Dirt
Repair, getting his hands dirty with the ins and
outs of running a heavy truck repair business. He
campaigned a 10.5 car until ’06 or ’07, at which
point he took up residence in the NMCA series.
His first foray into NMCA competition was
in the now-defunct Nostalgia Pro Street class.
Fielding a black ’81 Camaro with a single-stage
nitrous kit and a single carburetor, Summers
was competitive, but the setup didn’t whet his
appetite. “The technology developments left that
class behind a little. It was all mechanically-con-
trolled and I lost interest,” Summers candidly
admitted. Feeling inspired, he took his Camaro
to Jerry Bickel Race Cars and had the combina-
tion changed to use ProCharger power instead.
In 2010, Summers made his debut in NMCA
Super Street. “It was a twin turbo world back then,
but we helped developed the
current ProCharger F-3-136
that everyone runs now,”
noted Summers, who wasn’t
afraid to buck the trends of
the time. He finished fifth
in the championship points
chase for the class in 2011,
and moved up impressively to
second overall in 2012. “Once
we figured it out, I was really
competitive in the class.” As
a result, Summers took home
the win at the season finale
race in Indianapolis, Indiana,
and had one of the quickest
ProCharged cars in the coun-
try at the time.
Summers made the deci-
sion at the end of the season
to leave Super Street and try
something else. “I figured I
might as well go Pro Mod rac-
ing and spend the same amount of money. I had
the same components and budget, so why not go a
lot faster? Super Street was a great, fun class, but
it was tough because there was so much power
and no tire. Track prep was nothing like it is now,”
explained Summers of what spurred the switch.
What is now known as Pro Mod was originally
called Pro Street in NMCA, and Summers easily
stepped into the new class that would become his
long-term home with a white Bickel-built ’70.5
Z28 Camaro. His first year in the class saw him
earn two back-to-back wins at both the Norwalk,
Ohio, and Indianapolis events, and he finished up
with a third place championship points placing.
The following season, the class name officially
changed to Pro Mod, and Summers stepped it up
by taking a win at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Il-
linois, with his Camaro. He was both the number-
one qualifier as well as the runner-up at the last
two events of the year, and set the top speed at
each of the season’s six races with a peak number
of 257.28 mph. The impressive performances
earned Summers the honor of being named the
2014 NMCA Pro Mod champion, his first-ever
national series title. “It was really cool to win the
championship. We raced quarter-mile back then,
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which I really enjoyed; the car was super-fast and
we set a lot of records. We had a ton of success
with the program, NMCA had great car count,
and it was a blast,” added Summers.
Summers slipped to second for t