ADRL SuperCar Showdown at Martin, Michigan

BUTNER WINS CLOSEST FINAL ROUND EVER

Words and photos by Bret Kepner

Bo Butner is quickly becoming the most dominant driver in the American Drag Racing League’s new SuperCar Showdown category but his victory at the ADRL’s Summer Drags VIII at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Mich., proved he is ahead of his closest rivals by only the slimmest of margins.

The SuperCar Showdown, which showcases unmodified current production automobiles in the exact trim in which they are delivered to dealerships, crowned three different champions in its first five events. However, the 2012 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet campaigned by the Jim Butner Auto Sales team had been either the winner or the runner-up at every race.

Bo Butner

To earn his fourth eliminator championship in six completed events, the past World Champion from Floyds Knobs, Ind., had to survive a challenge he issued to SuperCar Showdown National Record Holder Drew Skillman. The most anticipated match of the new division’s first season came in the title bout and the battle that ensued was the closest drag race yet seen in SuperCar Showdown eliminations.

The two Hoosier competitors, competing in nearly identical white 2012 supercharged Ford Cobra Jet Mustangs, had only met in one race prior to the Michigan meet. At the ADRL Spring Drags IIII in Bristol, Tenn., Butner barely defeated Drew Skillman in the semi-final round. The thrilling battle featured only one hundredth of a second difference in elapsed time for the eighth-mile distance, 5.86 seconds to 5.87 seconds, and Butner went on to defeat Drew’s grandfather, Ray, in the final round. It was the next event, the Gateway Drags IV near St. Louis, which began the rivalry.

Drew Skillman

“When I wasn’t able to attend the ADRL race in St. Louis, Drew won the event and set the record,” recalled Butner. “I told the press I was comin’ for him at the next race at Richmond (Va.) but Drew wasn’t able to make it to that event and I won. I made sure Drew knew I was still gunnin’ for him and, when he showed up here at Martin, I knew the race between us was probably going to happen.”

Like a well-scripted play, the shootout between the two found Butner leading the qualified field with Skillman only a few hundredths of a second behind in second place. When eliminations began, Butner clocked a career-best 5.78 seconds at 119.56 mph in the opening round and then stopped Wes Wells’ spectacular public debut of the Ford Motor Company’s new 2013 Super Cobra Jet Mustang with a 5.80/119.00 effort. Skillman, meanwhile, defeated the new 2012 Mustang Cobra Jet of Rick Rodgers with a 5.80/118.37 and then topped Jimmy Ronzello’s crowd-pleasing manually shifted convertible 2012 Mustang Cobra Jet with a 5.83/117.76.