HEN MARCUS Butner was a young child , his father , Mark , sponsored North Carolina Drag Racing Hall of Famer Jerry Williams and his Ford Probe . Williams ended up winning the 1998 Quick 8 Racers Association championship , which didn ’ t matter much to young Butner at the time . He was just fascinated by the cars themselves , a fascination that continues today .

“ I wasn ’ t but five years old , but I loved going to the racetrack , loved watching the early days of Pro Mod ,” says Butner , now 29 . “ It was just something I always dreamed to do . Business wasn ’ t so great later on so we had to get out of that . When I was about 15-16 , Jerry was still running the white

Mustang with the blue stripes . They would let me come to some races and just aggravate them . I was at the point where I thought , ‘ I ’ ll never be able to do this ,’ but I just loved it . I paid my way and did whatever I could just to sweep the pit mat , if that was all I got to do .”

Later on , business picked back up at Butner Construction , which builds jails , schools , shopping centers , and other large buildings . Meanwhile , Marcus , brother Matthew , and another partner started a rebar business , Twin City Rebar . With financial resources back at a comfortable level , the Butners decided to get back into sponsoring a Pro Mod .

Engine builder Charlie Buck , who was building street car engines for Butner at the time , introduced him to then-customer Jay Cox . Butner worked out a deal to sponsor Cox ’ s PDRA Pro Nitrous entry known as the “ Pumpkin ” early in the 2018 season , an arrangement that continued through the end of the 2023 season .

Cox stayed in constant communication with Butner through their partnership . Through that ,

Butner learned the ins and outs of fielding a competitive Pro Nitrous car . After a few years of sponsoring Cox ’ s car , Butner decided he was ready to drive as well . Cox worked with him to put together a Rick Jones-built ’ 69 Camaro with a Buck 959-cubic-inch engine between the frame rails , originally destined for Elite Top Sportsman .

“ We rented Darlington out for two weeks and were just making laps ,” Butner says . “ We run a 3.69 and we ’ re like , ‘ You know what ? Why don ’ t we just run Pro Nitrous ?’ The two-car data was cool . It just evolved from there . So we started out running Pro Nitrous .”

Butner made his PDRA Pro Nitrous debut in 2021 , running six of the eight races . He won first round at three of those and reached the semifinals at another . He only ran four races in 2022 , reaching the semis once . Butner ’ s breakout season came this year , though , as he lost to eventual world champion Tommy Franklin in the finals at Norwalk and beat four-time world champ Jim Halsey in the final round at the next race in Maryland to score his first-ever Pro Ni-

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