Mon, 22 Dec 2025, 11:35 AM Marcus Butner Joins PDRA History Books as 2025 Pro Nitrous World Champion

Courtesy of Drag Illustrated on behalf of the PDRA Photos by Tara Bowker and Gary Rowe

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - For the second consecutive year, the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series crowned a brand-new world champion in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous, as young gun Marcus Butner passed three-time world champion Tommy Franklin in a late-season push to earn the title. Butner and tuner Jay Cox won three events during the eight-race season, including the final two races. Butner also walked away with the class speed record.

In just the second race of the season, the Mid-Atlantic Showdown at Virginia Motorsports Park, Butner drove his Musi-powered Butner Motorsports "Heartbreaker" '69 Camaro to his second career win. He lost in the opening round at the next race in Maryland and went out in the second round at the Northern Nationals in Michigan.

Marcus Butner and crew celebrate their world championship and World Finals win at Virginia Motorsports Park. Gary Rowe photo

Butner's season turned around at the Thunder Valley Throwdown at Bristol Dragway, where he notched a semifinal finish when the race was completed during DragWars at GALOT Motorsports Park. Butner parlayed that into a season-defining home-track win at DragWars. That put him within striking distance of Franklin going into the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals at VMP. There, Butner took out Franklin in the second round and secured the championship with his final-round win over past Elite Top Sportsman world champion Buddy Perkinson.

"I feel like we ran pretty good all year," Butner said. "We had some bad luck. I messed up in Michigan, turned it red, and let Tommy go win the race. You can look back and, you know, hindsight is 20/20. But when we rolled into GALOT, we had our A-game on."

Marcus Butner's Musi-powered "Heartbreaker" '69 Camaro Tara Bowker photo

One of Butner's season highlights came in the first round of eliminations at the World Finals when he crossed the finish line going 209.98 mph to break the Pro Nitrous speed record of 209.23 mph set by the late Lizzy Musi at the 2018 World Finals. Notably, the Pat Musi-built engine in Butner's car previously belonged to Lizzy.

"We give Lizzy full credit for that," Butner said of the record. "I think she was looking down on us and smiling. We couldn't have done it without Pat. He helps us all the time, and we did get that motor right out of Lizzy's car and put it in mine. It's legit. It's her doings."

Butner was proud to win the championship with Pro Nitrous veteran Jay Cox calling the shots. Cox chased a Pro Nitrous world championship for a decade before stepping away from driving after winning the 2023 World Finals.

"Jay is super smart," Butner said. "There's not very many people that tune and drive, and I think [stepping back from driving] took a little pressure off him where he could really focus. We make a great team. We're best friends. We do a lot of things outside of racing together. My kids are friends with his kids. My wife is friends with his wife. It's just a great thing."

Beyond Cox, Butner credited his whole Butner Motorsports team for their season-long efforts competing against some of the toughest nitrous Pro Modified teams in the country. Butner now joins an exclusive list of drivers to win a championship in the class: Jason Harris (2014, 2018), Rickie Smith (2015), Tommy Franklin (2016-2017, 2023), Jim Halsey (2019-2022), and Fredy Scriba (2024).

"We trusted all to God this weekend. We've got the best team, the best tuner, and the best people on board," said Butner, who also thanked his family and partners like Red Line Oil, Pat Musi Racing Engines, Liberty's Gears, Ty-Drive, Indy Gear, and Kinetic Engineering. "It took every single person, every single minute of the year to get to where we are. Hats off to them."

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