Drag Racing’s 1/8th mile racing phenomena PDRA concluded it’s 2016 racing season with it’s World Finals affair last weekend...
Several recently crowned world champions of the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) backed up their titles with season-ending wins at the PDRA Brian Olson Memorial World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park, Oct. 20-23. The event also concluded the final rounds for the rain plagued previous PDRA event in Florida (see bottom).
NAS Racing Pro Extreme champion Brandon Snider defeated defending world champion Jason Scruggs in the final round, while Tommy Franklin (Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous presented by MoTeC), Kevin Rivenbark (GALOT Motorsports Park Pro Boost), and Eric McKinney (Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle) ran world-record performances en route to their victories.
PDRA Extreme Pro Stock winner Buddy Perkinson scored an emotional win for team owner Enoch Love. DiSomma Racing Engines Outlaw 10.5 number one qualifier John Carinci swept the weekend, also winning the event.

Canadian stalwart Outlaw 10.5 racer John Carinci was a convincing winner with his 2004 Corvette. (Photo by Phil Hutchison)
In the PDRA’s sportsman classes, Jeff Pittman was the winner in Ronnie Davis Top Sportsman presented by MagnaFuel after more than 85 cars attempted to qualify. Junior Houston scored the win in Lucas Oil Top Dragster. Dalton Hayes won in Talbert Pro Junior Dragster, while Jackson Williams won in MegaCorp Top Junior Dragster.
PRO EXTREME: Points leader Brandon Snider went into the World Finals knowing that he would only need to win one round in order to lock up his first PDRA world championship. The Atmore, Alabama-based driver qualified number one for the sixth time this season, setting up a favorable ladder position against number eight qualifier Monte Grace. A 3.542-second pass was more than enough for Snider to win the round and the championship.
“It was tremendous,” Snider said of the round win. “We knew we had to win that round to seal the deal. Going into eliminations as the number one qualifier helped out. I didn’t try to push the tree or anything, just needed to go down the track. That round win took a lot of pressure off.”
Snider’s Q80 Racing 1969 Camaro ran a 3.552 at 217.11 to defeat Swedish racer Mikael Lindahl in the semifinals. Waiting for Snider in the final round was outgoing world champion Jason Scruggs, who pushed his ScruggsFarm.com Camaro to a 3.492 at 220.66 pass in his semifinal victory over Frankie “Mad Man” Taylor. With a wounded rear end, Snider was unsure if he would be able to overtake the “Mississippi Missile”.
“We had some rear end problems all weekend, and it hurt the rear end again in the semifinals. I figured Jason would go another 3.49 or quicker, and I knew we couldn’t do that. We just hoped the rear end would last another pass without destroying itself, and fortunately it ran a 3.52 and Jason didn’t make it down the track,” Snider admitted.
One of the strongest competitors all season long, Snider was rightfully proud of the accomplishments of his team, made up of crew chief Jimmy Crenshaw and crew member Michael Elsberry.
“This championship is huge for us,” added Snider, who tunes his screw-blown Camaro. “People don’t realize how hard we’ve worked. People see that we race once a month or so, but they don’t realize how much time, effort and money is funneled into this car. We worked hard the last couple years to develop a good program. To be rewarded with this championship is just huge for me, Jimmy and Michael. It says a lot because we have one of the smaller teams and smaller budgets. This just proves that it can be done.”
PRO NITROUS: Pro Nitrous stars Jay Cox and Tommy Franklin looked to be the championship favorites entering last weekend’s Bradenton and Virginia races, though Travis Harvey also had a mathematical shot at the title. The championship ultimately came down to the semifinal round, when Franklin’s Pat Musi-powered 1969 Camaro unleashed a 3.699 at 204.20 alongside Cox’s troubled 5.76 pass. With that, Franklin locked up the championship and set himself up for a potential world record.
With all of the pressure off, the Fredericksburg electrical contractor fired off a screaming 3.677 at 204.70 against Bradenton winner Steve Jackson’s 3.765 pass.
