After three days of waiting out inclement weather, the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) declared the Proline Racing Brian Olson Memorial World Finals complete on Tuesday afternoon. Continued rain sprinkles and high humidity levels prevented the series from completing the semifinal rounds in two classes and final rounds in three classes.
“We’ve done everything we can to try to get this race in, but the weather just won’t cooperate,” said Tyler Crossnoe, race director, PDRA. “This certainly isn’t the way we wanted to end the season, especially with championships still on the line. We appreciate our racers’ determination to finish the race.”
The final rounds left to complete included Jim Halsey vs. Matt Guenther in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous, Johnny Camp vs. Kurt Steding in Penske/PRS Pro Boost presented by WS Construction, and Alyssa Rabon vs. Coolidge Rivenbark in Gilbert Motorsports Top Jr. Dragster.
MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman presented by Tejas Borja and Lucas Oil Top Dragster 48 were down to the semifinals. Buddy Perkinson, Tim Molnar, John Benoit and Bruce Thrift remained in Elite Top Sportsman, while Tyler Rudolph, Aaron Roberts and Bill Madden were left in Top Dragster 48.
The racers left in competition in the PDRA’s other professional and sportsman categories chose to split the purse and points during Sunday’s driver’s meeting.
With the World Finals officially complete, the PDRA settled the final points standings and determined the 2020 PDRA world champions.
Halsey secured the Pro Nitrous world championship for the second consecutive year. John Strickland (Pro Boost), Johnny Pluchino (Liberty’s Gears Extreme Pro Stock) and Wes Distefano ($hameless Racing Pro Outlaw 632) became first-time world champions in their respective classes. Travis Davis claimed his second consecutive and third overall world championship in Drag 965 Pro Nitrous Motorcycle.
In the sportsman categories, the world champions are Buddy Perkinson in MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman presented by Tejas Borja, Steve Furr in Lucas Oil Elite Top Dragster, Stacy Hall in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman, and Kendall Payne in Lucas Oil Top Dragster.
The Jr. Dragster world champions are Nyckolas Shirkey in Coolshirt Pro Jr. Dragster and Alyssa Rabon in Gilbert Motorsports Top Jr. Dragster.
The 2021 PDRA event schedule will be released this week on www.PDRA660.com and the PDRA Racing Facebook page.
This story was originally published on October 27, 2020. 
