Some memories are simply unforgettable. 

And for Jason Harris, the defending PDRA Pro Boost champion, the memories of youth in coming to Bristol Dragway, the majestic dragstrip carved out of the hills of Eastern Tennessee, are memories for a lifetime.

Harris, the son of iconic Carolinas drag racer Bob Harris, a two-time Bristol winner, added another to the memory banks as he claimed the Pro Boost title at the inaugural running of the PDRA Thunder Valley Throwdown Saturday night in Bristol, Tennessee.

Joining Harris in the winner’s circle was a Franklin Family double-up, with Tommy Franklin winning the Pro Nitrous division while daughter Amerber took home the PRO 632 title. Daryl Stewart won the Pro Stock crown. 

In a Pro Boost final with little margin for error, Harris laid down a 3.643-second pass at 205.94 MPH to defeat Camp and his 3.663 at 203.68 at the sixth of eight races on the 2024 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series tour. 

“This one feels good. It’s historic. It’s Bristol,” Harris said. “I came here as a kid, 10 or 12 years old, and my dad won two national events here. I came here in ’12 in Pro Nitrous when we ran in another series, but this means a lot. We’ve tried really hard. We’ve been in three finals in the last three races. We’ve had some unlucky luck. We had some bad luck this weekend. Johnny had some bad luck, but right now, I’m driving good and the car’s running good. What else can you ask for? A win at Bristol is big.”

Harris' road to the finals included wins over Steve King, Marcus “The Axeman” Birt, and Bubba Greene in his Scotty Cannon-tuned ’19 Corvette. 

​

The Franklin Family created plenty of memories as well. 

Franklin's Pro Nitrous win, dedicated the win to Pat and Elizabeth Musi following the passing of their daughter Lizzy Musi, provided a continuation of an engaging rivalry. Franklin used a quicker reaction time and a 3.694 at 205.29 to beat Jim Halsey and get one round closer to his opponent's point lead. Halsey recorded a 3.696 at 203.40 in the runner-up effort. It was Franklin’s second win in three final-round appearances this season, and like the last win, he got to share the winner’s circle with his daughter, Pro 632 winner Amber. 
 
“Everybody knows that’s the best thing you can ever do – come out here and race with your kids and win with your kids,” Franklin said. “[Amber] is going to be tough. She’s a heck of a driver. We made some changes on her car for this race. She adapted really well. It doesn’t surprise me. She just does an awesome job, but hat’s off to our crew. We worked hard a lot this weekend. We were a little bit behind it seemed like every pass and we made some hefty changes there in the final and it showed up and the car showed out.”

Franklin's road to the winner's circle included victories over Tommy Mauney, Cam Clark, and Fredy Scriba. 

Past Pro 632 winner Stewart earned his first career Extreme Pro Stock win at Norwalk earlier this year, then he sat out the next two events. He returned to the PDRA tour in Bristol and picked up where he left off, adding a second consecutive win stopping first-time finalist Jordan Ensslin, then set low E.T. of the event, a 4.125 at 174.96, to deny Ensslin and his 4.189 at 169.64. 
 
“We came here kind of thinking we were lost a little bit,” Stewart admitted. “We tried to test on Thursday, but we were kind of a mess on Thursday, kind of a mess yesterday, and we were kind of a mess all the way to this point, but we kept digging and digging. Pat [Norcia] from Ram Clutches was on the phone helping us all the way. Joe [Oplawski] from Hyperaktive was right there plugging in. Then Kaase was giving us power. We put our best lick down in the final, which is the way you want to win, so that was the best of all. Once again, all the stars lined up. My son was the only one who wasn’t at Norwalk for our first win, so he came to this one, and deep down, I wanted to win for him.”

 
Stewart reached the final round by stopping Rick Cowger and Jeremy Huffman and getting a bye run into the final round. 

The balance of the professional winners included Brunson Grothus (Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle), Ethan Steding (Pro Street), Connor McGee (Super Street). 
 
Sportsman winners were headlined by Dewayne Silance (Elite Top Sportsman), Michael White (Elite Top Dragster),  Mark Reese (Top Sportsman) and Nick Meloni (Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster).  Jake Hodge raced to victory in Bracket Bash while driving Tyler Crossnoe’s ’23 Race Tech dragster to the final-round win over Kyle Eggers in his ’92 Beretta. 
 
The PDRA’s rising stars in the Jr. Dragster classes also took part in the Thunder Valley Throwdown, with Carson Hoyle and Kylie Varnier earning wins in Coolshirt Systems Pro Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products and Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products, respectively. In an all-North Carolina final round, Hoyle ran a 7.936 in his ’23 Mike Bos dragster to get closer to the 7.90 index than Kameron Helms, who left first but ran a 7.969 in his ’13 Mike Bos entry. Top Jr. Dragster championship contenders Varnier and Braydon Crayton squared off in the final round, with Varnier’s better reaction time and 9.113 on a 9.10 dial-in defeating Crayton’s 8.955 on an 8.95 dial-in. 

The Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series will have a month off before returning to action Oct. 3-5 at the ProFabrication DragWars presented by Precision Shaft Technologies at GALOT Motorsports Park in Benson, North Carolina.