JEFFREY BARKER
The presence of two-time NHRA Top Sportsman world champion Jeffrey Barker added to the all-star format of the World Series of Pro Mod, as the Georgia native continued his Pro Mod rookie season in the turbocharged Bahrain 1 Racing‘ 12 Pontiac GXP tuned by Stevie“ Fast” Jackson. Barker and Jackson made strides through testing, improving to a 5.99-second blast at 245.81 in the first round, but opponent Michael
Biehle drew from his second-year experience and fired off a 5.92 to dispatch Barker.
“ I’ m excited about it,” Barker beamed, speaking of the race in general.“ It’ s the biggest Pro Mod race there is, so how can you not be excited? I’ ve never been here, but the facility is great and the track is just killer. Everything is a little different with the altitude, but we were able to make real progress and put up a respectable number in the first round.”
- NATE VAN WAGNEN DI
CHAD GREEN
Chad Green went into the World Series of Pro Mod considered by many to be a legitimate underdog. The common narrative suggested that nitrous cars- one of which belongs to Green- would not be competitive against the supercharged and turbocharged cars at nearly 6,000 feet above sea level.
But with a Pat Musi-prepared 903 ci engine between the frame rails in his Bond-Coat‘ 17 Corvette and Musi himself making the tuning calls, Green quickly dispelled the myth that nitrous cars don’ t stand a chance on Thunder Mountain. The Midland, Texas-based driver went 5.99 right off the trailer in testing and continued to make 5-second passes, eventually recording a best of 5.95.
When it came to eliminations, though, a nitrous malfunction prevented Green from capitalizing on a sizable holeshot advantage over Rick Hord in the first round. He drove into tire shake and recovered to a 6.377 at 223.95, but Hord was already gone with a 5.92-second winning pass in the other lane.
“ We put in a fresh motor for the race and had problems with the manifold,” Green revealed.“ We didn’ t get any nitrous to our first stage. This affected our wheelspeed off the line, which in turn caused tire shake when the other nitrous stages came in.”
- NATE VAN WAGNEN DI
SCOTT OKSAS
PHOTOS: JOE MCHUGH |
A mechanical issue prevented Tommy Johanns from staging his supercharged Pit Mat‘ 53 Corvette in the first round of the inaugural World Series of Pro Mod last year. A similar issue nearly caused the same fate this year when Johanns couldn’ t roll forward after the burnout. Opponent Harry Hruska waited patiently for the Frankwood, Colorado-based driver, who eventually staged and nearly escaped first round when |
Hruska broke traction. Hruska ended up chasing him down for the victory, but simply making the first-round pass was an improvement over last year.
“ This year I got an invitation from Wes Buck to come back and I had a chance for redemption to see if we can make something good happen this year,” Johanns said.“ We had another unfortunate bug bite us, but it was a great experience to be able to race here with these guys in front of our home crowd.”- NATE VAN WAGNENDI
|
Just being at the World Series of Pro Mod was a feat for Scott Oksas, and the burly Los Angeles-area native made sure to enjoy every moment of his time at Bandimere Speedway. His weekend ended with a first-round loss against Jeremy Ray, but just participating was a huge step in the right direction for the former Pacific Street Car Association champ in True Street and Real Street.
He debuted a stunning new turbocharged’ 67 Mustang from RJ
|
|
Race Cars, receiving the car about a month before the WSOPM. It put his program on an elite course and Oksas was thrilled to have the car debut in Denver.
“ For me, it’ s just awesome to see all these guys out here,” Oksas said.“ The camaraderie and the competition are just great. Hopefully people realize this is a race they shouldn’ t miss. To only have had the car a couple weeks we ran some great numbers. We’ ve got the right equipment now to showcase what we can do.”
- JOSH HACHAT DI
|
October 2018 DragIllustrated. com | Drag Illustrated | 99