“I definitely woke up not feeling well. I had a sore throat and a runny nose and that kind of kept my temperament down a little bit,” Butler said. “But once I got on the track it was pretty smooth sailing and now here I am, a world champion.”

Once the cobwebs were shaken off Butler went to work, going four big rounds before meeting Jonathan Robin of Luling, Louisiana in the final. Both drivers call Division 2 home with Butler, representing Bradenton Motorsports Park, winning the Division 2 East Summit Team Finals at Carolina Dragway and Robin, representing State Capitol Raceway, winning the Division 2 West Summit Team Finals at Memphis International Raceway.

And while Robin may have had a slight advantage having won at that very same track a week earlier, it was Butler that came out on top. Butler used a tremendous .007 light behind the wheel of his red and white dragster to gain an early advantage on Robin and his ’94 Camaro. At the top end Robin battled back, but neither driver could run the numbers as Butler won on a double breakout by five thousandths at the line with a 7.766/169.76 to Robin’s 7.641/171.62.

“This is just awesome. I don’t know exactly what this means right now, but I do know this is a great program that Summit puts on with American Race Cars, with Trick Flow, Moser, AMSOIL and all of the people that make this happen,” Butler said. “I have been blessed over the years, I have had some pretty big wins, but this one is right up there.”

Butler also collected wins over Chris Dean, Ken LaBoe and Alan Glatt on his way to the final, while Robin reached the final with wins over Aaron Gee, Sheldon Gerlach and Michael Keylich.

With the win Butler, now in his 37th year of drag racing, can add an IHRA Summit SuperSeries championship to his already full resume. Butler also claims one of the richest prize packages in grassroots drag racing as the 54-year-old banks $10,000, a brand new turn-key dragster built by American Race Cars with a brand new Trick Flow engine and major backing from Moser Engineering, Abruzzi Racing Transmissions, AMSOIL and more, a trip to Aruba, a championship Ironman, IHRA Gold Card, a championship diamond ring and more.

“We had a pretty good season. Even though I stayed at Bradenton and raced locally most of the year, it was still a good season,” Butler said. “I would like to thank JW Performance Transmissions who I have been involved with since 1991 and won a lot of races with. Also RJ’s Performance in Sarasota, Mickey Thompson, BLP Products and everyone else that helps me race. This is awesome.”