BENSON, N.C. — Records, upsets, and huge points implications were the story of the day on Saturday at the PDRA Drag Wars presented by Big Stuff Total Power Management at Darana Motorsports Park.
In Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous presented by Jerry Bickel Race Cars, Marcus Butner made a huge push to defend his 2025 points championship, taking home his second consecutive event win. The Tobaccoville, North Carolina native drove his “Heartbreaker” ’69 Camaro to a 3.628 elapsed time at 209.20 mph to defeat Amber Denton, who ran 3.643 at 207.46 in her first final round of the year.
A pair of Carolina-based bracket racers squared off in the final round of Edelbrock Bracket Bash presented by Philadelphia Racing Products. North Carolina’s Donald Webb used an .024 reaction time and a 4.678 on his 4.64 dial in his ’13 Maddox dragster to defeat South Carolina’s Mike Buie, who was closer to his dial-in with a 7.070 on a 7.06 in his ’71 Duster, but a .073 reaction time cost him the win.
Over the course of the past two events, reigning PDRA Pro Nitrous world champion Marcus Butner has gone from the outside looking in to being in control of his own destiny in his quest to repeat as series champion. Butner won his second consecutive event, running a 3.628 – the quickest pass of the entire weekend in the class – at 209.20 mph in his Pat Musi-powered, Jay Cox-tuned “Heartbreaker” ’69 Camaro to outrun former two-time Pro 632 points champion Amber Denton, who was making her first final round appearance of 2026. Denton ran 3.643 at 207.46 in her Musi-assisted “OG Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro.
“We’ve had a pretty fast car, it just didn’t really show up (at the beginning of the year),” said Butner. “It’s like we were fighting something, didn’t really know what was going on. We found it, finally – I think I paid for most of the improvements at Rockingham testing to get to where we are today. We wore that place out for a good month. Jay’s got a handle on it, and when everything works, we’re hauling butt.”
Butner qualified No. 2 with a 3.631 elapsed time and defeated Brian Teachman in round one. In the second round, Butner faced Charleston, Illinois’ Tim Paap, who got dangerously close to the outside wall. Butner, meanwhile, went straight down Broadway to the quickest time of the round, a 3.670 at 207.46 mph.
He would then face Brian Shrader, who had already put championship hopefuls Buddy Perkinson and Freddy Scriba on the trailer in his white ’17 Corvette, in the semifinals. Once again, Butner was quickest of the round, using a 3.641 at 208.55 mph to get the win over Shrader’s 3.692 at 204.42.
Butner leaves Benson as the new points leader heading into the PDRA World Finals, courtesy of his two recent wins combined with race day chaos.
Denton defeated Chris Rini in the opening round, setting up a matchup with No. 1 qualifier Ryan Bush and his Jeff Pierce-tuned, “El Chapo” ’69 Camaro. Bush would suffer issues on his pass, slowing to a 3.868 at 169.91, while Denton went 3.689 at 205.41. She then got past Chesapeake, Virginia’s Dane Wood in the semifinals with a 3.656 at 206.61 to Wood’s 3.690 at 204.51.
The PDRA Pro Boost championship has been a battle all season between points leader Jason Harris, Johnny Camp, and reigning series champion Ty Tutterow. But with the largest field in PDRA history (28 entries) and the quickest field in PDRA history (3.623 bump spot), pitfalls would be easy to come by. By the end of the night, it was Camp who stood tall, earning his second win of the season in his Brandon Stroud-tuned, ProCharger-equipped “Hells Bells” ’69 Camaro, running a 3.594 at 210.44 mph to take down Randy Weatherford, who went -.004 red on the tree, throwing away a quicker 3.578 at 210.11 in his Harts Charger-assisted WS Construction ’69 Camaro tuned by Steve Petty.
Camp qualified No. 2 with a 3.576 at 210.80 mph and beat Joel Wensley Sr. in the opening round of competition, setting up a titanic matchup against Harris in the quarterfinals. The top two drivers in points left nearly identical (.010 to .011), but from there it was all Camp, who went 3.602 at 210.41 mph. Harris, looking for his third Pro Boost championship and fifth overall in the PDRA, quickly got sideways in his “Party Time” ’69 Camaro, but managed to save it and coast through the finish line.
Weatherford fell just short of earning his first Pro Boost win since last year’s PDRA Northern Nationals at US 131 Motorsports Park. He qualified ninth with a 3.592 at 209.95 mph and took out Ned Dunphy, the most recent event winner in Bristol, in the first round. In round two, he defeated the upset-minded Jay Santos from Halton Hills, Ontario. Weatherford would then face former two-time PDRA Pro Street world champion Ethan Steding in the semifinals. Weatherford posted another clean 3.596-second pass, while Steding got loose and coasted to 5.575 at 83.78.
Ron Green entered PDRA Drag Wars sitting sixth in points, and not really in the championship conversation. That all changed on Saturday as Green navigated the largest Pro Street field of the season (18 entries) to claim his first career PDRA 660 Man and become the fifth different winner in five events. His win, along with a plethora of upsets to championship hopefuls, set him up as a serious threat at the PDRA World Finals in three weeks.
Green used a 3.907-second pass at 197.48 mph in the final round in his screw-blown silver ’00 Firebird to narrowly defeat No. 1 qualifier Tim Essick, who left the line first with a .013 reaction time, but whose 3.951 at 181.69 in his ProCharger-equipped “Brown Sugar” ’18 Mustang wasn’t quite enough to hold off Green.
