Marcus Butner’s 2025 season started with promise, stumbled midyear, and ended in triumph. The 28-year-old driver turned a season of heartbreak into his first PDRA Pro Nitrous world championship, outpacing three-time champion Tommy Franklin in a late-season charge that secured his place among the sport’s elite.
With tuner Jay Cox at the helm, Butner and his Heartbreaker ’69 Camaro claimed three wins on the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series tour, including back-to-back victories to close the season. Along the way, Butner also shattered the Pro Nitrous speed record, turning heartbreak into history.
His path to the title began at the Mid-Atlantic Showdown at Virginia Motorsports Park, where he scored his second career victory. But after early-round losses in Maryland and Michigan, the young driver found himself searching for momentum.
The turnaround came at the Thunder Valley Throwdown at Bristol Dragway, where Butner notched a semifinal finish. When that rain-delayed race concluded during DragWars at GALOT Motorsports Park, Butner broke through with a home-track win that reignited his championship hopes.
That victory set up a final showdown at the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park. Butner eliminated Franklin in the second round, then clinched the championship with a final-round victory over former 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.”
One of Butner’s defining moments came in the first round of eliminations at the World Finals when he blasted to a record 209.98 mph, breaking the Pro Nitrous speed mark of 209.23 mph set by the late Lizzy Musi in 2018. The Pat Musi-built engine in Butner’s car once belonged to Lizzy herself, making the milestone even more meaningful.
“We give Lizzy full credit for that,” Butner said. “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.”
Cox, a Pro Nitrous veteran who chased his own championship for a decade before stepping out of the driver’s seat in 2023, provided the tuning expertise that pushed Butner’s program to new heights. His decision to focus solely on tuning proved pivotal.
“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.”
Butner also credited his Butner Motorsports crew for their tireless work through the ups and downs of the eight-race campaign. Facing a field stacked with nitrous-powered veterans, his team’s consistency and resilience became the defining edge.
The victory places Butner among an elite roster of Pro Nitrous champions that includes Jason Harris (2014, 2018), Rickie Smith (2015), Tommy Franklin (2016–17, 2023), Jim Halsey (2019–22), and Fredy Scriba (2024). Each name represents a milestone in PDRA history — and now, Butner joins them.
“We trusted all to God this weekend. We’ve got the best team, the best tuner, and the best people on board,” Butner said. “It took every single person, every single minute of the year to get to where we are. Hats off to them.”
