![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Butner-2.jpg\")
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 \u2013 the quickest pass of the entire weekend in the class \u2013 at 209.20 mph in his Pat Musi-powered, Jay Cox-tuned \u201cHeartbreaker\u201d \u201969 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 \u201cOG Jungle Rat\u201d \u201969 Camaro.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a pretty fast car, it just didn\u2019t really show up (at the beginning of the year),\u201d said Butner. \u201cIt\u2019s like we were fighting something, didn\u2019t really know what was going on. We found it, finally \u2013 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\u2019s got a handle on it, and when everything works, we\u2019re hauling butt.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Butner qualified No. 2 with a 3.631 elapsed time and defeated Brian Teachman in round one.\u00a0\u00a0In the second round, Butner faced Charleston, Illinois\u2019 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 \u201917 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\u2019s 3.692 at 204.42.<\/p>\n
Butner leaves Benson as the new points leader heading into the PDRA World Finals, courtesy of his two recent wins combined with raceday chaos. Tommy Franklin, the points leader coming into Drag Wars, fell to Dane Wood in the opening round via holeshot, and every other contender behind Butner lost in the early rounds as well. Typically not one to think about points implications, Butner couldn\u2019t help but realize that everything had fallen into his lap, and he took full advantage of the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you could have seen my team\u2019s face, they were too excited,\u201d Butner said. \u201cI hate that Tommy lost \u2013 I\u2019d just as soon run him in the finals as anybody, but winning a second championship would mean everything. I think John Force or Austin Prock said, \u2018You can luck into one championship, but the second one solidifies it.\u2019 That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denton defeated Chris Rini in the opening round, setting up a matchup with No. 1 qualifier Ryan Bush and his Jeff Pierce-tuned, \u201cEl Chapo\u201d \u201969 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\u2019s Dane Wood in the semifinals with a 3.656 at 206.61 to Wood\u2019s 3.690 at 204.51.<\/p>\n
PRO BOOST<\/strong><\/p>\n 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 \u201cHells Bells\u201d \u201969 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 \u201969 Camaro tuned by Steve Petty.<\/p>\n \u201cThis track\u2019s been good to us over the years,\u201d said Camp. \u201cWe\u2019ve won the fall race and the spring race back-to-back here, so it\u2019s been good to us. I missed a race (earlier this season) because of my daughter\u2019s graduation. It was a tough decision, but I felt it was the right one. I knew it was going to be tough to battle back. It\u2019s hard to gain rounds on Jason Harris. He had me down three rounds, so I\u2019m just happy to do it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n 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 \u201cParty Time\u201d \u201969 Camaro, but managed to save it and coast through the finish line.\u00a0<\/p>\n By virtue of his win over Harris, and No. 1 qualifier Tutterow getting upset in round one by Jay Santos, the path to a championship suddenly opened up for Camp. He would go on to defeat Carson Perry, making just his second PDRA Pro Boost start, in the semifinals. Camp\u2019s 3.603 at 210.50 mph was enough to stay ahead of Perry\u2019s 3.650 at 180.02 in his brand-new \u201922 Corvette. Now, heading into the PDRA World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park, Camp is in prime position to capture his first career Pro Boost championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA first championship would be wonderful, especially as old as I am,\u201d Camp said, chuckling. \u201cI don\u2019t know how many more years I got. We\u2019ll just try to keep the momentum going and drive to the best of my ability. I got the best crew, in my opinion the best tuner, the best sponsors \u2013 ProCharger, NGK Spark Plugs, and ProLine \u2013 I got the combination to do it; I just have to do it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Weatherford fell just short of earning his first Pro Boost win since last year\u2019s\u00a0PDRA 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.<\/p>\n PRO STREET<\/strong><\/p>\n Chesterfield, Virginia\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Green used a 3.907-second pass at 197.48 mph in the final round in his screw-blown silver \u201900 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 \u201cBrown Sugar\u201d \u201918 Mustang wasn\u2019t quite enough to hold off Green.