PHOTOS: JOE MCHUGH

While many of the 26 World Series of Pro Mod drivers had over a month to prepare since their last race on the NHRA Pro Mod tour, the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Norwalk in June, the same cannot be said for Brandon Pesz. The Texas Pro Modified veteran and his Frankenstein Engine Dynamics‘ 58 Corvette were on-track in St. Louis at the Mid-West Pro Mod Series race just seven days before WSOPM race day.

Adding to Pesz’ s busy schedule for WSOPM Race Week was the fact that his car and the‘ 69 Camaro driven by teammate Justin Jones still had to be converted over from their screw-blown MWPMS trim to NHRA-legal trim with a roots blower. Oh yeah, and they were being switched to electronic fuel injection with FuelTech ECUs.

Pesz had mocked up the hoses and fuel lines before St. Louis, then installed everything once he arrived at Bandimere Speedway. All this was in addition to standard eighth-mileto-quarter-mile changes, including transmission ratios, rear end ratios and converter pumps.

With EFI and FuelTech on the cars for the first time ever, Pesz and Jones made a couple planned early shut-off runs during testing before completely unleashing the supercharged beasts on Friday.

“ During the shakedowns, I went 6.08 on the first quarter-mile pass,” Pesz said.“ Came back for the last run on Friday and went 5.96. It went 3.89 to the eighth-mile, which was really good. I was very, very happy with that run since it was only the second full run with EFI.”

Armed with the data from two quarter-mile laps, Pesz went into eliminations with a conservative tuneup to record a 6.05 at 234.33 and beat his first-round draw, Aaron Glaser. A consistent 6.058 at 234.98 followed in the second round alongside Harry Hruska’ s 6.183 at 241.28, though such a consistent lap wasn’ t exactly planned.

“ Harry was struggling a little bit, but at any moment he could run low ET of the event, so I didn’ t take him too lightly,” Pesz explained.“ I just kind of missed it on that run. I thought the sun was still going to be out when we ran, but the sun started going away and the track got really tight. Hell, I lost four hundredths at the 60-foot just because it dead-hooked the tire. I ran better out the back and it equaled another 6.05.”

Pesz took advantage of his quarterfinal competition single to load up an aggressive tune-up for the semifinals. Adding 8 points of ratio to the transmission helped Pesz pick up two numbers to the 330- foot mark over his 5.96 pass from Friday night. He clicked it off early to save parts.

Given the performance gains out of the gate, Pesz was fired up for his semifinal match with California’ s Danny Rowe. His Corvette, however, was not so fired up. Multiple attempts to start it proved futile. Rowe and his Jimmy Rector-led team waited patiently on the starting line, but they were eventually given the“ single” cue from the starter.

“ I felt I’ d run a. 93 or. 94 in the semis against Danny Rowe, then it didn’ t start. That still hurts,” Pesz

admitted a month after the race.“ The jumper wire for the starter just pulled out of the weather pack fitting and it wouldn’ t start.”

As frustrating as it was to be stopped in the semifinals by a loose wire, Pesz was deservedly pleased with the performance of his Frankenstein / Imperial Construction Corvette.

“ The most rewarding part was that we got the EFI to work out that quickly,” Pesz said.“ That doesn’ t happen very often, showing up to a race with a major change like that and having it go up and down the track without issues. Obviously I went there trying to win, but I would’ ve been happy if it ran a 5-anything and if it ran at least 3.95 to the eighth-mile. We overly exceeded that, so it was very gratifying.”- NATE VAN WAGNEN DI

Making the tow in from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was Rick Distefano and his shimmering‘ 70 Camaro known across the West Coast as a strong turbocharged contender. After encountering issues during testing, Distefano went into his first-round race against Steve Matusek feeling slightly apprehensive. Still, the Canadian driver was fired up for the experience of racing at the World Series of Pro Mod.

“ This is an awesome, awesome race- the most fun I’ ve had in a long time, even with all the problems we’ ve been having,” Distefano said.“ This reminds me of the street racing days. You don’ t know who you’ re going to race, you don’ t know what they’ re running, and it pushes everyone a little harder. It’ s almost like playing poker. I know I don’ t have aces, but I’ m going to bluff as long as I can.”

Distefano wasn’ t able to show his hand against Matusek, as the turbocharged Camaro didn’ t build up boost and bump into the stage beam in time. Distefano was timed out and the tree dropped on Matusek’ s side of the track, sending him on to a single victory.

- NATE VAN WAGNEN DI

October 2018 DragIllustrated. com | Drag Illustrated | 87