DINWIDDIE, Va. — With a Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series world championship on the line, Marcus Butner won a side-by-side Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous final round at the Pro Line Racing Brian Olson Memorial World Finals presented by ProCharger at Virginia Motorsports Park to claim his third win of the season and his first career world championship.
Butner and final-round opponent Buddy Perkinson both cut .009-second reaction times before Butner pulled ahead to win with a 3.647-second pass at 207.53 mph over Perkinson’s 3.660 at 205.91.
Driving his ’67 Wagon, Staunton, Virginia’s Billy Brewster cut a .009 light and ran a 6.403 on a 6.39 dial-in in the final round of Edelbrock Bracket Bash presented by COMP Cams to defeat Ernie Lumpkin and his 5.490 on a 5.48 dial-in.
With a win at the penultimate race of the season at GALOT Motorsports Park last month, Pro Nitrous young gun Marcus Butner put himself in a position to challenge three-time world champion Tommy Franklin for the 2025 season title.
Throughout the World Finals weekend, Butner and tuner Jay Cox made the most of the opportunity, including beating Franklin in the second round. Butner had to go on to win the event, and he did just that. He met up with past Elite Top Sportsman world champion Buddy Perkinson in the final round, where both drivers left the line with .009 reaction times.
Butner’s Musi-powered “Heartbreaker” ’69 Camaro edged out Perkinson at the finish line with a 3.647 at 207.53 to a 3.660 at 205.91. It was Butner’s third win of the season and the fourth of his career.
“We trusted all to God this weekend. We’ve got the best team, the best tuner, and we’ve got the best people on board,” said Butner, who went on to thank Pat Musi Racing Engines, Liberty’s Gears, Ty-Drive, Indy Gear, and Kinetic Engineering. “It took every single person, every single minute of the year to get to where we are. Hats off to them. I feel like we ran pretty good all year. We had some bad luck. I messed up in Michigan, turned it red, and let Tommy go win the race. You can look back, and hindsight is 20/20. But when we rolled into GALOT, we had our A game on.”
Butner had the sixth-quickest car in qualifying, but he was the quickest driver in the first round of eliminations, as he fired off a 3.603 at 209.98 to beat Chris Rini and his 3.674. The pass also broke the late Lizzy Musi’s speed record set at the 2018 World Finals.
It also gave Butner lane choice over Franklin in the second round. The two were separated by just .002 at the starting line, but Butner pulled ahead to win with a 3.671 at 208.10 over Franklin’s 3.681 at 206.57. In the semifinals against No. 13 qualifier Cam Clark, Butner rolled to a 3.688 at 206.86 to defeat Clark’s 3.723.
Perkinson, who was appearing in his first final round, qualified No. 7 in his Musi-powered LAT Racing Oil ’69 Camaro and got a first-round win over fellow Elite Top Sportsman world champion Tim Molnar in a 3.641-to-3.681 race. He got past No. 1 qualifier and 2024 world champion Fredy Scriba in the second round when he ran a 3.704 at 204.32 and Scriba lifted to a 6.573. Perkinson nearly lost on a holeshot to Billy Albert in the semifinals, as he ran a 3.679 at 205.82 to drive around Albert’s 3.719 at 206.83 by just .002.
Though Jason Harris had to relinquish the No. 1 car number he’s worn for the past two seasons as the Pro Boost world champion, he did wrap up the 2025 season with his third consecutive World Finals title. After thrashing to make substantial repairs to his
ProCharger-boosted Southern Diamond Company “Party Time” ’69 Camaro before the final round, Harris met up with newly crowned world champion Ty Tutterow. A side-by-side 3.58-second race was on tap, but it was over on the starting line for Tutterow, who went red by .041 seconds on a 3.588 pass at 209.46. With the win light already on in his lane, Harris posted a 3.586 at 209.20 to get his first win of the season.
Harris set low E.T. of eliminations with his 3.564 at 210.08 to beat rookie Frank Falter IV and a career-best 3.613 in the first round. A side-by-side race against teammate John Doc followed in round two, with Harris’ 3.621 at 208.71 topping Doc’s 3.646 at 208.01. Harris ended up on a single in the semifinals when Kurt Steding couldn’t make the run. Hoping to get lane choice for the final, Harris made a full pass and wounded his supercharger en route to a 3.651 at 186.46.
One round after securing his second consecutive Pro Street world championship, Ethan Steding cruised to a final-round victory lap of a win over No. 1 qualifier Richard Reagan. Steding in his roots-blown P2 Contracting “College Fund” ’24 Camaro jumped off the starting line ahead of Reagan and held the lead through the 660-foot finish line, winning with a 3.925 at 196.79 to Reagan’s 3.920 at 198.58. It was Steding’s third win in four consecutive final rounds and his fourth overall win on the season.
