{"id":95943,"date":"2024-09-13T21:18:53","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T21:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/musi-franklin-families-come-together-to-honor-lizzy-musi-with-new-mission-for-bonnie-camaro\/"},"modified":"2024-09-13T21:18:53","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T21:18:53","slug":"musi-franklin-families-come-together-to-honor-lizzy-musi-with-new-mission-for-bonnie-camaro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/musi-franklin-families-come-together-to-honor-lizzy-musi-with-new-mission-for-bonnie-camaro\/","title":{"rendered":"Musi, Franklin Families Come Together to Honor Lizzy Musi with New Mission for \u2018Bonnie\u2019 Camaro"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the months since Lizzy Musi passed away following a breast cancer battle<\/a>, Pat and Liz Musi struggled to decide what to do with \u201cBonnie,\u201d the Robert Hayes-built \u201969 Camaro that Musi raced to numerous wins in Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings<\/em>\u00a0competition. After a conversation with longtime Pat Musi Racing Engines customer and family friend Tommy Franklin, the Musis found the perfect solution. \u201cBonnie\u201d will now race under the Tommy Franklin Motorsports umbrella, with Franklin\u2019s son-in-law, Blake Denton, behind the wheel. Once competitive, they plan to field the car in PDRA Pro Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The mission for both families is to honor and remember Lizzy by continuing to put \u201cBonnie\u201d in the winner\u2019s circle. Pat insists he and wife Liz are as honored by the Franklin family continuing to race the car as the Franklins are honored by the opportunity to carry on what Lizzy started.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working with Tommy and his family for at least 10 years now, and it\u2019s more than just a business relationship. We\u2019re like family,\u201d said Pat Musi. \u201cLizzy always followed Amber [Franklin, Tommy and wife Judy\u2019s oldest daughter] and Amber always followed Lizzy. Our families have become close over the years, and we\u2019re honored that Tommy and his family are going to keep Lizzy\u2019s car out there on the track. I can\u2019t tell you how much it means to all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Franklin, never one to shy away from a new project, is adding \u201cBonnie\u201d to an already stacked lineup that includes his \u201cJungle Rat\u201d \u201969 Camaro Pro Nitrous car, Amber\u2019s \u201cOG Jungle Rat\u201d \u201969 Camaro in Pro 632, Denton\u2019s \u201976 Camaro in Super Street, and youngest daughter Ashley\u2019s Pro Jr. Dragster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really all about honoring and paying tribute to Lizzy,\u201d said Tommy Franklin, the three-time and defending PDRA Pro Nitrous world champion. \u201cIt\u2019s been a privilege to work together with Pat and Liz for years, and our daughters looked up to Lizzy. We all miss her, and we\u2019re going to do everything we can to honor her legacy by putting \u2018Bonnie\u2019 in the winner\u2019s circle. We want to carry on the traditions and let Pat and Liz be able to come out here and watch the car turn on win lights.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a unique new opportunity for Denton, who married Amber last weekend. He drove his Musi-powered \u201976 Camaro to the inaugural PDRA Super Street world championship in 2023, building on his experience driving Jr. Dragsters and Musi-powered bracket dragsters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole deal is to try to honor Lizzy in the best way we can. She was a one-of-a-kind racer and the best person. I really can\u2019t thank Pat and Liz Musi and Tommy and Judy Franklin enough for the opportunity to drive this car,\u201d said Denton, who also thanked wife Amber, Robert and Debera Hayes, and the TFM team. \u201cWhen Tommy and Pat first started talking about this, I knew how special this is for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blake got behind the wheel of the \u201cBonnie\u201d \u201969 Camaro during a private test session at Virginia Motorsports Park this week. Cosmetically, the car hasn\u2019t been changed since Musi\u2019s last outing at the NPK race at Empire Dragway in the spring. The team has some changes to make to convert it over from NPK trim to Pro Street trim. Like Tommy\u2019s Pro Nitrous car, Amber\u2019s Pro 632 car, and Blake\u2019s Super Street car, Jeff Pierce will handle the tuning. When the car is capable of running at the front in Pro Street, which regularly sees eighth-mile times in the mid-3.90s to low 4.00s, Franklin says they\u2019ll bring it out in competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to get involved in a new class,\u201d Franklin said. \u201cThere are some tough racers and fast cars in Pro Street. Lizzy won a bunch of No Prep Kings races with this car. Our intention is to do the same in Pro Street. We\u2019re not going to bring it out until it\u2019s ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musi is looking forward to seeing the car compete in Pro Street. Though PDRA Pro Street isn\u2019t quite the same as NMCA Pro Street, where Musi scored eight world championships, it is a full-circle moment to see the car end up in the class. It\u2019s also a chance for Pat Musi Racing Engines to make its mark on a new class, as boosted combinations have dominated the fairly young category.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings back memories of me and Tony Christian running Pro Street,\u201d Musi said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to back the nitrous deal as hard as we can. The supercharged cars, the turbo cars, the nitrous cars \u2013 they\u2019re all limited by the tire size. I think we can be competitive, even those guys have big power, more than a nitrous engine can make. We feel like we can compete with them. It\u2019s going to be a tuning deal. The tire is a big factor. We\u2019re pretty happy with the early numbers in testing. I\u2019m excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amber Franklin Denton pulls Blake Denton into the beams during testing. <\/p>\n

Denton, who won the PDRA season opener and is now third in points, feels his time in Super Street has prepared him for the move up to Pro Street. Both classes are limited by tire size, with Super Street limiting teams to a 28\u00d710.5\u201d non-W bias ply slick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Super Street car has definitely helped me in a lot of ways,\u201d Denton said. \u201cIt\u2019s taught me to feel a car out better and know when to get out of it. They\u2019re definitely different cars, but it feels the same way as my Super Street car does on the 10.5-inch tire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow the Tommy Franklin Motorsports<\/a> and Pat Musi Racing Engines<\/a> Facebook pages to follow along with Lizzy Musi\u2019s \u201cBonnie\u201d \u201969 Camaro as it makes the move to PDRA Pro Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

This story was originally published on September 13, 2024. <\/p>\n

The post Musi, Franklin Families Come Together to Honor Lizzy Musi with New Mission for \u2018Bonnie\u2019 Camaro<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the months since Lizzy Musi passed away following a breast cancer battle, Pat and Liz Musi struggled to decide what to do with \u201cBonnie,\u201d the Robert Hayes-built \u201969 Camaro that Musi raced to numerous wins in Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings\u00a0competition. After a conversation with longtime Pat Musi Racing Engines customer and family friend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95943\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}