With the supercharger wars raging in the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series’ WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive category, Melanie Salemi scored a No. 1 qualifier award for Team Screw Blowers Friday night at the Summit Racing Equipment East Coast Nationals presented by FuelTech. With a brand-new engine between the frame rails in Eddie Whelan’s Al-Lee Installations “Purple Reign” ’68 Firebird, Salemi powered to a 3.580-second pass at 208.68 mph in the final qualifying session at Darana Motorsports Park – Benson, NC to lead Pro Boost into Saturday eliminations.
Marcus Butner (Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous presented by Jerry Bickel Race Cars), Andy Mac (Liberty’s Gears Pro Street presented by KTR Drag Racing), Jeff Pittman (PDRA Pro 632 presented by Mark Williams Enterprises), and Connor McGee (1320 Fabrication Super Street presented by Brian’s Heating & Cooling) also collected No. 1 qualifier awards in the professional classes.
Between Thursday and Friday, the PDRA’s sportsman categories also completed three qualifying sessions, with No. 1 qualifier awards going to Jamie Fowler in MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman presented by PAR Racing Engines, Bruce Westfall in Greenbrier Excavating & Paving Elite Top Dragster presented by American Race Cars, Mike Alexander Jr. in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman 32, and Taylor Holland in ATI Performance Products Top Dragster 48 presented by TBM Brakes.
The PDRA Jr. Dragster ranks were as competitive as ever in Friday qualifying, with a pair of siblings using perfect efforts to qualify No. 1 in their respective divisions. In Pro Jr. Dragster, where a 7.90 index is used to set the field, 40 drivers turned up to fight for 32 spots on the ladder. McKenzee Hogan ran dead-on the index with a 7.900 to take the No. 1 spot in her Dudley, North Carolina-based ’23 Mike Bos dragster. Reaction time is the name of the game in Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster qualifying, and Jayden Hogan’s perfect .000 reaction time set the bar high.
PRO BOOST
A long day of trials and tribulations for defending Pro Boost event winner Melanie Salemi ended with a rewarding No. 1 qualifying pass in Eddie Whelan’s screw-blown Al-Lee Installations “Purple Reign” ’68 Firebird. She didn’t make it down the track in the first qualifying session, then she wounded an engine in dramatic fashion in the second session. Her family-based team swung a new motor in, but when something didn’t sound right on the warmup, they swapped in a different brand-new engine, fired it up, and headed to the lanes. The first pass it made was the 3.580 at 208.68 that put Salemi at the top of the qualifying order.
“It was a sigh of relief, honestly, when I looked up at the scoreboard and saw the .58 come up,” Salemi said. “Of course, we get back to the pit and we’re expecting everybody’s gonna keep going faster. I had not done very well during the day so I was one of the first cars out there. It was really cool to be able to come back to the pit and we had our ears glued to the PA system and trying to just keep our morale. I think we had a bigger party in our pit after the last pair went down than we’ve had in a while. It was pretty cool.”
Two-time Pro Boost world champion Jason Harris was just a tick behind Salemi with his 3.586 at 210.50 in the Harts Charger-boosted “Party Time” Harold Denton tribute ’69 Camaro. Johnny Camp, winner of the postponed Carolina Nationals on Thursday night, qualified third in his Brandon Stroud-tuned, ProCharger-boosted “Hells Bells” ’69 Camaro with a 3.594 at 211.10.
PRO NITROUS
Marcus Butner’s Pro Nitrous world championship defense season is off to a strong start, as the Tobaccoville, North Carolina-based driver raced to a semifinal finish at the season-opening Carolina Nationals and kicked off the East Coast Nationals with a No. 1 qualifying effort. He sat outside the 16-car field after the first session, but under the lights in the final session, Butner and tuner Jay Cox swung for the fence with a 3.636 at 208.20 in the Musi-powered Butner Construction “Heartbreaker” ’69 Camaro.
