Three-time Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous world champion Tommy Franklin captured the inaugural Pro Nitrous Fab4 Shootout presented by the Travis Mills Foundation on Friday night. Franklin qualified No. 1 at the Travis Mills Foundation PDRA Mid-Atlantic Showdown, posting a 3.648-second pass at 206.99 mph in his Musi-powered “Jungle Rat 3.0” ’69 Camaro.
Franklin’s final qualifying session performance allowed him to defeat Billy Albert, who recorded a time of 3.658 seconds at 206.67 mph. The Mid-Atlantic Showdown is the second of eight races in the 2025 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series season.
“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,” Franklin said. “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.”
The event also introduced the first Pro Boost Fab4 Shootout, which was won by Ed Burnley. His final-round opponent, two-time and reigning world champion Jason Harris, earned the No. 1 qualifier award in Pro Boost.
Blake Denton secured the No. 1 qualifier award in Pro Street presented by Menscer Motorsports. Chris Powers also took the top spot in AED Extreme Pro Stock, while Jeff Melnick led in PDRA Pro 632, and Austin Vincent topped PDRA Super Street.
In the sportsman categories, Glenn Butcher led Elite Top Sportsman, while Jody Stroud earned the top position in Elite Top Dragster. Vonnie Mills took the lead in Top Sportsman, and Danielle Gonzalez topped Top Dragster.
The Jr. Dragster classes completed two qualifying sessions on Friday, with one final session scheduled for Saturday morning. Griffin Davis from Mechanicsville, Virginia, is the provisional No. 1 qualifier in Pro Jr. Dragster with a 7.901-second pass. In Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster, Ty “Bubba” Smith achieved a perfect .000 reaction time to secure the provisional No. 1 spot.
