photo credit: Auto Imagery

TOPEKA, Kan. (June 9, 2019) – After two consecutive final rounds in the SAM Tech Factory Stock Showdown, Bo Butner expected a lot coming into eliminations at the NHRA Heartland Nationals. Qualified in the No. 2 position in his Darrel Herron-crew chiefed, Jason Lee-tuned Summit Racing Cobra Jet Mustang with a best time of 8.045-second, Butner was well-poised to see four win lights. His semifinals finish was only a bit disappointing.

“We had a good weekend, but we need more testing. This class is just as tough as Pro Stock,” said Butner, whose 176.01 in qualifying was top speed of the event.

In the first round of eliminations, Butner left the starting line first with a .051-second reaction time to David Janac’s .068, and he continued his charge with a victorious 8.074, 171.71 to 8.080, 169.85. Butner’s Summit Racing Cobra Jet was fierce; his elapsed time was the quickest of the round.

Kevin Skinner cut a cool .015-second light in the second stanza, but Butner was right there with a .023 and made up ground quick, crossing the finish line first to win on a 7.983, 174.28 to his opponent’s 7.998, 172.54. It was a thrilling round as the margin of victory was a slim .0074-second, or approximately 22 inches.

It was eventual trophy winner Stephen Bell who finally stopped the hard-charging Butner. Their semifinals meeting marked the first time the two had met during eliminations, and Bell advanced to his fifth final with a 7.950, 173.45 to Butner’s 7.977, 174.48 – top speed of the round.

“It’s fun being part of this because it’s so competitive, too,” said Butner, who moved up to the No. 2 position in the series with his performance at Heartland Motorsports Park. “I’m excited to get back in this Summit Racing Cobra Jet, and it’s even better that I get to race it and our Pro Stock car at the Summit Racing Nationals in a couple of weeks.”

The event in Topeka was the fourth of eight in the 2019 SAM Tech Factory Stock Showdown. The next event in the series will take place at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, June 20-23.

BO BUTNER
Summit Racing Cobra Jet Mustang
Position in standings following event: No. 2

Butner’s results:
R1: Bo Butner defeated David Janac, 8.074-second at 171.71 mph to 8.080, 169.85
R2: Butner def. Kevin Skinner, 7.983, 174.28 to 7.998, 172.54
R3: Stephen Bell def. Butner, 7.950, 173.45 to 7.977, 174.48

Butner’s 2019 SAM Tech Factory Stock Showdown results:
Gainesville: did not qualify
Charlotte: No. 2 qualifier, final round
Richmond: No. 1 qualifier, final round
Topeka: No. 2 qualifier, semifinals

2019 Factory Stock Showdown Championship Standings
(after the NHRA Heartland Nationals, race 4 of 8)

1. Drew Skillman, 329
2. Bo Butner, 282
3. Stephen Bell, 249
4. Bill Skillman, 245
5. Chris Holbrook, 219
6. Arthur Kohn, 212
7. David Barton, 202
8. Randy Taylor, 198
9. Kevin Skinner, 191
10. Scott Libersher, 169
11. Ryan Priddy, 143
12. Leah Pritchett, 131
13. David Janac, 129
14. Carl Tasca, 122
15. Pete Gasko Jr., 95

2019 SCHOOL OF AUTOMOTIVE MACHINISTS & TECHNOLOGY SCHEDULE
March 14-17 Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, Gainesville, Fla.
April 26-28 NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, Charlotte, N.C.
May 17-19 Virginia NHRA Nationals, Richmond, Va.
June 7-9 Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals, Topeka, Kan.
June 20-23 Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Norwalk, Ohio
Aug. 28-Sept. 2 Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, Indianapolis
Sept. 27-29 AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, St. Louis
Oct. 17-20 AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals, Dallas

photo credit: Auto Imagery

Greg Anderson
KB Racing, Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro
Car No.: PS7
Current points position: No. 5

Event-specific Notes:
• Greg Anderson used to consider Chicago the one that always seemed to get away, but in 2011 he finally won. He was victorious again in 2016.
• Anderson holds the Route 66 Raceway track record for speed, set in 2015 at 211.83 mph
• Anderson has been steadily climbing in the Pro Stock standings after a slow start to the 2019 season. He has reached the final round at each of the most recent two events (Las Vegas and Richmond) to move up to No. 5 in the standings.