“I try not to think about [defending the championship] because it is pressure,” said Butner, who thanked Red Line Oil, Pat Musi Racing Engines, Liberty’s Gears, Ty-Drive, PST, Racestar Wheels, and his wife and kids. “At the end of the day, I’d love nothing more than to win another championship, back-to-back. Several people have done it. What do they say – the first one may be a mistake, the second one ain’t? We’re just gonna take it one round at a time. Everybody out here can run just as good as anybody else, any time of the day. It’s gonna be so hot. We ran good today here in the heat, but it’s tricky. We won’t just play it safe, treat everybody the same because anybody can beat you any time.”
Defending event winner Tim Paap saw his team’s offseason upgrades pay off with a No. 2 qualifying position as he posted a 3.642 at 206.32 in his Jeffrey Barker-tuned, Musi-powered Paap Auto Body Corvette. “Mountain Man” Mike Achenbach, who won Thursday night’s postponed Carolina Nationals final round, qualified third in his Brandon Switzer-tuned, Fulton-powered ’20 Camaro with a 3.644 at 206.32.
PRO STREET
After retired Super Bowl champion Fletcher Cox won the delayed Carolina Nationals Pro Street final round Thursday night, he handed the proverbial keys to longtime crew member and veteran grudge racer Andy Mac, who took the opportunity and ran with it. In the third and final qualifying session on Friday night, Mac wheeled Cox’s Phil Shuler-tuned, nitrous-fed “Training Day” ’69 Camaro to a 3.895 at 193.74 to secure his first No. 1 qualifier award and the car’s fourth. Cox, meanwhile, plans to make his Pro Boost debut at the next race.
“It’s pretty special to carry on something that [Cox] started, that we started with him,” Mac said. “Just being in the right spot at the right time and taking the opportunity to carry on where he left off. I just want to thank Fletcher for trusting and allowing me to drive his car and being part of a winning team. It’s not just one person that does this. We all do it. There’s endless hours and nights that go into this stuff. Winning is not done at the racetrack. It’s won at the shop. We just bring what we do there to here and let everybody see us perform and try to win.”
Class E.T. national record holder Richard Reagan charged to a 3.927 at 196.85 in his screw-blown ’91 Mustang to take the No. 2 spot. Another nitrous-assisted driver, Blake Denton, piloted the Musi-powered “Bonnie” ’69 Camaro previously driven by the late Lizzy Musi to a 3.959 at 201.19 to qualify third.
PRO 632
Jeff Pittman has been steadily gaining ground in Pro 632 since he joined the class last season as a teammate to Alan O’Brien’s championship-winning Greenbrier Excavating & Paving operation. Pittman, who previously competed in Top Sportsman, raced to a runner-up finish in the postponed Carolina Nationals Thursday evening and followed that up with his first career No. 1 qualifier award on Friday night. With Patrick Barnhill tuning and Barry Allen providing the horsepower in his Hickory Enclosed Trailers ’68 Chevelle, Pittman ran a 4.147 at 171.29 to take the top spot.
“It’s really a good thing,” said Pittman, who thanked the Greenbrier team, Hickory Enclosed Trailer Sales, and RPM Racing Performance Motorcoaches. “We’ve come close several times and just got knocked out. This year we’ve really kind of tuned the program up. It seems to be going a lot smoother, things are working a little bit better, and I’m a whole lot more comfortable in the car. This whole deal is about little bitty bits and pieces of rewards here and there. I think we’ve got a good piece to go into race day with, and we came pretty close the other night in the finals for the Darlington race. So I hope we can one-up that position. That’s our goal.”
JC Beattie Jr., who had a career-best weekend with a No. 1 qualifier award and win at the Carolina Nationals, qualified second with a 4.169 at 170.45 in his Reher-Morrison-powered ATI Performance ’18 Camaro. Young gun Carson Hoyle ran a 4.178 at 169.23 in his Musi-powered ATI Performance ’69 Camaro to sit third.
