Butler Timeline
Butler Origins
1960's- Jim Butler's passion and love started with his first GTO.
1984- Jim Butler had owned a small car lot and bought a GTO for restoration and modification.
1985- Jim Butler leased US 43 Dragway and built his oldest son Rodney a 1965 GTO drag car
Late 80’s- These years were engulfed by the family’s love for Pontiacs and drag racing.
Rodney and his younger brother David grew up drag racing and helping their father in the family business where he bought and sold Pontiac parts, a Pontiac performance company was slowly taking shape. Jim Butler Performance was formed and began advertising in Hemmings Motor News and High Performance Pontiac Magazine.
Butler Brothers in the Media
1994- First Magazine Feature- HPP Magazine
The Butler brothers were in the spotlight. The featured magazine layout brought the Butlers love for Pontiacs and performance to the national stage. It showcased their Pontiac drag cars and custom built Butler engines that powered them to victory.
1999- First National TV Appearance
Horsepower TV invited Butler Performance to showcase an engine build and dyno of a 600 hp Pontiac pump gas engine.
Butler Performance Group
2000- Jim Butler Performance was now Butler Performance Group.
2003- Butler Performance is finalist in Engine Masters Challenge
Butler Performance created one of the best engines in the world. It was the highest rated Pontiac engine in the competition and finished just points behind engines built by top of the industry performance shops and an actual manufacture’s cylinder head designer. To put a Pontiac engine at in this list was a major feat to say the least.
Nov 2003- Butler Performance new engine block featured on Hot Rod.com
Hot Rod’s article showed where Rodney Butler was able to shave 150 lbs off his Pontiac Drivetrain. How where they able to do this? By collaborating and producing an all new Butler Performance engine block based off the classic that kept it a true Pontiac.
Butler Performance on National TV
2004- Butler Performance works with Chip Foose for the first time on Overhaulin
Dec 2006- Butler Performance 601 cu in on Hot Rod.com
The guys at Hot Rod couldn’t believe 601 cu in Butler Performance Pontiac engine on pump gas. The article featured the monster engine that created more than 700hp and 750 ft. lb. torque.
Nov 2007- Butler Performance engines featured on Hot Rod.com
Hot Rod’s article on Bolt in Performance featured Butler Performance Pontiac Engines.
Jan 2009- Hot Rod Tv features Butler Performance again
This time the Hot Rod TV guys featured a 500 plus hp 474 cu in Butler power plant running on pump gas they called “Poncho Power”.
May 2010- Butler Performance crate engines featured on Hot Rod.com
Butler Performance’s popular 400-455 crate engine was featured on Hot Rod.com.
Feb 2014- Butler Performance on Detroit Muscle TV
Butler Performance builds a bulletproof 574 cubic inch pump gas Pontiac Stroker for the Detroit Muscle Trans Am.
New Location
2015- Butler Performance moves to a new location
Butler has grown tremendously over the last few years and it was time to make a move. The new location tripled the size of the old shop and now has expanded warehouse space, a larger machine shop, and an added engine room specially created for LS engine production.
Butler LS
2015- Butler Performance officially launches into the LS market with Butler LS.
After many years of calls from late model Pontiac enthusiasts, Butler Performance started research and development on GM's LS engine platform commonly found in 98-02 Trans Am's and 04-06 GTO's. With traditions based in performance Pontiacs, Butler has expanded to build GM/LS performance market with the same attention to detail and high quality components that we've built the Butler name upon. Butler Performance officially launched it's Butler LS division in 2015 with the addition of guys dedicated to LS engines and performance parts.