Driver Notes:
• 2019 is Anderson’s 21st season as a Pro Stock driver. He began his career as a crew member and then was crew chief for championship winning driver Warren Johnson before taking the reins of his own Pro Stock car in Columbus in 1998.
• Las Vegas-based Ken Black brought Anderson on board as a tuner, then a driver for KB Racing. They won their first race together in 2001. They have been racing together for nearly two decades and have, along with crew chief Rob Downing, built a team that now owns 153 national event wins and eight championships.
• Anderson is a four-time NHRA Pro Stock world champion (2003-05, 2010)
• Anderson is the most decorated Pro Stock driver on the current tour. He has 91 national event wins and is the second-most winning driver of all time in the category (W. Johnson has 97).

Anderson in Chicago
2 wins in 8 final rounds
Runner-up 2018 (Jeg Coughlin Jr.)
Won 2016 (defeated Bo Butner)
Runner-up 2013 (Coughlin)
Runner-up 2012 (Erica Enders)
Won 2011 (defeated Enders)
Runner-up 2006 (Kurt Johnson)
Runner-up 2004 Chicago 1 (Jason Line)
Runner-up 2004 Chicago 2 (Dave Connolly)
Runner-up 2003 Chicago 1 (Coughlin)
No. 1 in 2011, 2007, 2005 Chicago 2, 2004 Chicago 2, 2003 Chicago 1, 2003 Chicago 2
In 2018: No. 1 qualifier; final round

Anderson’s Career Stats through 2019 Virginia Nationals in Richmond
(most recent Pro Stock event)
4-time NHRA Pro Stock series champion (2003-05, 2010)
457 Pro Stock races
91 wins
62 runner-up finishes
153 overall final rounds
102 No. 1 qualifier awards
Career best e.t.: 6.457
Career best speed: 215.48

Quotes:
“After getting to the final in Richmond and walking away empty handed, I’m ready for a re-run. We did a good job as a team at the last race, especially on a hot and greasy racetrack, so I think that’s going to set us up for some very good racing these next few weeks. My Summit Racing Chevy Camaro was the best it’s been all year, and I feel like it just keeps getting better. We have to close the deal on raceday, that’s all there is to it.”

Jason Line
KB Racing, Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro
Car No.: PS5
Current points position: No. 3

Event-specific Notes:
• Jason Line has three Chicago wins in six final rounds, leading Route 66 Raceway victories for KB Racing and Team Summit
• Line’s first Pro Stock win came 15 years ago in Chicago in 2004, when he defeated Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson for the trophy. It was the third all-KB Racing final round and the first and only so far in Chicago. (As of the most recent event [Richmond], there have been 45 final rounds in the history of the team in which KB Racing drivers have gone head-to-head for the trophy. Line has come up on the winning end 18 times; Greg Anderson 22; and Bo Butner 5).

Driver Notes:
• Jason Line debuted a new Jerry Haas-built Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro at the 2019 Mello Yello Series season-opener in Pomona and wheeled it to the final round
• The driver of the silver Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro accumulated 600 Pro Stock round wins with his first-round victory in Richmond. It is the third most of any active driver in the category.
• The Mooresville, N.C.-based driver has 48 wins in Pro Stock and two in Stock Eliminator, one of NHRA’s premier Sportsman categories.
• In addition to driving for KB Racing, Line is the dyno operator at KB Racing and is part of the tuning team for the cars in the KB Racing stable
• Line has three NHRA Pro Stock world titles with KB Racing (2006, 2011, 2016), as well as one NHRA Sportsman championship earned in Stock Eliminator behind the wheel of his 1970 Buick Gran Sport (1993)
• His Pro Stock debut was in 2003 in Columbus

Line in Chicago
3 wins in 6 final rounds
Runner-up 2014 (Vincent Nobile)
Runner-up 2010 (Mike Edwards
Runner-up 2007 (Jeg Coughlin Jr.)
Won 2005 Chicago 1 (Coughlin)
Won 2005 Chicago 2 (Erica Enders)
Won 2004 Chicago 1 (Greg Anderson)
No. 1 in 2004
In 2018: Qualified No. 4; second round

Line’s Career Stats through 2019 Virginia Nationals in Richmond
(most recent Pro Stock event)
3-time NHRA Pro Stock series champion (2006, 2011, 2016)
1993 NHRA Stock Eliminator champion
361 Pro Stock races
48 Pro Stock wins
50 overall wins, including NHRA Sportsman and Professional categories
(2 Stock Eliminator, 48 Pro Stock)
52 runner-up finishes
100 Pro Stock final rounds
54 Pro Stock No. 1 qualifier awards
102 overall final rounds, including NHRA Sportsman and Professional competition
(2 Stock Eliminator, 100 Pro Stock)
Career best e.t.: 6.455
Career best speed: 215.17

Quotes:
“Chicago is one of those places where weather can be an interesting variable, but it’s a great facility and we like racing there. It’s a special place for me, and if everything goes as we hope, we’ll have another Team Summit final round. This race is the start of four in a row, and having a good race in Chicago would be a very good beginning to this stretch.”

