![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Ned-Dunphy-PB.jpg\")
Once again, Dunphy was up to the challenge, using an .013 reaction time to pull off another holeshot win against the former U.S. Nationals champion. It was a case of the relative Pro Mod newcomer flipping the script against one of the most feared leavers in the sport, allowing Dunphy to pull off the victory with a slower 3.632-second pass at 207.08 mph. Barnett, driving the Tommy Youmans-owned, Lee White-tuned \u201cClean Title\u201d \u201918 Camaro, put down a slightly quicker 3.627 at 208.42.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m betting Lyle\u2019s mad at his light because he\u2019s so, so good at the light all the time,\u201d Dunphy said. \u201cWe had a really good weekend on our light too, though. We were hovering around that double O mark the whole entire time with one trip zip, so just the stars aligned this weekend. I\u2019m super happy with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barnett was making his first PDRA appearance since the season-opener at Darlington Dragway and looked like he\u2019d never left. He qualified in the No. 8 position and immediately had an .004 reaction time and 3.669 in round one to defeat Randy Weatherford, who turned on the red light.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From there, Barnett singlehandedly threw a wrench in the points championship. In the quarterfinals, he went .001 on the tree and ran 3.619 at 208.91 mph to stay ahead of reigning PDRA Pro Boost world champion and No. 1 qualifier Ty Tutterow, who went a slightly quicker 3.615 at 207.11. Barnett then took out points leader Jason Harris in his Harts Charger-equipped, \u201cParty Time\u201d \u201969 Camaro in the semifinals, with Barnett\u2019s 3.613 at 209.01 outrunning the two-time Pro Boost world champion\u2019s 3.627 at 209.20.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
With much of the talk surrounding Pro Mod this year revolving around the parity between screw blower and centrifugal combinations, the PDRA Thunder Valley Throwdown featured some of the closest racing of the season. Two representatives of each combination reached the semifinals, with a screw vs. centrifugal matchup in the final round. For one night, at least, the screw blower came out on top.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always wondering how the screw\u2019s gonna hold up against some of the centrifugals, but we feel like we\u2019re right there with them,\u201d said Dunphy. \u201cWe\u2019re out here having fun. The crew and I, we laugh all the time. We\u2019ve been eating steaks and chicken. We eat better here at the track if we do at home. Just making our way through \u2013 we don\u2019t do the trash talk, we don\u2019t do the drama, but now we\u2019ve made some noise, so my guess is, we\u2019re gonna get a little bit more attention and have to be a little more outspoken.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dunphy says he and his team are full of confidence heading into PDRA Drag Wars in two weeks, but admits the team will miss the season finale at Virginia Motorsports Park, as he is already committed to participating in Hot Rod Drag Week during the same time. Dunphy also spent the Sunday following his win testing his Viper at Bristol in preparation for Drag Week.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next\u00a0stop\u00a0on the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series tour will be Drag Wars presented by Big Stuff Total Power Management on August 27-29. It will be the PDRA\u2019s second stop of the season at Galot Motorsports Park in Benson, North Carolina.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on August 12, 2026. ![\"Drag](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/DI_flat_red-e1711481551475.png\")
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The post Ned Dunphy Earns First Career PDRA 660 Man at Thunder Valley Throwdown<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2025 Hot Rod Drag Week champion Ned Dunphy came out of nowhere on Saturday night at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tennessee, capturing his very first PDRA 660 Man by defeating Lyle Barnett in the final round of WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive at the PDRA Thunder Valley Throwdown presented by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}