Marcus Butner’s third career Pro Nitrous win was meaningful in more than one way, as he parked his Jay Cox-tuned, Musi-powered “Heartbreaker” ’69 Camaro in the winner’s circle at his home track, GALOT Motorsports Park, while also putting himself in a position to chase the world championship at the World Finals in three weeks. Racing three-time world champion and points leader Tommy Franklin in the final round of the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series’ ProFab DragWars presented by PST Driveshafts, Butner left second but had the power to get around Franklin. Butner won with a 3.634 at 207.78, while Franklin had to muscle his way to a 3.666 at 203.71.
“This means everything to us,” Butner said. “We go down this racetrack every month – probably every other week. We make a lot of laps here. They look after us. We try to look after them.”
Butner is now just over two rounds behind Franklin in the points standings.
“Winning the championship was the goal from day one when we showed up here in the spring,” Butner continued. “All we want to do is win a championship and we’re in a decent spot. We’ll just have to see how it all plays out.”
Butner qualified No. 2 and set the tone for the day with the quickest pass of the first round, a 3.666 at 206.99, to defeat Cam Clark’s 3.742. He won a side-by-side race over past Elite Top Sportsman world champion Tim Molnar, laying down a 3.684 at 207.08 next to Molnar’s 3.688. Semifinal opponent Dane Wood cut a .002 light, but Butner covered the holeshot advantage with a 3.64 at 207.50 to earn lane choice for the final.
Franklin, who qualified No. 1 in his Musi-powered “Jungle Rat 3.0” ’69 Camaro, caught a lucky break in the opening round as he suffered a mechanical failure and coasted to a 4.871 at 103.37. Opponent Edward Wilson also had problems and followed to a 5.993. Franklin was back in form in the second round, where he recorded the quickest pass of the round, a 3.679 at 205.38, to beat defending world champion Fredy Scriba and his 3.709. On a semifinal bye run, Franklin took the tree and lifted to a 5.016 at 98.98.
This story was originally published on September 17, 2025. 
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