Bo Butner
KB Racing, Jim Butner Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro
Car No.: PS8
Current points position: No. 1

Event-specific Notes:
• Butner has been runner-up at this event twice: once in Pro Stock in 2016, and once in Stock Eliminator in 2012
• Butner will race in both Pro Stock and Super Comp this weekend at Route 66 Raceway
• The Super Comp dragster he will drive belongs to friend and fellow Sportsman racer Tyler Bohannon
• The Route 66 Nationals will mark the first time that Butner has competed in Super Comp at the national event level; he has raced the category in a handful of NHRA divisional events in the past. If he should win, it would mark the sixth different category in which he will have been victorious at a national event. The record is seven.

Driver Notes:
• Butner, the 2017 NHRA Pro Stock world champion, won the first race of the 2019 season and then again in Gainesville, Las Vegas, and Richmond. He is the incoming points leader.
• Butner’s victory in Richmond was the 153rd Pro Stock win for KB Racing, the acclaimed group racing out of Ken Black’s shop in Mooresville, North Carolina
• Last October, Butner decided to hang up his Pro driving gloves and return to his Sportsman racing roots to focus on the Jim Butner Auto Group family business and his growing family (his first grandchild was born just after Gainesville). When the schedule was shortened to 18 races, though, he was encouraged by his mom, Dottie, to reconsider.
• An accomplished NHRA Sportsman racer, Butner earned the Comp Eliminator championship in 2006 and has four Division 3 season titles
• Butner has 11 Pro Stock wins on his scorecard

Butner in Chicago
2 final rounds (including Sportsman competition)
Runner-up 2016 in Pro Stock (defeated by Greg Anderson)
Runner-up in 2012 in Stock Eliminator (defeated by Daryl Bureski)
In 2018: Qualified No. 9; first round

Butner’s Career Stats through 2019 Virginia Nationals in Richmond
(most recent Pro Stock event)
2017 NHRA Pro Stock champion
2006 Competition Eliminator champion
94 races
11 Pro Stock wins
13 Pro Stock runner-up finishes
24 overall Pro Stock final rounds
10 Pro Stock No. 1 qualifier awards
26 overall wins, including NHRA Sportsman competition
(11 Pro stock, 6 Comp Eliminator, 3 Super Stock, 5 Stock Eliminator, 1 Super Street)
53 overall final rounds, including NHRA Sportsman and Professional competition
(24 Pro Stock, 13 Comp Eliminator, 6 Super Stock, 7 Stock Eliminator, 1 Super Street, 2 SAM Tech Factory Stock Showdown)
Career best e.t.: 6.475
Career best speed: 214.28

Quotes:
“We’re a few races into the regular season, and as it stands, we have a good enough car to win the championship – but to have a real shot at it at the end, you really have to be as good as we were in Richmond every day. Pro Stock is tough, and there are a lot of other racers who are going to win this year. But so far, we’re right there with them. It’s fun to go racing right now, and we’ll be busy in Chicago. I like our chances.”

2019 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock Standings
(after NHRA Virginia Nationals, race 5 of 18)

1. Bo Butner (4), 545
2. Alex Laughlin, 358
3. Jason Line, 328
4. Matt Hartford, 318
5. Greg Anderson, 305
6. Jeg Coughlin (1), 298
7. Erica Enders, 297
8. Rodger Brogdon, 254
9. Chris McGaha, 241
10. Deric Kramer, 239

Race Info
Route 66 NHRA Nationals
Route 66 Raceway
Chicago (Joliet), Illinois
May 30-June 2, 2019

Route 66 Raceway Track Records
Pro Stock
Drew Skillman, 6.528 (2015); Greg Anderson, 211.83 (2015)
Funny Car
Robert Hight, 3.851 (2017); Hight, 334.73 (2017)
Top Fuel
Steve Torrence, 3.677 (2018); Torrence, 333.58 (2018)
Pro Stock Motorcycle
Matt Smith, 6.784 (2017); Hector Arana Jr., 200.89 (2018)

Run Schedule (all times local)
Thursday, May 30
8:00 a.m. – Lucas Oil Series Sportsman qualifying begins

Friday, May 31
8:00 a.m. – Lucas Oil Series Sportsman qualifying continues, eliminations begin
5:30 p.m. – Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro qualifying session 1
8:00 p.m. – Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro qualifying session 2

