BRISTOL, Tenn. — After hot and humid weather created tricky track conditions for pro teams throughout the day on Friday at the PDRA Thunder Valley Throwdown presented by Larry Jeffers Race Cars, the final session under the lights was a welcome relief.
With lightning flashing in the background, Marcus Butner and Tommy Franklin went No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in a side-by-side final pass of the session.
Butner’s 3.659 at 206.51 mph earned him the No. 1 qualifier award in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous presented by Jerry Bickel Race Cars. It’s Butner’s second No. 1 qualifier award of the season at the fifth of seven races on the 2026 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series schedule.
After three qualifying sessions in WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive, 2025 PDRA Pro Boost world champion and defending event winner Ty Tutterow took the No. 1 spot with a 3.613 at 207.08 mph.
The PDRA’s other three pro classes also completed three qualifying sessions, with No. 1 qualifier awards going to Andy Mac in Liberty’s Gears Pro Street presented by KTR Drag Racing, J.C. Beattie Jr. in Pro 632 presented by Mark Williams Enterprises, and Austin Vincent in 1320 Fabrication Super Street presented by Brian’s Heating & Cooling.
Following three qualifying sessions, No. 1 qualifier awards in the sportsman categories went to Bruce Thrift in MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman presented by PAR Racing Engines, Tony Careccia in Greenbrier Excavating & Paving Elite Top Dragster presented by American Race Cars, Randy Perkinson in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman, and Chaz Silance in ATI Performance Products Top Dragster presented by TBM Brakes.
The PDRA rising stars in the Jr. Dragster ranks completed two qualifying sessions. Pheyton Rawlins (Pro Jr. Dragster) and Mason Dudley (Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster) are the provisional No. 1 qualifiers going into Saturday’s final session. Rawlins, a Denver, North Carolina native, posted a perfect 7.900-second elapsed time to lead Pro Jr. Dragster, which qualifies against a 7.90 index. In Top Jr. Dragster, where the qualifying order is based on reaction time, Dudley was nearly perfect, posting a .006 in the Owings, Maryland-based ’26 Halfscale entry.
Defending PDRA Pro Nitrous world champion Marcus Butner hasn’t had the first half of the season that he would prefer, but in Bristol, the Pat Musi-powered, Jay Cox-tuned, Butner Construction ’69 Camaro appears to be turning the corner. Butner ran low e.t. in all three sessions, culminating with a 3.659 at 206.51 mph in the final run of the night for the class, earning him the No. 1 qualifier award.
Despite struggling earlier in the year, Butner entered the event sitting fifth in points, and has put himself in a position to catapult up the standings with a strong showing in eliminations.
“It’s on rails right now, there’s no doubt,” said Butner. “We got a hell of a team here, and we’ve worked hard to get this car back in this shape. We really struggled earlier in the year. We had one No. 1 qualifier, but we couldn’t ever get it done. It’s like we was chasing little gremlins. So we tested a good bit, worked on fine tuning everything, trying to get it back in championship form. It’s really shown up this weekend, thank the Lord. We’re confident. I think it’d go down a dirt road right now and go pretty fast. All this takes a lot of luck. Maybe we’ll get a little lucky, maybe we won’t. We’re gonna do our best either way.”
Three-time PDRA Pro Nitrous world champion and current points leader Tommy Franklin ended the day No. 2 on the qualifying sheet thanks to a 3.665 at 206.20 mph in his Musi-powered “Jungle Rat 3.0” ’69 Camaro. “Legend of Thunder Valley” Rickie Smith qualified third with a 3.711 at 204.26 in his J&A Service/Parkway Ford ‘22 Mustang.
Defending PDRA Pro Boost world champion Ty Tutterow, son of two-time Pro Boost world champion Todd “King Tut” Tutterow, won last year’s Thunder Valley Throwdown at Galot Motorsports Park after rain postponed the event in Bristol. Piloting Justin Smith’s Larry Jeffers-built Quik Fuel ’68 Camaro, Tutterow took to the No. 1 spot on Friday night with a 3.613 elapsed time at 207.08 mph.
