The Gatornationals in Florida are legendary as one of the early-season races on the NHRA tour; much history has been made at Gainesville Raceway over the course of the NHRA’s lifespan, and this year was no exception. Cobra Jet owner Bo Butner scored his fourth-career Stock Eliminator win this past Sunday with a hard-earned win over a large contingent of Stock Eliminator racers.
In Stock Eliminator final, Butner was in the 50th qualified position out of 66 Stock Eliminator cars entered in the race. Butner went through 7 rounds of competition before facing Charley Downing’s stick shifted Cobra Jet in the finals. Despite a .004 advantage on the tree for Downing, Butner drove his CC/SA 2013 Cobra Jet to a 9.679 elapsed time at 134.60 MPH – a stout .023 complete package, which earned him the win over Downing’s G/S 2010 Cobra Jet and its 10.976 at 115.02 MPH
Butner campaigned the 2010 Cobra Jet during the 2012 season with the supercharged 5.4L engine and performed well in the ADRL Supercar Showdown and won NHRA’s first Factory Stock Shootout at the 2012 US Nationals in Indy. However, for 2013 the package is completely different – Butner is no longer running the supercharged engine but a 427 naturally aspirated engine based on Ford Racing’s BOSS engine block, and the Gatornationals was the first NHRA National event for his new Cobra Jet combination.
Last weekend, Butner prepared for the Gatornationals race at the NMRA Cobra Jet showdown at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida, where he went to the semifinals before losing to eventual winner Drew Skillman. The win at the Gatornationals was the 13th NHRA National event Wally for Butner, the 2006 Comp Eliminator champion.
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