Saturday, June 1
9:00 a.m. – Lucas Oil Series Sportsman eliminations continue
11:15 a.m. – Sportsman Allstars driver introductions at the starting line
12:00 p.m. – Sportsman Allstars round 1
1:45 p.m. – Sportsman Allstars round 2
2:45 p.m. – Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro qualifying session 3
4:30 p.m. – Sportsman Allstars finals
5:15 p.m. – Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro qualifying session 4

Sunday, June 2
8:30 a.m. – Lucas Oil Sportsman eliminations continue
10:00 a.m. – Pre-race ceremonies
11:00 a.m. – Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro eliminations begin

#NHRAonFOX Television Schedule (all times ET)
Qualifying / Saturday – 7-8 PM ET / FS1
NHRA Sunday LIVE / Sunday – 11:30 AM-12:30 PM ET / FS1
Finals / Sunday – 5:30-8:30 PM ET / FS1

(Sportsman) Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Television Schedule
Finals / Thursday, June 13 – 8:30-9:30 PM ET / FS2

**Full results posted at DragRaceCentral.com**

Come on. You all know this series could only be launched on the coattails of Warren Johnson and his well-blazed path. The Minnesota native is one of the most well-known and decorated drag racers of all time, and his brazen “take no bull,” sugar coat zilch,” “tell it like it is (even when it stings)” attitude has been both a breath of fresh air and wildly intimidating since day one. His attitude isn’t what’s in the history books, though.

Johnson – now 75 years old, if calculations are correct – stands as a legend in Pro Stock, and that is why he gets the win light as our first Center Stage feature.

No. 7 on NHRA’s 50 Greatest Drivers list, “The Professor” came into drag racing with an engineer’s education. His first NHRA Pro Stock car was a brand spankin’ new Camaro that he purchased in 1971, prepared for racing, and debuted at the U.S. Nationals, and he nearly wore the car out, racing it as much as possible as he cemented the foundation for a fruitful, lifelong career both on and off the racetrack.

Johnson has been inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, the NHRA Division 2 Hall of Fame, the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame, the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing Hall of Fame, and as one of the Legends of Bristol Dragway. He is the third winningest NHRA driver of all time and most winning to date in Pro Stock with 97 national event victories, has a total of eight championships (six NHRA, two IHRA), and blasted to the first 200 mph run in NHRA competition with a 200.13 mph pass made in Richmond, Va., in 1997.

Age just doesn’t seem to be a factor for Johnson, because the seemingly tireless man is still building engines out of his Sugar Hill, Ga., race shop. Every once in a while, if you’re real lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of him at a racetrack.

You are truly a legend, WJ. Thanks for all you’ve done for Pro Stock and the sport of drag racing.

FLOYD’S KNOBS, Ind. (May 24, 2019) – Bo Butner is in the midst of a powerful season as a full-time competitor on NHRA’s 2019 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour. Floyd’s Knobs, Indiana-based Butner has led the Pro Stock points since the season-opener in Pomona, and he’s doing double-duty this year running his Summit Racing-backed Cobra Jet in the NHRA SAM Tech Factory Stock Showdown, where he is currently No. 3 in the standings. But wait, there’s more.

It appears that finding success in two categories just isn’t enough for the avid Sportsman racer and 26-time national event winner, because his name has turned up on an unexpected entry list. Butner’s efforts will expand in Chicago at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals as he settles in behind the wheel of Tyler Bohannon’s Super Comp dragster for the first time.

So far this season, Butner has claimed four wins in the first five Pro Stock races and reached the final round in the Factory Stock Showdown at back-to-back events. Over the course of his ultra-productive racing career, the Jim Butner Auto Group CEO’s achievements have stretched across five categories. Butner has national event wins in Pro Stock, Comp Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock, and Super Street.

Although he has four previous wins in the Factory Stock Showdown – including the first ever, held at the U.S. Nationals in 2012 – all of that hardware was earned before a shootout victory was considered a national event win. This year, Butner is aimed at adding an official Factory Stock Showdown national event trophy to the pile, and in Chicago, he’ll be looking for the same in Super Comp.

The diverse competitor is well on his way to catching Jeg Coughlin Jr., the only driver in NHRA history to own national event wins in seven different categories. Coughlin has claimed trophies in Pro Stock, Top Dragster, Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, and Super Gas.

The Route 66 NHRA Nationals will take place May 30-June 2, 2019 at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., just outside of Chicago. Follow along at DragRaceCentral.com, on NHRA.tv, and, of course, on FS1 (schedule here).