Race Crew Media

DINWIDDIE, Va. (May 2, 2025) – Three-time Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous world champion Tommy Franklin won the first-ever Pro Nitrous Fab4 Shootout presented by the Travis Mills Foundation Friday night while also qualifying No. 1 at the Travis Mills Foundation PDRA Mid-Atlantic Showdown presented by Red Line Shirt Club. Franklin laid down a 3.648-second pass at 206.99 mph in his Musi-powered “Jungle Rat 3.0” ’69 Camaro in the final qualifying session to defeat Billy Albert and his 3.658 at 206.67 at Virginia Motorsports Park.

The second of eight races in the 2025 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series season also hosted the first Pro Boost Fab4 Shootout presented by the Travis Mills Foundation. Ed Burnley won that shootout, while his final-round opponent, two-time and reigning world champion Jason Harris, took the No. 1 qualifier award in WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive.

No. 1 qualifier awards in the other professional classes went to Blake Denton in Liberty’s Gears Pro Street presented by Menscer Motorsports, Chris Powers in AED Competition Fuel Systems Extreme Pro Stock presented by Boone Motorsports, Jeff Melnick in PDRA Pro 632 presented by PTC Torque Converters, and Austin Vincent in PDRA Super Street presented by Brian’s Heating & Cooling

Top spots in the sportsman classes went to Glenn Butcher in MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman presented by PAR Racing Engines, Jody Stroud in Laris Motorsports Insurance Elite Top Dragster presented by Greenbrier Excavating & Paving, Vonnie Mills in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman, and Danielle Gonzalez in Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster presented by Derrick Wolfe Trucking.

The Jr. Dragster classes completed two qualifying sessions on Friday, with one final session scheduled for Saturday morning. Mechanicsville, Virginia’s Griffin Davis is the provisional No. 1 qualifier in Paragon Pro Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products with a 7.901-second pass. Ty “Bubba” Smith, son of Pro Boost car owner Justin Smith, went to the provisional No. 1 spot in Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products with a perfect .000 reaction time.

PRO NITROUS
In just the second Pro Nitrous race for his new Musi-powered “Jungle Rat 3.0” ’69 Camaro, three-time world champion Tommy Franklin earned his first No. 1 qualifier award of the season. In the process, he also won the Fab4 Shootout, a new race-within-a-race for the provisional top four qualifiers from the first qualifying session that plays out in the second and third sessions. After defeating Marcus Butner in the first round, Franklin ran a 3.648 at 206.99 to qualify No. 1 and win the $2,000 shootout over Billy Albert.

“Especially with it being associated with the Travis Mills Foundation, it was cool to be able to go out there and win the Fab4 Shootout,” said Franklin, who thanked supporters like Pat Musi Racing Engines, Red Line Oil, and Jerry Bickel Race Cars. “It just adds a little bit of an extra spice to qualifying. A lot of times we go into qualifying and you're more worried about qualifying than racing, but I had to get the race face on a little bit earlier. The field was crazy tight – I was seeing 3.65s pop up everywhere. Race day is going to be tough with this bunch of cars.”

Butner in his Musi-powered Butner Construction “Heartbreaker” ’69 Camaro took the No. 2 spot with a 3.650 at 207.56 in the final session. Though Albert lost in the Fab4 Shootout final round, he did qualify third with a 3.658 at 206.67 in Stan Nance’s Rickie Smith-tuned, Albert-powered Structural Mechanical ’20 Camaro.

PRO BOOST
Two-time and reigning Pro Boost world champion Jason Harris was motivated to win the first Pro Boost Fab4 Shootout presented by the Travis Mills Foundation, but he had to settle for a runner-up finish and the No. 1 qualifying spot after a final-round battle with Ed “The Iron Man” Burnley. Harris was uncharacteristically late leaving the line and ran a 3.626 at 207.02 in his ProCharged Southern Diamond Company “Party Time” ’69 Camaro, but it wasn’t quick enough to run down Burnley’s 3.631.

“It is bittersweet,” said Harris, who thanked partners like Hoosier Racing Tire, Pro Line Racing, ProCharger, SP Tools, Southern Diamond Company, and LAT Racing Oil, as well as the Travis Mills Foundation for putting on the shootout. “Truthfully, in my mind, after the burnout it was Q3, it wasn't the shootout. Not being up there in the qualifying order, I knew I needed to make a strong run. I didn't really think we could go No. 1, but I knew we were juiced up and I was a little worried about shaking the tires and maybe being on the lower part of the ladder. I knew we were in, so it was just one of those things. Eddie [Burnley] did a good job and I just missed the tree. It's just part of it. I was in qualifying mode, not race mode. But now it's time to go racing.”

Not only was Burnley’s pass quick enough to hold off Harris, the 3.631 at 205.79 in his ProCharged “Iron Man” ’69 Camaro was good for the No. 2 spot in the 23-car qualifying order. Young gun Preston Tanner qualified third on the strength of a 3.637 at 205.72 in his screw-blown Tanner Motorsports ’15 Corvette.

PRO STREET
Blake Denton’s sophomore season in Pro Street is off to a hot start, as he picked up his second consecutive No. 1 qualifier award after winning the season opener. Racing in memory of former Pro Nitrous star Lizzy Musi in the nitrous-fed “Bonnie” ’69 Camaro, Denton laid down a 3.962 at 196.70 to jump to the top spot in the final qualifying session. The 2023 Super Street world champion is now attempting back-to-back wins on Saturday with tuner Jeff Pierce calling the shots on the Tommy Franklin Motorsports-fielded entry.

“We struggled at GALOT and ended up winning, so to come here off the trailer and do good, it feels good,” Denton said. “I watched everybody run and I knew Jeff was going to work. I had faith in him and I knew we'd be right there in the battle. I trust the car and I just need to do my job on the tree on race day.”