“The conditions were ideal for setting records,” Franklin claimed. “We don’t get that too often – at the beginning of the year and the end of the year. We knew we were going to have some good air. We made it into the final after winning the championship. As much as we wanted to win the race, the pressure was off and we decided just to see what we could lower the record to. We don’t always get that opportunity, so we swung for it.”
It was a storybook ending to a dramatic weekend for Franklin. He entered the final qualifying session on the bump spot. His Bickel-built Camaro broke the driveshaft around 400 feet into the run, but a 3.759 pass was enough to take the eighth spot in qualifying. Franklin and team spent all of Saturday night looking over every section of the car to help prevent any further issues from getting in the way of the championship. The result was a 3.705 win over Randy Weatherford in the first round, followed by a 3.706 over Dean Marinis in the quarterfinals. The drama ramped back up again for the semifinal run against Cox since the winner would clinch the championship.
“A lot of emotions were going around,” said of the atmosphere around his team. “After winning the round, it was the best way it could’ve happened, right? But leading into it I’m thinking, Man, this is in my hands now. Nobody knocked Jay out before me and no one knocked me out for him.”
Franklin went on to thank the Lord, as well as wife Judy and daughters Amber and Ashley, adding, “We have great horsepower, a great car, and a great crew to put this thing together every pass.”
PRO BOOST: Now six times a winner this season, Kevin Rivenbark was primed to bring a second Pro Boost championship to the GALOT Motorsports team. The only driver who could unseat him from the top spot was his teammate, John Strickland, who won the other three races that Rivenbark didn’t win. The two North Carolina drivers faced off in the semifinals from the rain-delayed Bradenton race on Saturday, with Rivenbark taking the round win and the championship with his 3.725 pass. He backed it up with a 3.721 in the final round to beat first-time finalist Marc Caruso and reset the ET world record.
Moving on to the Virginia race, Rivenbark and his Todd Tutterow and Jeff Bohr-tuned 2015 Camaro continued the streak of blistering elapsed times. Rivenbark’s first-round 3.711 reset the world record again in a winning effort over Ric Fleck. Further round wins over the turbocharged entries of Eric Dillard and Rick Hord sent Rivenbark to the final round, where he faced young teammate Ty Tutterow. The son of tuner and veteran driver Todd Tutterow posted a strong run in his Pro Boost debut, but another 3.715 at 200.77 out of Rivenbark’s machine was too much for Tutterow’s 3.763 at 197.97.
“After the first few runs this weekend we realized we could run quick enough to reset the record,” Rivenbark recalled. “When we ran Ty, we were actually shooting for the sixties and it just didn’t happen. Tommy (Franklin) ran a 3.67 right behind us (in Pro Nitrous), so obviously the track conditions were there. We just missed it somewhere. I’ve set the record four times this year. We set it at Tulsa, Rockingham, and then Bradenton. To do it four times in one year…words can’t describe it. All of us at GALOT have had a remarkable year.
“Ty was driving an older car that his dad used to drive. For him to enter his first race in Pro Boost and come out with that kind of success just goes to show how much potential he has,” Rivenbark boasted of his 21-year-old teammate.
The dominant weekend was a fitting way to end the season for Rivenbark and the Earl and Peggy Wells-owned GALOT Motorsports team. Between Rivenbark and Strickland, the team leaves the 2016 season with the world championship, the ET world record, and nine wins in as many races. Strickland also won a National Tractor Pulling Association national championship this season. He finished second in the PDRA Pro Boost championship points.
Deferred Decisions
During qualifying action for the PDRA Finals – the concluding championship rounds from the rain deferred PDRA Sunshine State Shootout event (originally scheduled at Bradenton Florida – mid Sept) were concluded. The winners for Pro Extreme, Pro Boost and Pro Nitrous are pictured below:

Steve Jackson ripped a final round time of 3.719 secs to take the Sunshine State Shootout P/N title.

Kevin Rivenbark continued his major winning ways in Pro Boost – winning again in the Galot Motorsports C7
Posted by Nate Van Wagnen
Photos by Roger Richards, Phil Hutchison & Bruce Biegler