FREDERICKSBURG, VA – Performance Torque Converters (PTC), specialists in manufacturing and customizing high-performance torque converters, will serve as the presenting sponsor of the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series’ Pro 632 class, series officials announced today. The Muscle Shoals, Alabama-based company will also provide customer support at all eight national events on the 2025 PDRA schedule.

“We’re honored to welcome a well-regarded brand like PTC to the PDRA as the new presenting sponsor in Pro 632,” said Will Smith, marketing director, PDRA. “Pro 632 is a unique class with some tough competitors and fast cars, and they’ll really benefit from this partnership. PTC is already such a well-known brand, and we’re thrilled that PTC chose PDRA to help them reach even more customers this season.”

Founded in December 1995, PTC is now owned by Dustin Mewbourn, who purchased the company from co-founder Kenny Ford in early 2024. PTC has grown from a small operation to an expanded program with specialists and refined manufacturing processes to serve customers in drag racing, circle track racing, and other demanding motorsports. Continue reading →

INDIANAPOLIS – Increased championship payouts, new sponsors, and schedule updates highlighted the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series 2025 season preview press conference at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Show in Indianapolis on Thursday. The series will increase its overall championship payouts by more than $100,000, with $25,000 going to the world champions in the headlining Pro Nitrous and Pro Boost classes.

“After celebrating our 10th season in 2023, we kicked off our second decade of world championship eighth-mile drag racing this season with the addition of Red Line Oil as our series title sponsor,” said Tyler Crossnoe, series director, PDRA. “This partnership, as well as the continued support of our incredible racers, have allowed us to continue raising the bar. We’re proud to make these announcements as we prepare for the 2025 season.”

The total championship fund for the PDRA’s seven heads-up classes, four sportsman divisions, and two Jr. Dragster categories will increase from $95,350 in 2024 to $196,125 in 2025. The Pro Nitrous and Pro Boost world champions will receive $25,000, Pro Street and Extreme Pro Stock champions will receive $10,000, and the Pro 632, Super Street, and Pro Extreme Motorcycle world champions will walk away with $5,000. In the sportsman classes, the Elite Top Sportsman and Elite Top Dragster champions will get $5,000 as well, with Top Sportsman and Top Dragster champions getting $4,000. The Pro Jr. Dragster and Top Jr. Dragster champions will collect $1,500. Continue reading →

FREDERICKSBURG, VA – Veteran small-tire racer Dan Whetstine helped longtime friend Tim Essick win the 2021 and 2022 Pro Street world championships in the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series, and now the duo reversed the roles as Essick tuned Whetstine to the 2024 Afco Racing Super Street presented by Menscer Motorsports world championship. Whetstine won twice in four-final round appearances across the seven-race Super Street season. He also qualified No. 1 twice.

Whetstine in his ProCharger-boosted “Red Velvet” ‘90 Mustang qualified No. 2 at the first two races of the season, but he didn’t have much success on race day until the American Doorslammer Challenge at Summit Motorsports Park, where he reached the final round. Major changes in the engine program paid off with a No. 1 qualifier award and event win at Whetstine’s home race, the North vs. South Shootout at Maryland International Raceway. He reached another final round at the next race, the inaugural Thunder Valley Throwdown at Bristol Dragway, then claimed another No. 1 qualifier and event win at DragWars at GALOT Motorsports Park.

Whetstine secured the championship when he won in the first round of eliminations at the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park. He held off No. 2 finisher Derek Mota by just over one round worth of points. Continue reading →

FREDERICKSBURG, VA – Just three seasons after winning the PDRA Top Sportsman world championship, New Hampshire bracket racer Nick Meloni became a Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series world champion again as he won the Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster presented by Younce RV title to conclude the 2024 season. Meloni delivered a clutch performance at the season finale to secure the championship, adding to one other win in three total final-round appearances. He also finished No. 10 in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman presented by Corbin’s RV.

Behind the wheel of the Nesbitt-powered TT Motorsports ’16 Dan Page dragster, Meloni reached the final round at the second race of the season, the Mid-Atlantic Showdown at Virginia Motorsports Park. Later in the year, he scored a big win at the inaugural Thunder Valley Throwdown at Bristol Dragway. That put him within striking distance of points leader Lucas Salemi going into the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals at Virginia.

After qualifying, Meloni was three rounds and one point behind Salemi. The door opened for Meloni when Salemi lost in Saturday night’s first round of eliminations. He had to win the next three rounds of competition on Sunday, and he took that a couple steps further by winning the event. Continue reading →

FREDERICKSBURG, VA – Iowa’s Brunson Grothus is an accomplished competitor in numerous motorcycle drag racing classes and organizations, but a world championship in the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series eluded him until this season. Racing on two wheels in Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle, Grothus competed against past world champions to win three of the five races that included the class on the eight-race PDRA schedule. He’s now just the fifth different Pro Extreme Motorcycle world champion in the 11-year history of the series.

Grothus, who previously rode his family’s nitrous-assisted Indocil Art/Grothus Drag Bikes Hayabusa, started the season riding Robert Varela’s turbocharged Excel Glass Systems/Dallas Flat Glass Distributors Hayabusa. He lost in the first round at the season opener, then won the American Doorslammer Challenge at Summit Motorsports Park. Grothus qualified No. 1 for the second time in his career at the North vs. South Shootout at Maryland International Raceway. He qualified No. 1 and won the inaugural Thunder Valley Throwdown at Bristol Dragway, then repeated the sweep at the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park. He clinched the title when he defeated two-time and outgoing world champion Chris Garner-Jones in the semifinals.
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FREDERICKSBURG, VA – As the third generation in a drag racing family, James Beattie III has been surrounded by the straight-line sport his whole life. He’s soaked up knowledge and skills, and he put that all to use this year when he won the Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products world championship in the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series. Beattie earned one event win in two final-round appearances to score his first championship in the PDRA.