Two-time world champion Tim Essick in his ProCharged “Brown Sugar” ’18 Mustang qualified second with a 3.977 at 189.71. Reigning world champion Ethan Steding followed in third with a 3.985 at 191.81 in his roots-blown P2 Contracting “College Fund” ’24 Camaro. Recently retired Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox qualified fourth in his Pro Street debut, posting a 3.989 at 191.08 in his nitrous-fed “Training Day” ’69 Camaro.

EXTREME PRO STOCK
Two-time Extreme Pro Stock world champion Chris Powers made another statement at the second stop on his championship defense tour when he scored his second straight No. 1 qualifier award at the Mid-Atlantic Showdown, which features Boone Motorsports as the Extreme Pro Stock presenting sponsor for the weekend. Powers was the only driver to dip into the 4.00s for the second consecutive race, running a 4.094 at 177.11 in his Sonny’s Racing Engines ’21 Camaro.

“We were pretty determined to take the top spot,” Powers said. “We want to hang on to that belt. The track's pretty good. They did a good job tonight, so we figured we could go probably a .07 out there, but the track was a little tighter than we thought, so the .09 was surprisingly enough to hold on and get it done. It means a lot for Sonny's. It shows all the hard work they did over the entire winter working on the engines. Chuck Samuel has done a phenomenal job tuning. My son is handling the clutch. We're really happy to get two back-to-back.”

Alan Drinkwater, the 2023 world champion, recorded a 4.101 at 176.81 in his Kaase-powered Flatout Gaskets ’08 Mustang to qualify second, setting up the possibility for a second consecutive Powers vs. Drinkwater final round. Kurt Neighbor went to the No. 3 spot in his Kaase-powered ’12 Mustang.

PRO 632
Jeff Melnick, the 2023 Pro 632 world champion, took Alan O’Brien’s Barry Allen-powered Greenbrier Excavating & Paving ’20 Camaro to the No. 1 spot in the final qualifying session. Getting around three other drivers that dipped into the 4.10s, Melnick posted a 4.178 at 168.37 to get his first No. 1 qualifier award since Bristol last season.

“It feels great because these guys put in a lot of work all year round to make this car the top of the field and I just try to not screw it up most of the time,” said Melnick, who overcame a cancer battle after winning the 2023 title. “Motivation is always high for me because of the stuff I've been through. I'm grateful to be out here racing and doing what I love to do and being a part of a great team. Motivation is always high to turn on win lights for us.”

Walter Lannigan, who won the season opener, drove Chris Holdorf’s Nelson-powered C&C Concrete Pumping ’10 GTO to a 4.184 at 168.68 to qualify second. Kyle Salminen wasn’t far behind with a 4.189 at 175.25 in his Michigan-based ’03 Cavalier.

SUPER STREET
Nitrous cars led the way in Super Street at the season-opening East Coast Nationals, and they didn’t let up at the Mid-Atlantic Showdown. Central City, Kentucky’s Austin Vincent notched his second consecutive No. 1 qualifier award in his Vincent Performance ’88 Mustang, rolling to an untouchable 4.582 at 159.89.

Fellow young gun Matt Schalow qualified No. 2, his second consecutive top three effort, with a 4.631 at 156.41 in his Knieriem-powered ’00 Camaro. Rookie Carson Perry ended up third in his Greenbrier Excavating & Paving ’00 Camaro with a 4.642 at 153.84.

TOP SPORTSMAN
For the second consecutive race, Glenn Butcher and Vonnie Mills qualified No. 1 in Elite Top Sportsman and Top Sportsman 48, respectively. Butcher, the defending world champion, laid down a 3.774 at 199.02 in his Albert-powered Butcher & Son Demolition ’69 Camaro to hold off multi-time world champion Dan Ferguson, who also tunes for Butcher. Ferguson posted a 3.777 at 200.14 in his Wilkins-powered 2000 Viper to qualify No. 2. Bryan LaFlam qualified third with a 3.795 at 201.46 in his supercharged BigStuff Total Power Management ’67 Mustang.

Mills just missed the 16-car Elite field in her nitrous-fed “Show-N-Tell” ’13 Camaro, but her 4.066 at 181.15 put her at the top of the Top Sportsman 48 field.

TOP DRAGSTER
Like in Top Sportsman, season opener No. 1 qualifiers Jody Stroud (Elite Top Dragster) and Danielle Gonzalez (Top Dragster 48) qualified No. 1 for the second straight race. Stroud posted a 3.686 at 201.16 in his supercharged “Zombie” ’07 Spitzer dragster to take the top spot from Josh Duggins in the final session. Duggins ended up second with a 3.714 at 201.04 in his ProCharged-boosted Maddox dragster. West Virginia’s Alan O’Brien rounded out the top three with a 3.748 at 197.42 in his turbocharged Greenbrier Excavating & Paving ’23 Race Tech dragster.

Gonzalez put her Connecticut-based ProCharged ’23 American dragster in the No. 1 spot in Top Dragster 48 with a 3.893 at 164.37, coming up around one hundredth away from making it into the 16-car Elite field.

The Travis Mills Foundation Mid-Atlantic Showdown presented by Red Line Shirt Club will continue Saturday starting with Jr. Dragster final qualifying at 8:30 a.m., followed by Edelbrock Bracket Bash presented by COMP Cams time trials and sportsman eliminations. Pre-race ceremonies and professional eliminations are set to kick off at noon, while the FuelTech Winner’s Circle will wrap up the race weekend around 9:45 p.m.

Saturday tickets are available for $30. Discounted junior and kids tickets are also available, while kids 5 and under get in free. Tickets can be purchased 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.

Photos by Tara Bowker