DINWIDDIE, Va. — Kurt Steding and his son, Ethan, shared the winner’s circle for the second time in their careers Saturday night at the Travis Mills Foundation PDRA Mid-Atlantic Showdown presented by Red Line Shirt Club.
Kurt won in WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive and Ethan was victorious in Liberty’s Gears Pro Street presented by Menscer Motorsports at Virginia Motorsports Park, the second of eight races on the 2025 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series schedule.
The Stedings were joined in the FuelTech Winner’s Circle by Marcus Butner in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous, as well as first-time winners Jeremy Huffman in AED Competition Fuel Systems Extreme Pro Stock presented by Boone Motorsports, Kyle Salminen in PDRA Pro 632 presented by PTC Torque Converters, and Austin Vincent in PDRA Super Street presented by Brian’s Heating & Cooling.
Kurt Steding, last year’s Pro Boost championship runner-up, bounced back from a first-round exit at the season-opening East Coast Nationals by racing to victory at the Mid-Atlantic Showdown.
Steding in his Todd Tutterow-tuned, screw-blown P2 Contracting ’69 Camaro lit up the final win light when Harris went red by .123 seconds, though Steding was ready for a race with his .007 reaction time and 3.615-second pass at 208.97 mph. That performance set low E.T. of the event and set into motion a P2 Racing double-up, which was completed moments later when Steding’s son, Ethan, won in Pro Street. It’s the second time the father-son duo won together at the same event.
“You have no idea how much this means,” Steding said. “We race together, we’re hard on each other while we’re racing together, but there’s nothing better than doubling up with your boy. I’m proud of him. Todd tuned it right in there. My crew is awesome and my lights were good and we pulled the win off.”
Pro Nitrous young gun Marcus Butner denied rookie Amber Denton her first career win when he defeated the two-time Pro 632 world champion in the final round. It was a fitting end to a strong outing for Butner and tuner Jay Cox, as they qualified second and steadily improved through eliminations to meet Denton in the final. Butner moved first in his Musi-powered Butner Construction “Heartbreaker” ’69 Camaro and led the race through the finish line, posting a winning 3.639 at 208.55. Denton encountered issues and slowed to a 3.772 at 189.95 to take runner-up honors in her second Pro Nitrous start.
A pair of young guns squared off for the Pro Street event title, as reigning world champion Ethan Steding met up with Blake Denton, who earned his first career win in the class at the season opener. Though Denton qualified No. 1, Steding’s Ty Tutterow-tuned, roots-blown P2 Contracting “College Fund” ’24 Camaro was the quicker car on race day. That held true in the final round, where Steding left the line first and fired off a 3.948 at 192.77 to hold off Denton’s 3.958 at 195.96 to secure the win.
“To be doing this again with my dad, meeting him in the winner’s circle, it’s unbelievable,” said Steding, who thanked his team, parents Kurt and Wendi, partners like Ty-Drive, Wyo Motorsports, P2 Contracting, and Red Line Oil, as well as Elite Top Sportsman racer Bryan LaFlam for loaning the team a supercharger after theirs locked up in testing. “This just brought all my confidence back for a championship fight. At GALOT we had a bad start. Lost first round. This weekend, qualifying at the top of the board, No. 3, and winning the race, it just made me feel back in the spot to chase another championship this year. That’s exactly what we’re going to do and we’re going to get us one.”
Former Pro 632 winner Jeremy Huffman rolled to his first career win in Extreme Pro Stock when he defeated 2018 world champion Steven Boone in the final round. Huffman, who reached the semifinals at the season opener, made it into the eight-car field on the bump spot before using quick reaction times to reach the final round. Huffman in his 3V Performance-powered ’10 Cobalt left first ahead of Boone and made his best pass of the weekend, a 4.085 at 175.41, to get the win over Boone and his 4.125 at 169.44.
Kyle Salminen became the latest first-time winner in Pro 632 after he laid down low E.T. of race day in the final round against 2023 world champion Jeff Melnick. Salminen in his Marine City, Michigan-based, Musi-powered ’03 Cavalier left just a few ticks ahead of Melnick and posted a 4.185 at 171.40 to get the win. Melnick, who qualified No. 1 and set low E.T. of the first two rounds, shook the tires and coasted to a 7.343 at 61.51 in the runner-up effort.
Second-generation small-tire racer Austin Vincent has excelled in Super Street qualifying since he made his debut in the class last summer, but a win escaped him until Saturday evening. Qualified No. 1 for the second time in as many races, Vincent made his way through eliminations to meet rookie Carson Perry in the final round. There, he left on Perry and kept it rolling with a 4.625 at 158.63 in his nitrous-fed Vincent Performance ’88 Mustang to turn on the win light, while Perry slowed to a 5.035 at 110.94.
For the second year in a row, reigning Elite Top Sportsman world champion Glenn Butcher raced to victory at the Mid-Atlantic Showdown. Paired up with Ron Whitlock in the final round, Butcher left first in his nitrous-fed, Albert-powered Butcher & Son Demolition ’69 Camaro on his way to a 3.781 on a 3.77 dial-in. Whitlock broke out in his Advance, North Carolina-based GXP with a 4.003 on a 4.02 dial-in.
After five rounds of Top Sportsman 48 competition, Ohioans Keith Castle and Jeff Melnick were the last two drivers standing. Castle took a slight starting line advantage in his ’07 Stratus, then he ran a 4.237 on a 4.23 dial-in to defeat Melnick, who broke out with a 4.153 on a 4.16 dial-in in his ProCharged Exotic Fabrication ’02 Avenger.
It was a battle between Virginia and West Virginia in the Elite Top Dragster final round, which pitted Gloucester, Virginia’s Linzie Coleman against Ronceverte, West Virginia’s Alan O’Brien. Coleman’s starting line prowess in her ProCharged ’17 American dragster helped her get the win with a 3.919 on a 3.86 dial-in. O’Brien, one of four Greenbrier Excavating & Paving entries in the final rounds, ran a 3.749 on a 3.73 dial-in in his turbocharged Race Tech dragster.
PDRA’s sportsman categories reduced substantial fields down to five winners: Glenn Butcher in MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman presented by PAR Racing Engines, Linzie Coleman in Laris Motorsports Insurance Elite Top Dragster presented by Greenbrier Excavating & Paving, Keith Castle in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman, and Nick Meloni in Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster presented by Derrick Wolfe Trucking. Nathan Tanner in his ’08 dragster was victorious in Edelbrock Bracket Bash presented by COMP Cams, defeating Rick Raasch and his ’86 Camaro in the final round.
Winners in the Jr. Dragster classes were Shane Dailey in Paragon Pro Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products and Jayden Hogan in Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products. Dailey made it into the 32-car field in the No. 29 spot and met No. 32 qualifier Makinze Alexander in the final round.
Dailey was slightly quicker on the starting line and ran a 7.908 on the 7.90 index to get the win. Alexander, who won the season opener, posted a 7.952. In the Top Jr. Dragster final, Will O’Brien was quicker off the line, but Hogan was closer to his 8.91 dial-in with an 8.927 to turn on the win light. O’Brien slowed to a 9.062 on an 8.98 dial-in.