SUPER STREET
Connor McGee, both the defending world champion and defending event champion in Super Street, already has an event win, a No. 1 qualifier award, and the first leg of a new class E.T. national record racked up before East Coast Nationals eliminations begin. On Thursday night, McGee secured the first win of the season when he won the postponed Carolina Nationals from Darlington Dragway. McGee, in his Fulton-powered Brian’s Heating & Cooling ’90 Mustang, kept it rolling in Friday qualifying, posting a dominant 4.467 at 160.29 to set the first end of a new record. He’ll need to run a 4.511 in eliminations to back up the record.
“Really what it takes is what everybody doesn’t see,” McGee said of the effort that resulted in the No. 1 qualifying pass, going on to thank Fulton Competition Engines, Abby’s Performance Engines, Driving Racing Oil, Bucked Up Energy, and Tub O’ Towels. “We went into Darlington testing, made some good runs, tested some things out. But what people don’t see is the 10 times we’re going to the track in the offseason to get runs, make 330 hit after 330 hit and blow stuff up and try new things and change stuff. All the stuff that we do outside of the scheduled events is what really makes things happen. You can’t just show up and expect to be good. You have to go in, practice, and be ready.”
Austin Vincent, who finished second in the Super Street championship battle last season, laid down a 4.548 at 152.80 in his Vincent Performance ’88 Mustang to qualify second. Ryan Altman ended up third with a 4.657 at 150.51 in the Greenbrier Excavating & Paving ’02 Camaro.
TOP SPORTSMAN
A trio of different power adder and engine combos led the way in Elite Top Sportsman, each posting 3.77-second passes. For the second consecutive race, Jamie Fowler secured the No. 1 position in his nitrous-fed, Fulton-powered Pee Dee Fleet ’69 Camaro with a 3.772 at 198.41. Another South Carolina-based driver, Scott Duggins, posted a 3.773 at 196.19 in his ProCharged PAR Racing Engines ’63 Corvette to take the No. 2 spot on speed. Reigning world champion Bryan LaFlam in his roots-blown Big Stuff TPM ’67 Mustang qualified third with a 3.773 at 195.68.
Mike Alexander Jr. just missed out on the 16-car Elite Top Sportsman field with his 4.172 at 172.30, but that pass in his ProCharged ’63 Corvette put him No. 1 in the Top Sportsman 32 field.
TOP DRAGSTER
After qualifying just outside the top three at the season opener, Granville, Ohio’s Bruce Westfall picked up his first No. 1 qualifier award in Elite Top Dragster on the strength of a 3.719 at 196.53 in his supercharged ’25 Race Tech dragster. Josh Duggins, who qualified No. 1 at the season opener, ended up No. 2 in his ProCharged PAR Racing Engines ’14 Maddox dragster with a 3.725 at 200.62. Gray Kimble rounded out the top three with a 3.761 at 198.23 in his ProCharged Finney Builders ’18 Miller dragster.
Taylor Holland was the quickest of the drivers who qualified outside the Elite Top Dragster field, running a 4.168 at 168.60 to qualify No. 1 in Top Dragster 48.
Saturday’s schedule begins with Jr. Dragster final qualifying at 9 a.m. followed by Edelbrock Bracket Bash presented by Philadelphia Racing Products time trial, and the first round of sportsman eliminations. Pre-race ceremonies and first round of pro eliminations will begin at noon.
Saturday general admission tickets are available for $30. Discounted Junior and Kids tickets are also available, while kids 5 and under get in free. Purchase tickets at www.PDRA660.com or at the gate.
PDRA fans around the world can catch all the action live on the official event live stream through www.FloRacing.com.
This story was originally published on April 17, 2026. 
The post Salemi, Butner, Mac, Pittman and McGee Qualify No. 1 at PDRA East Coast Nationals first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