The run helped Tutterow, currently sitting third in points, edge closer to points leader Jason Harris and put him in prime position to jump to the top of the standings if things fall his way in eliminations. Harris qualified fifth, meaning the two could potentially meet in the semifinals with huge points implications.
Former Super Bowl champion and Pro Boost rookie Fletcher Cox took the No. 2 spot in his screw-blown, KTR Racing “Fixed Income” ’69 Camaro with a 3.616 at 207.02 mph. Fellow first-year Pro Mod driver Paul Gargus continued his impressive season, qualifying third with a 3.622 at 207.91 in the Harts Charger-powered ’69 Camaro out of the Scott Tidwell Racing camp.
Grudge racing and N/T veteran Andy Mac took over driving duties in Fletcher Cox’s nitrous-powered, “Training Day” ’69 Camaro earlier this season when Cox made the move to Pro Mod, and immediately qualified No. 1 and went to the final round at Galot. On Friday night, Mac added a second No. 1 qualifier to his résumé, running 3.951 seconds at 189.55 mph, showing that he has taken a liking to his current driving situation.
Richard Reagan dove into the 3-second range in the final session as well, posting a 3.973 at 193.71 mph in his screw-blown ‘91 Mustang. Golden, Colorado’s Mikey Sasina held the No. 1 spot until the final session, eventually taking the No. 3 position in his Harts Charger-boosted ’03 Mustang, running a 3.986 at 195.99.
Former NHRA sportsman racer J.C. Beattie Jr. started out the 2026 PDRA season on fire, taking home wins in the first two events of the year in Pro 632 presented by Mark Williams Enterprises.
After a slight hiccup in Maryland, Beattie Jr. got right back on track in Bristol, taking his nitrous-fed ATI Performance Products ’18 Camaro to the top of the qualifying sheet with a 4.177 elapsed time at 171.69 mph.
Points leader Jeff Pittman was hot on Beattie Jr.’s heels, posting a 4.190 at 169.13 mph in his Hickory Enclosed Trailer Sales ’68 Chevelle to take the No. 2 spot. Sarantion, South Carolina’s Ryan Altman drove his ’68 Camaro to the No. 3 position, running a 4.192 at 169.53.
As it’s been all season, qualifying in 1320 Fabrication Super Street presented by Brian’s Heating & Cooling was a battle between young guns Austin Vincent and Connor McGee, and the margins couldn’t have been tighter.
While McGee had the upper hand in the previous two races, Vincent took the No. 1 spot at Thunder Valley on speed, as both drivers ran identical 4.628-second passes in the second session. Vincent’s 157.98 mph in his Vincent Performance ’88 Mustang was more than enough to place him in the top spot.
McGee, the defending Super Street world champion, finished in the No. 2 spot with a speed of 150.78 mph in his Fulton-powered Brian’s Heating & Cooling ’90 Mustang. His streak of qualifying no worse than second in the class this season remains intact.
Amelia, Virginia’s Troy Hill took advantage of Friday night’s cooler air, nabbing the third spot in his ’00 Mustang, running an impressive 4.633 at 157.12.
Bruce Thrift led the way in Elite Top Sportsman, piloting his nitrous-assisted, PAR-powered ’06 Pontiac GTO to a 3.815-second pass at 195.05 mph. Jamie Fowler, No. 1 qualifier at the first two races of the season in his nitrous-fed, Fulton-powered Pee Dee Fleet ’69 Camaro, ended up second based on mph with a 3.831 at 197.25. Points leader Bryan LaFlam qualified third, posting an identical 3.831 at 191.21 in his supercharged BigStuff TPM ’67 Mustang.
A trio of blown entries lead the way in Elite Top Dragster heading into eliminations. Asheville, North Carolina’s Tony Careccia debuted his brand-new screw-blown ’26 NexGen dragster and immediately jumped to the top of the pack, running a 3.669 at 203.98 mph. Hailing from Farmington, Missouri, KC Ingram ran a 3.682 at 203.19 mph in his ’20 Miller dragster to qualify second. Jody Stroud in his Chesterfield, South Carolina-based ’18 Horton entry rounded out the top three with a 3.725 at 205.16.