Steding qualified second and unleashed a 3.899 at 197.59 on John Carinci and his 4.067 in the opening round of eliminations on Saturday night. When racing continued on Sunday, Steding got around 2023 world champion Bill Riddle and his 4.022 at 190.75 with a 3.944 at 196.70, which set low E.T. of the round. Steding’s biggest round of the year came in the semifinals, where he laid down a 3.950 at 196.50 to finish just .011 seconds ahead of championship challenger Blake Denton and his 3.957 at 195.99. That sealed the deal on Steding’s second Pro Street title and third in the series, counting his 2021 Pro Jr. Dragster title.
Newly crowned two-time Extreme Pro Stock world champion Alan Drinkwater added one more event win to his 2025 scorecard when he defeated rising star Jordan Ensslin in the final round. To secure his fourth win of the season, Drinkwater left the starting line first in his Kaase-powered Flatout Gaskets ’08 Mustang and turned on the win light with a 4.077 at 177.98. Ensslin, who won the Summit PDRA ProStars race on Thursday, posted a close 4.079 at 176.72 in the runner-up effort.
Drinkwater was unopposed in the opening round, as Jeremy Huffman couldn’t make the run, while Drinkwater set low E.T. of eliminations with a 4.046 at 179.11. He led wire-to-wire in his semifinal match with Elijah Morton, running a 4.080 at 178.00 to Morton’s 4.092 at 185.97.
Carson Hoyle ended his Pro 632 rookie season with a decisive win to claim his first career PDRA 660 Man trophy in a professional class after stepping up from a fruitful Pro Jr. Dragster career. He used a combination of quick reaction times and a consistently quick race car to work his way through a tough path to the winner’s circle. In the final round, he cut a .005 reaction time and powered to a 4.147 at 170.43 to defeat Kyle Salminen and his 4.212 at 170.30.
Hoyle qualified fourth and made the second-quickest pass of the opening round, a 4.121 at 171.62, to drive around Nicole Liberty and her 4.166. He was the only driver to dip into the 4.10s in the second round with his 4.167 at 170.08 over championship runner-up Walter Lannigan, who lifted to a 5.297. Hoyle then beat two-time world champion Jeff Melnick on a holeshot in the semifinals, running a 4.157 at 170.64 to Melnick’s 4.156.
Super Street rookie Carson Perry closed out a career-best weekend with his first career PDRA national event win after defeating 2024 world champion Dan Whetstine in the final round. Perry in his Barry Allen AMC-powered Greenbrier Excavating & Paving ’00 Camaro won the Summit PDRA ProStars all-star race on Thursday night and claimed his first career No. 1 qualifier award on Saturday. He ran a pair of 4.50s to reach the final round, where he ran it out to a 4.595 at 156.57 after Whetstine went red by .029 seconds on a 4.780 at 154.00 pass.
Perry’s march through eliminations started with a 4.531 at 157.37 to knock out fellow rookie Brooks McMath and his 4.706 at 157.47. He drove around championship runner-up Austin Vincent, laying down a 4.589 at 156.46 to Vincent’s 4.666.
A quicker reaction time and a 4.052 on a 4.03 dial-in helped Ron Whitlock in his ProCharged GXP take home the Elite Top Sportsman win over South Chesterfield, Virginia’s own Randy Perkinson in the final round. Perkinson recorded a 3.886 on a 3.85 dial-in in his ProCharged ’67 Mustang to take runner-up honors.
By just one thousandth of a second, Joe Roubicek red-lighted away his chance at a second world championship and a World Finals win in the final round of Top Sportsman 48. His opponent, newly crowned Pro 632 world champion Jeff Melnick, was ready for a race, though, as he threw down a 4.142 on a 4.14 dial-in in his ProCharged Exotic Fabrication ’02 Avenger to get the win.
After taking out Elite Top Dragster points leader Alan O’Brien in the first round, two-time world champion Steve Furr was on a mission to win the World Finals. A third world championship would follow. But final-round opponent Linzie Coleman had other plans, as he left the line .007 ahead of Furr and recorded a 3.775 on a 3.77 dial-in in his ProCharged ’17 American dragster to narrowly defeat Furr, who drove his ProCharged ’13 American dragster to a 3.804 on a 3.79 dial-in.
Past Pro Jr. Dragster standout Will Creasman raced to victory in Top Dragster 48 when he defeated fellow North Carolinian James Albertson in the final round. Creasman got a .015 advantage on the starting line and posted a 4.267 on a 4.25, while Albertson went 4.254 on a 4.22 dial-in.
