Tommy Franklin Takes on ‘ King Tut ’
Tommy Franklin , co-founder of the PDRA and a two-time Pro Nitrous world champion , qualified out of the No . 12 spot after being the second driver to accept his invite to the WSOPM .
“ I was standing up there thinking that it doesn ’ t matter [ who you draw ] because they ’ re all going to be good , but it just gives us the inspiration to try to go out there and beat Todd ,” said Franklin after drawing Todd “ King Tut ” Tutterow for round one . “ We ’ re going to give it our all , and if we come out on top , then great . If not , then we got beat by one of the best .”
Franklin ’ s Musi-powered “ Jungle Rat ” ‘ 69 Camaro rattled the tires after the launch , leaving him with a 4.896-second run at 111.19 MPH to Tutterow ’ s 3.757 at 203.61 MPH .
– KAYLA ZADEL DI
The Wolverine Roar
The opening round of eliminations in Pro Mod was full of upsets , pedal-fests , and come-from-behind wins . One of the most exciting pairings – as evidenced by Brody Zimmerman and the rest of the “ Wolverine ” team – was Mark “ Tydo ” Werdehausen versus Ken Quartuccio . While the two were separated by just a few thousandths in qualifying , Quartuccio was a bit of a favorite as the Outlaw Pro Mod winner of the U . S . Street Nationals held at Bradenton just a month or so
before WSOPM .
Quartuccio grabbed a solid holeshot advantage , but he destroyed a ProCharger shortly after leaving the starting line . In the other lane , Werdehausen pedaled the twin-turbocharged “ Wolverine II ” ’ 69 Camaro to a 4.20 at 203.68 to move on to the second round , eliciting a boisterous starting line celebration from his team , which includes car owners Matt and Anita Zimmerman and Mark Michael . It was an emotional round-one win for Werdehausen , who races in memory of the late Tim Slavens . DI
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