of the quickest runs of the weekend, but it did not come easily, and it nearly didn’ t happen.

Latino appeared to be just another name on the list of 11 drivers who wouldn’ t qualify for the 16-car Pro Mod field until he squeaked out a 5.855 in the third and final session. He edged out Chip King by one thousandth of a second to qualify for the quickest field in NHRA Pro Mod history.

“ We are upside-down with this car,” Latino admitted Saturday afternoon.“ We struggled all week through testing and I wanted to give up. This morning, I hated this whole car and this engine combination. But we just kept working the transmission and working the clutch.”

Latino and his Northstar Battery 1969 Camaro lined up alongside Jackson in the first round of eliminations. Transmission problems prevented Jackson’ s supercharged Camaro from backing up from the burnout and ultimately handicapped the newsmaker after second gear. Meanwhile, Latino laid down a 5.779 at 256.49 mph in what was loosely described as a message sent from Al Billes, Latino’ s engine builder and supercharger provider, to Jackson’ s crew chief, Mark Savage.

“ As soon as Al knew we were running‘ Stevie Fast’ and Mark Savage, who was Al’ s student before he went out on his own, Al came over and said,‘ Boys, we need to show the student that the teacher still knows more than the student knows.’ We worked on a tuneup and the car went 5.77 at 256,” Latino recalled.

A dramatic first-round win from the sixteenth spot wasn’ t enough for Latino, though. He came back on Sunday afternoon to lay up a 5.727 at 256.36 in the second round. It wasn’ t quick enough to overcome the significant holeshot and 5.758-second pass by Troy Coughlin’ s turbocharged JEGS. com Corvette, but it was more than enough to reset the NHRA Pro Mod elapsed-time record. The race was also the quickest side-byside pass in class history.

“ We shocked ourselves,” Latino said of the record performance.“ We struggled with the car earlier in the weekend. Ran the. 77 and thought that’ s all we’ re going to do, but then we put the same tuneup in it and it went 5.72.

“ This car is new to us. We’ ve made 22 hits on the car and didn’ t make it down once – made one fluke shot in Orlando, went an. 87 at 252 and we

were excited.”

In addition to the efforts by Billes and Latino’ s faithful crew members, he credited the sponsors and parts providers who aided in the substantial turnaround from admittedly disappointing finishes in 2016 to a record performance at the first race of 2017.

“ We’ ve just been trying new stuff,” Latino revealed.“ JRi Shocks has been behind me since 2013 – we have the latest trick shocks on this car and it helped us a whole bunch. People think of headers as just bent pipe stuck in the car, but Kooks Headers built us a couple different sets of headers to run on the dyno up at Al Billes’ shop over the winter, and that’ s made a difference.

“ The components inside this car are top-notch. NGK spark plugs, Kendall oil, PAC springs, Manley valves, Diamond pistons, Total Seal piston rings, and MBE cylinder heads. I don’ t care if anyone knows; it was a big secret – we’ re the first Pro Mod guys to run a Leanders clutch. We worked with Jorgen [ Leanders ] at preseason testing in Florida and got some professional advice from him. And here we are – 5.72.”

Another impressive aspect of Latino’ s Gainesville performance, while it didn’ t necessarily affect the numbers on the timeslip, was the positive attitude maintained by both driver and crew through

eliminations. No one moped when they lost on a holeshot, nor did they grumble when NHRA tech officials showed up to inspect the McAmis-built Camaro after the record run.

“ The yellow-and-black boys came over and tore us down, went through the motor, blower, transmission and clutch – everything passed. We actually took videos and pictures with them all around the car saying,‘ Please find something’ – which they never did. I’ d rather they do that than just let me put the car away and have people wonder if we’ re legal or not,” Latino reflected.

The incredibly promising numbers recorded during the season opener has Latino confident in his ability to run with the championship-caliber cars this season. He’ s planning on running at least the first eight races on the 12-race NHRA J & A Service Pro Mod schedule, while his attendance at the final four events will depend on his position in the championship points standings. Latino can’ t help but feel like he’ ll be in the mix all season long, and his competitors feel the same way.

“ You know what was cool? Mike [ Rees ], who is one of Troy Coughlin’ s car chiefs, at the end of the track he said to us,‘ Boys, I have this warm, fuzzy feeling that you guys are going to be a pain in our butt all year.’ And I said,‘ Absolutely we’ re going to be.’” DI

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24 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 119