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThis is huge. It\u2019s like winning the lottery for me,\u201d Green said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been trying for this guy for a long time; we just always fell short. My son\u2019s put in a lot of hard work and a lot of guys have helped along the way. I didn\u2019t even think we\u2019d have a chance at a championship, but now that we do, it\u2019s definitely gonna get us thinking and try our hardest to do it. This is big.\u201d<\/p>\n Green\u00a0qualified No. 2 with a 3.914\u00a0at 198.00\u00a0mph\u00a0and\u00a0was deadly consistent on race day, staying in the 3.90\u2019s through every round of eliminations. He used a 3.932 at 196.22 mph to defeat Graham Hayes and his \u201966 Chevy II in the first round, then won a side-by-side race with Apollo Beach, Florida\u2019s Jerry Morgano in the quarterfinals, with Green\u2019s 3.957 at 196.64 just enough to stay in front of Morgano\u2019s 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 \u201903 Mustang. Green would go 3.918 at 196.99 mph to reach the final round.<\/p>\n Making Green\u2019s first career PDRA national event win that much sweeter was the fact that he got to share it with his son, 2024 Drag Illustrated 30 Under 30 honoree Ronnie Green Jr., who both tunes and works on the car.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI love it. My son, that\u2019s my heart. I won\u2019t race without him,\u201d said Green. \u201cHe\u2019s a bad boy. He does everything. He\u2019s the one who really gets it all. He gives me a hot rod to race. I just hold the wheel.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019s 3.977 at 196.04, then ran 3.919 at 194.88 to take out No. 4 Joel Wensley Jr.\u2019s 3.929 at 197.10.<\/p>\n PRO 632<\/strong><\/p>\n 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 \u201918 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\u00a0Greenbrier Excavating & Paving \u201918 Camaro.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about the guys. I\u2019m not even great letting go of the button most of the time,\u201d Beattie Jr. admitted. \u201cI don\u2019t expect to lose or go slow, but I definitely think about it, worry, and lose sleep like everybody else that races. I don\u2019t take any of this for granted. We\u2019re not a big team; just a handful of guys that come out here and make it happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Beattie Jr. qualified No. 1 on Friday with\u00a0a 4.130 at 172.89, and received a bye run in the opening round when his opponent, Jason Ventura, couldn\u2019t make the call.<\/p>\n In the semifinals, Beattie Jr. saw himself paired up with his own teammate, Hickory, North Carolina\u2019s Carson Hoyle in his ATI Performance \u201969 Camaro. Hoyle gained a big starting line advantage with a .006 reaction time to Beattie Jr.\u2019s .040, but Beattie Jr. quickly ran him down with a 4.106 at 175.23 mph. Hoyle went 4.175 at 168.64.<\/p>\n \u201cI was most nervous about Carson, running my teammate,\u201d said Beattie Jr. \u201cHe murders the tree, and I told everybody, \u2018He\u2019s gonna kill me.\u2019 I just had to have a decent light and be able to outrun him. When I got past that, I wasn\u2019t as worried about the final round. I was just focused on being consistent.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n With the victory, combined with his closest competitor, Jeff Pittman, falling in the first round of eliminations, Beattie Jr. should only need to qualify at the PDRA World Finals in Virginia to clinch the Pro 632 championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s huge. It was about five years ago I said, \u2018We should maybe look into this 632 class,\u2019\u201d Beattie Jr. said. \u201cBy the time we got here, it was a lot faster. We ran N\/A for a couple years, finally got a nitrous motor, and the program came together pretty quick. Things have been rock solid all year; we all know what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n SUPER STREET<\/strong><\/p>\n 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 \u2013 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\u2019s Troy Hill, who was making his second consecutive final-round appearance in his black \u201900 Mustang, and his 4.583 at 158.35.