Green qualified No. 2 with a 3.914 at 198.00 mph and was deadly consistent on race day, staying in the 3.90’s through every round of eliminations. He used a 3.932 at 196.22 mph to defeat Graham Hayes and his ’66 Chevy II in the first round, then won a side-by-side race with Apollo Beach, Florida’s Jerry Morgano in the quarterfinals, with Green’s 3.957 at 196.64 just enough to stay in front of Morgano’s 3.976 at 205.69. In the semifinals, Green would essentially receive a bye run, as Mikey Sasina encountered issues with his Harts Charger-assisted, KTR-powered ’03 Mustang. Green would go 3.918 at 196.99 mph to reach the final round.
Essick, a former two-time Pro Street world champion, was making his second consecutive final round appearance. He defeated Ron Fisher in round one, then eliminated Nos. 3 and 4 in points respectively; first beating No. 3 Scott Kincaid with a 3.956 at 194.63 to Kincaid’s 3.977 at 196.04, then ran 3.919 at 194.88 to take out No. 4 Joel Wensley Jr.’s 3.929 at 197.10.
Former NHRA sportsman racer J.C. Beattie Jr. is on the cusp of his first points championship in Pro 632 presented by Mark Williams Enterprises, taking home his third win of the season Saturday evening in Benson. Wheeling his nitrous-fed ATI Performance Products ’18 Camaro tuned by Dave Hanlon, Beattie used a reaction time advantage (.032 to .059) and a 4.121-second pass at 174.80 mph to defeat the most recent event winner, Ryan Altman, who ran 4.154 at 170.86 mph in his Greenbrier Excavating & Paving ’18 Camaro.
Beattie Jr. qualified No. 1 on Friday with a 4.130 at 172.89, and received a bye run in the opening round when his opponent, Jason Ventura, couldn’t make the call.
In the semifinals, Beattie Jr. saw himself paired up with his own teammate, Hickory, North Carolina’s Carson Hoyle in his ATI Performance ’69 Camaro. Hoyle gained a big starting line advantage with a .006 reaction time to Beattie Jr.’s .040, but Beattie Jr. quickly ran him down with a 4.106 at 175.23 mph. Hoyle went 4.175 at 168.64.
Although Connor McGee fired the first shot of the weekend with a record-setting run in the constant battle between Super Street young guns, it was once again Austin Vincent who came away with the event win – his second consecutive victory, and third of the season. Vincent saved his best run on race day for last, running a 4.512 at 167.91 mph to outrun Amelia, Virginia’s Troy Hill, who was making his second consecutive final-round appearance in his black ’00 Mustang, and his 4.583 at 158.35.
Vincent qualified No. 2 with a 4.520 at 154.09 mph in his Vincent Performance ‘88 Mustang. He then practically showcased a bracket car in eliminations, running between 4.51 and 4.53 in every single round. In the first round, Vincent defeated Willie Toler, who was making his PDRA Super Street debut in his red ’97 Camaro. In the quarterfinals, Vincent outran No. 5 qualifier Charles Potter and his ’84 Mustang, with Vincent’s 4.538 at 167.28 mph more than enough for Potter’s 4.718 at 148.02. The win earned Vincent a bye into the finals.
McGee, the reigning Super Street world champion in his Fulton-powered Brian’s Heating & Cooling ‘90 Mustang, ripped off a staggering 4.484-second blast at 164.43 mph on Friday evening to qualify No. 1, then backed it up during his first-round bye run on Saturday, nearly equaling his qualifying performance with a 4.486 at 164.91 mph. The two passes officially gave him the Super Street class record, previously held by Derek Mota at 4.497, and 50 bonus points. Unfortunately, McGee’s day ended when he suffered mechanical failure in his quarterfinal matchup with Laplata, Maryland’s Dan Whetstine.
2025 Elite Top Sportsman world champion Bryan LaFlam took a big step towards a repeat title on Saturday, defeating Barre, Vermont’s John Benoit, who entered the final round from the No. 15 qualifying position. The race was over at the starting line, as Benoit went -.010 red in his nitrous-assisted ’15 Corvette, throwing away a 4.069 on a 4.05 dial-in. LaFlam, the No. 2 qualifier in his supercharged BigStuff TPM ’67 Mustang, ran it out the back door knowing he had the win locked up, going 3.789 on his 3.79 dial.
Top Sportsman 48 featured an all-Virginia final round, as Mechanicsville’s Mike Alexander Jr. took the win in his green ‘63 Corvette, running a 4.125 on a 4.13 dial-in. His breakout run was nullified by Dinwiddie’s Mark Reese going -.017 red in his ’08 Mustang.
Brian Anderson entered PDRA Drag Wars sitting No. 6 in Elite Top Dragster points, and while he may be too far back to win the championship, he’s not giving up without a fight, taking home the win Saturday night over Arden, North Carolina’s Michael White. Anderson took the win with a 3.711 on a 3.70 dial in his ’23 Racetech dragster, while White went -.002 red, costing him the event win.
Top Dragster 48 was won by Gilbert, South Carolina’s Taylor Holland in a ’23 Maddox dragster. Although Holland only went 4.763 on a 4.14 dial-in, Harmony, North Carolina’s Scott Neal went -.004 on the tree, giving the race away at the starting line.
