.”
Both Denton and Franklin sat out the first race of the inaugural Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service, the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, to focus on preparations for the Performance Racing Industry Show the next weekend in Indianapolis, where the Franklin family-owned PDRA has a booth and hosts its annual championship awards banquet. But they set the next race, the U.S. Street Nationals in late January, as Denton’s official Pro Modified debut.
Team TFM rolled into Bradenton Motorsports Park with just Amber’s car, allowing Franklin to focus on coaching his daughter rather than competing alongside her. Thanks to weather issues, Denton ended up with three qualifying attempts to get into the 32-car, $75,000-to-win Pro Mod field. She wound up a few spots shy in the No. 37 position with a 3.669 and 206.10 mph out of nearly 70 cars that tried to qualify.
“I tried to go into the first race with no expectations, just realizing it had been a few months since I had sat in the car with a completely new setup and program for us, but at the same time, I am a competitor and when I show up to an event, I want to do well,” Denton says. “But I feel like we did make good runs. We just got behind as far as making sure I was comfortable and missed the field by a little bit. But we absolutely didn’t hang our heads that weekend. It’s a big difference going from a test session to competing against the baddest names in the category.”
The U.S. Street Nationals allowed Denton to get more seat time and critical experience lining up with someone else in the other lane. That also included staging against racers running different combinations, which was a departure from Denton’s experience in Pro 632 with its nitrous and all-motor combos.
With one race under her belt, Denton went right into the biggest Pro Mod race of the year, the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod. This time, Denton had five shots to make it into the field. In the thrilling final session, she threw down a career-best 3.624 at 208.71 to move up to No. 22 on the final qualifying sheet. Franklin also qualified on the bump spot with a 3.637 in his brand-new “Jungle Rat 3.0” ’69 Camaro, making them the first father-daughter duo to qualify at the World Series of Pro Mod.
“There was no holding back for me. Not that there was at the first race, but I wanted to just make it into the race,” Denton says. “That last qualifying round felt like a final round. Seeing the scoreboard pop up was such an exciting round. Seeing my parents and my family watch and have the anticipation as well, that’s kind of what we do it for.”
The thrill continued on Saturday race day as Denton scored a first-round holeshot win over No. 18 qualifier Billy Banaka after drawing him in the first-round chip draw on Friday night. A couple pairs later, Franklin got the round win over past World Doorslammer Nationals Pro Mod winner Alex Laughlin, setting up the possibility of a father-daughter showdown in the second round. The chip draw didn’t play out that way, though, with Denton meeting up with original WSOPM champion Mike Bowman and Franklin racing 2023 WSOPM runner-up Kurt Steding. Bowman ended up eliminating both drivers on his way to the semifinals, using a 3.623 to beat Denton’s 3.667 and a 3.619 to defeat Franklin’s 3.65.
“It was extremely rewarding to just get in, and then being involved in the chip draw and all of that, it’s fun,” Denton says of her first WSOPM 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 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 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 something we both really cherish together and we’re just always cheering each other on. Having that support and just seeing him work throughout the week on chasing his goals, it’s something that is really special to us.”
Denton also shares a strong bond with her younger sister, Ashley. The two shared the championship stage last season when Amber won her second Pro 632 title and Ashley won the Pro Jr. Dragster championship in her final season before graduating to “big cars.”
“That was super, super special,” Denton says. “Being the older sister, I know the path that she is taking as far as just going through the Jr. ranks, so understanding that to a better level and watching her success is extremely exciting. Watching my family have success is just as much fun as being successful myself at events. When I see them win, I get just as excited, if not more excited for them. Being able to double up was really special and something that we had been working towards for quite a few years and finally got to pull it off.”
Ashley has kept her long-term goals in the sport a little closer to the vest than Amber did at her age. She now competes in PDRA Top Dragster, where she’s seventh in points following a fourth-round finish at Maryland. Beyond that, does she follow in her sister’s footsteps and move to Pro 632 and eventually Pro Nitrous? The answer to that question isn’t obvious even to Amber, but she can imagine the sisters lining up against each other one day.
“If the opportunity was there for her to move up eventually, I feel like she would take it,” Denton says. “We’ve never talked about competing at that level together, but I do feel like it is something that we would both really enjoy. It would be really exciting for us, as well as I almost feel like my parents would really enjoy that as well. I know how competitive we are now, and can only imagine the comments my sister would have for me at that level.”
Until then, Denton will continue making the most of her opportunity to live her dream, sharing her gratitude for her parents, sister, husband, Pierce, and the TFM team, as well as partners like Pat Musi Racing Engines and Red Line Oil. “I give God all the glory,” she says. “Like always, I’m extremely thankful for the position he’s put me and my family in to be able to do this, and that means a lot to me.”
Denton is also passionate about continuing the Franklin family’s initiatives to make positive contributions towards the growth of the sport. She’s had a firsthand look at how her parents remained committed to the PDRA as the other founding owners divested, then also purchased VMP to keep it open as a racetrack, continuously investing into both ventures along the way. From parking cars during busy events to engaging with fans in the stands, Denton will jump in wherever help is needed, always with the goal of leaving the sport better than she found it.
“Pro Mod has always been the ultimate goal for me, so I just want to continue that and help make it the greatest that it can be within our sport and really get people involved in it,” Denton says. “I feel like it’s really taken off over the last couple years and people are really starting to see how great the racing is in Pro Mod right now. Anything that I can do as a driver to get more people acknowledging that, I want to be involved. Whether it’s my racing or the series or the racetrack, any part that I can do to try and keep things growing, I’m all for it.”