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou just gotta run your own race,\u201d said Vincent. \u201cWe had to run what we knew we could run and take care of ourselves. It takes a lot of work. We go test pretty frequently. We\u2019re always looking for every little bit, always trying to go faster. To be able to continue picking up and running really well is our goal. Hard work always pays off, and it\u2019s continuing to pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n Vincent qualified No. 2 with a 4.520 at 154.09 mph in his Vincent Performance \u201888 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 \u201997 Camaro. In the quarterfinals, Vincent outran No. 5 qualifier Charles Potter and his \u201984 Mustang, with Vincent\u2019s 4.538 at 167.28 mph more than enough for Potter\u2019s 4.718 at 148.02. The win earned Vincent a bye into the finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n With the win, Vincent extended his points lead over McGee headed into the PDRA World Finals in Virginia. While nothing is guaranteed, Vincent knows that if he goes out and performs like he has all season, the championship is well within his grasp.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels really good to get another win and go into the World Finals with a pretty comfortable points lead, but we still got a little more ways to go,\u201d Vincent said. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna go into Virginia just like we came into this one. The only thing we can do is screw it up, so we\u2019ve gotta try to just not do that and continue to do what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n McGee, the reigning Super Street world champion in his Fulton-powered Brian\u2019s Heating & Cooling \u201890 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\u00a0Derek Mota at 4.497, and 50 bonus points. Unfortunately, McGee\u2019s day ended when he suffered mechanical failure in his quarterfinal matchup with Laplata, Maryland\u2019s Dan Whetstine.<\/p>\n TOP SPORTSMAN<\/strong><\/p>\n 2025 Elite Top Sportsman world champion Bryan LaFlam took a big step towards a repeat title on Saturday, defeating Barre, Vermont\u2019s 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 \u201915 Corvette, throwing away a 4.069 on a 4.05 dial-in. LaFlam, the No. 2 qualifier in his supercharged BigStuff TPM \u201967 Mustang, ran it out the back door knowing he had the win locked up, going 3.789 on his 3.79 dial.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Top Sportsman 48 featured an all-Virginia final round, as Mechanicsville\u2019s Mike Alexander Jr. took the win in his green \u201863 Corvette, running a 4.125 on a 4.13 dial-in. His breakout run was nullified by Dinwiddie\u2019s Mark Reese going -.017 red in his \u201908 Mustang.\u00a0<\/p>\n TOP DRAGSTER<\/strong><\/p>\n Carson, Virginia\u2019s 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\u2019s not giving up without a fight, taking home the win Saturday night over Arden, North Carolina\u2019s Michael White. Anderson took the win with a 3.711 on a 3.70 dial in his \u201923 Racetech dragster, while White went -.002 red, costing him the event win.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Top Dragster 48 was won by Gilbert, South Carolina\u2019s Taylor Holland in a \u201923 Maddox dragster. Although Holland only went 4.763 on a 4.14 dial-in, Harmony, North Carolina\u2019s Scott Neal went -.004 on the tree, giving the race away at the starting line. \u00a0<\/p>\n The next race on the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series tour will be the season finale ProLine Racing Brian Olson Memorial World Finals presented by ProCharger on September 17-20 at Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie, Virginia.\u00a0<\/p>\n Follow PDRA on Facebook for schedule updates at\u00a0www.Facebook.com\/PDRARacing<\/a>.<\/p>\n This story was originally published on August 30, 2026. The post Butner, Camp, Green, Beattie Jr., and Vincent Take Home Wins at PDRA Drag Wars<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 Benson, North Carolina. In\u00a0Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous presented by Jerry Bickel Race Cars,\u00a0Marcus Butner made a huge push to defend his 2025\u00a0points championship, taking […]<\/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-104676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104676","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=104676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Camp.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Ron-Green.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Beattie-Jr.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Austin-Vincent-3.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Bryan-LaFlam.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Brian-Anderson.jpg\")
![\"Drag](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/DI_flat_red-e1711481551475.png\")
<\/p>\n