Drag Illustrated Issue 137, October 2018 | Page 101

WORLD SERIES OF PRO MOD 2018

SHANE MOLINARI

A semifinalist at last year’ s World Series of Pro Mod, Shane Molinari was a heavy favorite going into year two. After wheeling his turbocharged“ Gold Member”‘ 68 Firebird to blisteringly quick passes throughout testing, the NHRA Pro Mod star was all but guaranteed to race deep into eliminations again Saturday night.
The excitement of running well during testing was compounded by the fact that Molinari was out of the driver’ s seat for two months leading up to the WSOPM.
“ It was pretty stellar,” Molinari said.“ It was a good start and we’ re going in the right direction. It’ s the first time I’ ve been in the car in a couple months, so to make a full pull and have a good hit like that, it’ s a bonus for everybody.”
Molinari ultimately suffered a first-round loss to eventual finalist Danny Rowe, with both drivers encountering trouble and clicking off 6-second passes, but the Washington native’ s return to the driver’ s seat was an overall success.
- NATE VAN WAGNEN DI

ROBERT COSTA

Robert Costa brought his Musi-powered, nitrous-assisted‘ 70 Duster up from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to join Chad Green and Aaron Glaser as the nitrous contingent in a sea of boosted entries. He experienced some mechanical issues over the course of testing and the Summit Racing Shakedown Runs, forcing the Albuquerque Dragway track owner to sit out eliminations. A disappointing end to the week, but Costa was just glad to have a big-money, high-profile Pro Mod race so close to home.
“ We love racing in Denver. It’ s kind of our second home and it’ s the same elevation as what we run in Albuquerque,” Costa said.“ It’ s a great venue and there is no other track like Bandimere. I don’ t think there’ s an equal to Bandimere. You can throw everything at the track because you know the track can take it.”
- NATE VAN WAGNEN DI

CLINT SATTERFIELD

PHOTOS: JOE MCHUGH, KATIE ANDERSON
New Mexico’ s Clint Satterfield was amped up for his second appearance at the World Series of Pro Mod, and he was certain he had a shot at going rounds in this year’ s five-round race. He wasn’ t able to take down Pro Mod rookie Erica Enders in their first-round matchup, but Satterfield and the turbocharged“ Turbo Pig”‘ 69 Camaro put up a fight with their 6.115 at 231.64 to Enders’
6.076 at 242.80. Plus, Satterfield had a great time at his home race, what he’ s called“ the highlight of the entire year.”
“ A lot of the guys, we help each other. We all want to win, but it’ s not stressful,” Satterfield said.“ You couple that with the fans, the facility and a great family environment, that’ s what makes it so much different. Wes treats you like family and wants everyone to do well.”
- NATE VAN WAGNEN DI

JUSTIN JONES

A true rookie in a field made up of Pro Mod veterans, Justin Jones wasn’ t sure what to expect out of his World Series of Pro Mod debut. The 19-yearold Jones is used to running his Brandon Pesz-tuned‘ 69 Camaro to the eighth-mile with a screwblown motor in the Midwest Pro Mod Series. He was impressive in roots-blown, quarter-mile trim throughout testing and shakedown sessions, but a disconnected boost hose ended his time on Thunder Mountain in a first-round defeat
to 2016 runner-up Steven Whiteley. Regardless, the weekend was a thrilling learning experience for the rising star.
“ Oh, I loved it,” Jones told CompetitionPlus. com’ s Tracy Renck.“ It’ s unreal. Especially, switching from eighth-mile to quarter-mile. My first quarter-mile pass in my car this weekend, I told Brandon,‘ hell, I had my hand up on the chute at 330’. It took forever to get down through there.’ But it has been a blessing. I was fortunate, and I had a blast out here.”
- NATE VAN WAGNEN DI
October 2018
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