Beattie, the grandson of ATI Performance Products founder Jim Beattie and son of current ATI president J.C. Beattie Jr., raced to a runner-up finish at the second race of the season, the Mid-Atlantic Showdown at Virginia Motorsports Park. Two races later, the Maryland native picked up a home-race win at the North vs. South Shootout at Maryland International Raceway. It was his second career win, and a bounce back from a tough DNQ at the same race last season. Beattie clinched the title at the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals at Virginia when his closest challengers, Kylie Varnier and Braydon Crayton, lost first round and didn’t qualify, respectively. Beattie advanced to the semifinals.

“Winning the PDRA championship in Top Jr. means a lot because it shows how far I have come in my short racing career and that I was focused all season,” said Beattie, 11. “The highlight of my season was most definitely the .001 / dead 9 in the second-to-last race of the season in round one of eliminations because that’s my best total package and reaction time in eliminations ever and it was an important round win.” Continue reading →

FREDERICKSBURG, VA – The MagnaFuel Top Sportsman presented by Corbin’s RV world championship typically comes down to the wire in the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series, but this season, newly crowned world champion Mark Reese simply had to qualify at the season finale to secure his title. Facing tough competition with razor-thin margins of victory all season, Reese won two events in three final-round appearances to claim his first world championship in the series.

Reese’s championship hopes began in late May when he drove his nitrous-assisted, PAR Racing Engines-powered ’08 Mustang to a runner-up finish at the American Doorslammer Challenge at Summit Motorsports Park. Two races later, he won the Northern Nationals at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park. He backed that up with a second consecutive win at the inaugural Thunder Valley Throwdown at Bristol Dragway. Those performances gave Reese enough of a lead that he merely had to qualify at the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park to clinch the championship. Reese, who doesn’t live far from VMP in North Dinwiddie, Virginia, qualified No. 22 in the Top Sportsman 48 field.

“This is probably the biggest accomplishment I’ve ever done in my racing career,” said Reese, who thanked his wife, as well as tuner Buddy Perkinson. “I’ve won four championships at VMP before with index racing driving for Keith Cox. It just all came together towards the end of the season. Winning Michigan and Bristol and runner-up at Ohio gave me enough confidence thinking I could compete with these guys out here.” Continue reading →

FREDERICKSBURG, VA – Amber (Franklin) Denton is now a second-generation two-time world champion in the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series professional classes, as she won the 2024 Pro 632 world championship. Denton, who won the 2017 Pro Jr. Dragster and 2022 Pro 632 world championships, secured the title by winning three races in six final rounds across the eight-race season. She also qualified No. 1 six times before closing out the season – and her Pro 632 career – by setting a new class E.T. national record.

Following a third-place finish in the 2023 standings, Denton and her Tommy Franklin Motorsports team were determined to get back to championship form this season. She claimed two No. 1 qualifier awards and two runner-up finishes in the first three races of the season before getting her first win of the season at the North vs. South Shootout at Maryland International Raceway. That was the first of two double-up wins with her father, three-time Pro Nitrous world champion Tommy Franklin. The second came just two races later at the inaugural Thunder Valley Throwdown at Bristol Dragway. Denton in her Musi-powered “OG Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro then dominated DragWars at GALOT Motorsports Park, qualifying No. 1 and winning the race. She clinched the world championship during eliminations. Continue reading →

FREDERICKSBURG, VA – Going into the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series season finale, Kyle Harris didn’t expect to have a realistic shot at the world championship in Laris Motorsports Insurance Elite Top Dragster presented by Greenbrier Excavating & Paving. Ranked third in points, a range of scenarios had to play out perfectly for Harris to climb into the points lead. That’s exactly what happened, though, as Harris raced to his first win of the season at the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals to clinch the championship.

Harris went into the season hoping to be competitive, but his other major goal was helping his son, Pro Jr. Dragster title contender Ryan Harris, earn his Top Dragster license. To accomplish that, Harris switched from his proven but wild Altered to a supercharged, full-length, rear-engine dragster to allow Ryan to make licensing passes during pre-race testing. Harris reached the final round at the third race of the season, the American Doorslammer Challenge at Summit Motorsports Park. He later switched back to the Altered, but when that entry faced continued parts failures that led to early exits, Harris started to feel his championship hopes slip away. Incredibly close first-round losses – both by a .0006 margin of victory – at the sixth and seventh races of the season didn’t help. Continue reading →

FREDERICKSBURG, VA – Competing in her final season in Coolshirt Systems Pro Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products, Ashley Franklin clinched her first world championship in the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series. She joined her older sister, Amber Denton, who won the 2024 Pro 632 world championship to go along with her 2022 Pro 632 title and her 2017 Pro Jr. Dragster championship. The sisters’ father, Tommy Franklin, is also a three-time Pro Nitrous world champion, and Ashley’s brother-in-law, Blake Denton, won the Super Street world championship in 2023. Franklin secured the title with one win in two final-round appearances.

“It’s definitely very rewarding,” Franklin said. “My whole team and family – everybody has worked so hard for this championship. It’s definitely been a stressful year, but we finally got it done.”

Franklin in her ’21 Half Scale dragster kicked off the season with a runner-up finish at the East Coast Nationals at GALOT Motorsports Park. She followed that up with a win at one of her home races, the Mid-Atlantic Showdown at Virginia Motorsports Park. Franklin also reached the final round at the Summit Racing Equipment PDRA ProStars all-star race at Virginia, though it wasn’t a points-earning event. Continue reading →