BO BUTNER
Chicago, the 13 th race of the season, he’s won three
races – the most of any driver so far. He’s one of
only three drivers who have more than one win
in what has become a most competitive season
in Pro Stock. Teammate Greg Anderson is one
of the others with his two wins, and fellow KB
Racing driver Jason Line has one win to go along
with his four consecutive No. 1 qualifier awards
at the beginning of the year.
As Butner and his Jim Butner Auto team head
to Bandimere Speedway for the first race on the
grueling Western Swing, Drag Illustrated
caught up with the points leader to discuss his
success in 2017 and his thoughts on the current
state of NHRA Pro Stock.
You went to six final rounds before you
sealed the deal, then this year you’ve won three
races in five finals. Does it seem like they come
easier after that first one?
I would say so, but I had every opportunity
to win at more than half of the first races I ran.
You have to make four consecutive good runs
and be on time. Last year, it was probably even
easier for us to win because we had a little bit
of a gap. There were two races I should’ve won
last year, for sure, but yeah. I’m not saying it’s
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easier by any means, but now I just want to go
up there with the mindset of just going rounds.
Everybody’s asking, “Well, you’re leading points.
How are you going to keep it up?” If you just go
rounds, all the points come.
You talk about the mindset. At one point
over the last few races, Greg Anderson said
something like, “When Bo started racing Pro
Stock, I wouldn’t be concerned about lining
up against him. Now that he’s learned how to
win, I’m concerned when I see him in the other
lane.” How important is that, developing that
mindset and learning how to win?
That means a lot coming from that guy. I’ve
said it before, but he’s an animal. He’s hard to
break or get into his head at all. Just having
people thinking about you as they’re pulling up,
you’ve already got an advantage, I think. I try not
to do that as much. I feel like I’ve lost a million
ways, so there’s no new surprise to how you can
lose a race. I’ve raced for going on 24 years, so I
probably have more rounds – actually I know I
do – in different types of cars than all of the guys
in Pro Stock, other than Jeggie (Coughlin). When
you pull up against Tanner (Gray), he’s young,
very good and he’s hungry, but you can tell your-
self, “Bo, you’ve got race shoes and suits that’ve
won more races than this guy.” You’ve gotta talk
to yourself. It’s funny how you have conversations
with yourself before and during the race.
Being a part of the KB Racing team, you
have two of the best drivers in Pro Stock, Greg
Anderson and Jason Line, as your teammates.
How has that played into your ability to find
success in Pro Stock?
All three of us look at this deal as we’re winning
for Ken and Judy Black. This team is a profes-
sional team. They have a real sponsor. They have
to win to continue to race. There’s not as much
pressure on me, but then again there is because
I want to win for those guys. We have a pretty
good team going. If we could finish first, second
and third at a race – but you can’t because there’s
semifinals – we would be very happy. It’s the same
way with the Countdown to the Championship.
Our goal is to finish one, two and three. Don’t
get me wrong, I would love to win a Pro Stock
championship, but as long as one of the cars wins
and the other two come behind them, we’re happy.
Out of all the racing you’ve done and all the
success you’ve experienced, where do you rank
Pro Stock racing and the success you’ve found
in the class?
I’m glad that I can do it and have accomplished
a win or two and have a chance to win every time
we pull up to the starting line. With that long dry
spell I had, I wasn’t winning in any kind of car.
And I still drove Stockers and I played around
with a dragster, but I wasn’t winning enough.
You get to a mindset where – I was 40 or 41 at
the time – you say, Hey, have I lost it? Am I ever
going to win anything again? Just getting a win in
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