Amber and Blake Denton found a pretty good way to start the biggest weekend of the PDRA season. They won together.
The husband-and-wife racers swept two of the marquee professional titles Thursday night at Virginia Motorsports Park, with Amber Denton collecting the $15,000 Pro Nitrous victory and Blake Denton following with the $7,500 Pro Street title at the sixth annual PDRA ProStars.
“That’s what we dream of,” Blake Denton said. “Any husband and wife that does this wants to win together. We’ve been in a couple finals, but tonight’s the first time we’ve ever actually both won together. It’s a huge deal for us and we’ll cherish it for a long time.”
Ty Tutterow joined the Dentons as a $15,000 winner in Pro Boost, while Ryan Altman claimed the Pro 632 title and Matt Schalow won Super Street.
For Amber Denton, the Pro Nitrous victory kept alive a late-season surge that has changed the complexion of her sophomore season in the class.
Driving the Pat Musi-assisted “OG Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro, Denton left first against veteran Billy Albert in the final and never gave him a chance to make up the difference. Her 3.645-second pass at 208.52 mph defeated Albert’s 3.706 at 206.04 in his ’20 Camaro.
“It means the world to me,” said Denton, who won ProStars in Pro 632 in 2024. “I grew up watching my dad in this class, so I watched most of the people competing in it. These are the baddest nitrous racers in the world, and I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to even be in this field.”
The win didn’t come easy. Denton opened eliminations against two-time defending ProStars winner Freddy Scriba and advanced with a 3.732 at 179.06 after Scriba shook the tires. She then had to get past Tim Paap in a semifinal that left little room for error, winning with a 3.652 at 208.14 to Paap’s 3.665 at 201.91.
After a season that began with what Denton described as random round losses, the Camaro has started giving her what she had been looking for.
“So to get a win, especially with how we had a slow start to the season, just random round losses, we’re hoping to keep this momentum going until the end of the year,” Denton said.
Tutterow had some unfinished business of his own.
The reigning Pro Boost world champion came to Virginia after a mechanical failure helped derail his weekend at Drag Wars. His ProStars night wasn’t exactly clean, either, but it ended with Tutterow holding the trophy and the $15,000 check.
Tutterow pedaled Justin Smith’s screw-blown, Larry Jeffers-built Quik Fuel ’68 Camaro to a 3.654 at 206.45 in the final when four-time world champion Jason Harris shook the tires hard in his centrifugal-supercharged “Party Time” ’69 Camaro. Harris slowed to a 5.734 at 80.84.
Tutterow needed some help just to get beyond the opening round. He shook the tires and slowed to a 5.524 at 85.26, but teammate Kurt Steding left before the green light and handed Tutterow another shot and he didn’t waste it.
Tutterow ripped off a 3.568 at 209.10 in the semifinals, low elapsed time of eliminations, to beat Melanie Salemi’s 3.625 at 208.52. Salemi and her team had thrashed to change engines before the round.
“We had some bugs at the last race, and it looks like we finally, hopefully got them behind us,” Tutterow said. “The car’s performing well … just tried too hard right there in the last run, shook the tires, but got it recovered and got it to the other end.”
By the time Blake Denton rolled into the Pro Street final, Amber had already done her part.
Denton took care of his.
Driving “Bonnie,” the Pat Musi-powered ’69 Camaro made famous by Musi’s late daughter Lizzy, Denton saved his quickest run of eliminations for Mikey Sasina. He ran a 3.927 at 195.11, while Sasina spun the tires in his Harts Charger-powered ’03 Mustang and slowed to a 5.603 at 100.79.
The victory came at a useful time for Denton, who entered the World Finals weekend as the Pro Street points leader but hadn’t reached a final round since the season opener.
“We looked at the day as just a confidence booster for us, and I think winning tonight really just gave me that extra edge,” Denton said. “After not being in a final from the first race until now, it’s good to be back in a final.”
Ryan Altman added the Pro 632 ProStars title, while Matt Schalow took the Super Street victory to complete the professional portion of the all-star event.
The PDRA sportsman racers had their own ProStars money on the line.
Bryan LaFlam won Elite Top Sportsman, Will Creasman claimed Elite Top Dragster, Seth Garrison prevailed in Top Sportsman and James Albertson earned the Top Dragster victory.
The Jr. Dragster portion went to a pair of young racers who had to earn their way through tight final rounds.
Prince George, Virginia’s Chloe Geryes won Pro Jr. Dragster with a 7.905 on the 7.90 index after 2025 ProStars winner Sofie Cooper broke out with a 7.873.
Mason Dudley, who entered the World Finals as the Top Jr. Dragster points leader, won that category on the starting line. Dudley posted a .051 reaction time against Korbin Helms’ .075, enough to make his 8.930 hold off Helms’ quicker 8.912 with both racers dialed at 8.90.
ProStars used a special points system to determine its invited field, with qualified racers receiving two test runs Thursday before random chip drawings established the elimination pairings.
The Brian Olson Memorial World Finals runs Friday through Sunday with PDRA world championships still to be decided. Saturday’s program also includes Virginia Motorsports Park’s Night of Fire with Nostalgia Funny Cars, jet cars and a wheelstander.
