THE CHAMPIONS ISSUE
IHRA Pro Mod
Billy Harper
Amazingly, Pro Mod pioneer Billy Harper just might have had his breakout season in 2016, but based on his recent accomplishments, there’ s a definite case to be made for the 72-year-old veteran having his best-ever season of competition. His most recent victorious outing came at Maple Grove Raceway during the Rumble at the Grove event, where Harper entered his 2000 Dodge Viper in the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Series points race, which was the eighth stop of an 11-race roster for the northeast-based Pro Mod club. Harper fared well throughout the day, beginning at the moment he unloaded his Sonny’ s Racing Engines-powered nitrous entry and scored the quickest lap in qualifying with a 6.02 elapsed time at 242mph.
In the opening round of competition, Harper took advantage of a competition single when his opponent wasn’ t able to answer the call due to parts breakage. Billy staged the car on a single run and sent his Paducah, KY-based Viper roaring down the track to collect some short-term data, electing to shut off just past half-track to preserve the motor. In the semi-finals, Harper faced number four qualifier, Dave Norris, who would come up short against the veteran during their second round matchup. Harper dazzled fans on this run by dipping into the five-second barrier with a 5.91 at 242mph to punctuate the semifinal win.
In the finals, Harper would face many-time
( L to R) Dennis Radford, Judy Radford, Billy Harper, Mary Harper
event winner Kevin McCurdy, a Pennsylvania native who’ s enjoyed much success on the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod circuit, particularly at his local Maple Grove facility. McCurdy’ s home court advantage fell short against Harper though, and even a well-timed holeshot in the finals wasn’ t enough to hold off a charging Harper, who clocked a 5.85 at 244mph, to McCurdy’ s runner-up time of 6.02 at 238mph. Harper’ s final-round blast stood as the quickest Pro Mod pass ever recorded at the southeast Pennsylvania quarter-mile facility.
His latest victory at Maple Grove is far from the only shining achievement in 2016, as Harper handily clinched the 2016 IHRA Pro Modified world championship. In fact, Pro Mod was the only class in which a champion was essentially crowned before the season-ending Northern Nationals in Martin, Michigan was even contested. The celebration only continued when Harper’ s right-hand man and longtime friend, Dennis Radford, was named Pro Crew Chief of the Year by IHRA, which was a reflection of Radford’ s expert tuning on Harper’ s Dodge this season. Harper and Radford together have enjoyed many victories over the years, including the prestigious ADRL Pro Nitrous world championship in 2008. Although Harper is quick to dish out credit on those who surround him, his driving has been quite superb as of late and his Bickel-built Viper is performing in ageless fashion as well; definitely the essential recipe for a successful, if not breakout season!- VAN ABERNETHY DI
PHOTOS: TARA BOWKER, VAN ABERNETHY
NHRA NOSTALGIA 7.0 PRO MICHAEL PECK // IHRA NITRO FUNNY CAR JASON RUPERT // IHRA PRO STOCK CARY GOFORTH
82 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 117