Bo Butner, the reigning NHRA Pro Stock world champion, announced prior to the Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway he was stepping away from the class next season and returning to his Sportsman racing roots.

Butner didn’t lose any of his competitiveness in the Pro Stock ranks as he won the Wally at The Strip Sunday thanks to holeshot in the final round.

Butner clocked a 6.557-second elapsed time at 207.43 mph to defeat a quicker Erica Enders who came in at 6.652 seconds at 206.57 mph.

The difference was at the starting line.

Butner had an .007 reaction time, compared to Enders’ .020 reaction time.

“I’m very happy we got to win again,” Butner said. “This Pro Stick deal is amazing. Any of the top 12 qualifiers can win. It is tough, and the competition is great. That’s what brought me to this class and I would like to say thank you to everybody. It has been a long time since I’ve been up here (having winner’s press conference). It was a great victory, but I’m still going to Pomona to try and win that race. I went up there (in the finals) with the mindset to slow down, do not rush, enjoy it, hey this might be your last Vegas race. Enjoy this deal and give it the best you have got.”

Butner’s victory binge consisted of wins over Alex Laughlin, Jason Line, Matt Hartford and then Enders.

“I’m a Sportsman person’s dream,” Butner said. “I’m living the dream. We started at the bottom and worked our way up and to be able to run up here against these people who I watched on TV forever and be with them and to be able to compete with them has been amazing. I’m not ending my career at all. I might run in Pro Stock again in the future. I’m focused on doing something different. We have a family business just like Steve (Torrence) and we are going to grow that thing. I have my first grand kid coming in April, and I’m very pumped for that and they were here for the win and that was great. It is very hard (to leave Pro Stock), but I let them (his fans) know I’m not going anywhere. You will still see me here. The fans who keep coming up blow me away. I’m a Stocker, Super Stock guy forever, since 1990. The Lord has blessed us all and our family and I’m very, very thankful for what the fans have done for us.”

Butner, who pilots the KB Racing-powered Jim Butner Auto Chevrolet Camaro, improved to 10-8 in elimination rounds against Enders and is 2-1 against her in final rounds.

This was Butner’s seventh career NHRA national event Pro Stock win in 20 career final rounds. Butner, who has two wins this season, is eighth in the season points with just one race left in Pomona, Calif. (Nov. 8-11). Tanner Gray is the points leader. He has a 140-point lead over Jeg Coughlin.

“We started like gangbusters, winning Pomona (the Winternationals) and we ran good at Gainesville (Fla.), and thought we may have another repeat (world championship) deal coming,” Butner said. “We struggled a little bit as every team does and I kept saying this is perfect. We needed to go back and find that old car and they absolutely did. We showed improvement in every run and I’m looking forward to my last Pro Stock race in Pomona.”