Drag Illustrated Issue 140, January 2019 | Page 90
THE
CHAMPIONS
CHAMPIONS
ISSUE
Pro Nitrous / JASON HARRIS
A
fter leading the points
standings in Switzer Dynamics
Pro Nitrous presented by MoTeC
for nearly the entire eight-race
season, Jason Harris decided
his own championship fate in
the opening round of eliminations at the Bri-
an Olson Memorial World Finals when he de-
feated Chris Rini on a holeshot. Harris used a
.031 reaction time and a 3.705-second pass at
202.03 mph in his Musi-powered “Party Time”
’69 Camaro to take down Rini’s 3.702 at 200.29
in his Buck-powered, ATI-backed ’69 Camaro.
“It feels really good to be back on top,” says
Harris, the 2014 world champion. “We had a
runner-up to start the year and I thought, ‘may-
be I’m back on top.’ Then we went out second
round at the next race. It’s really just been about
learning the car. Danny Perry’s been helping
me tune the car and learn what we need to do
between rounds and race to race. We learned
more at every race and even lucked up and won
a couple. We’ve had a great year.”
Harris, who admittedly struggled for the
three seasons since his championship in the
PDRA’s inaugural season, earned his second
championship on the strength of back-to-back
event wins at the Summer Drags in Martin,
Michigan, and the Firecracker Nationals at
Virginia Motorsports Park. He held off the
late-season charge of two-time and defending
world champion Tommy Franklin.
“Coming into the World Finals, we had a
lot of weight on our shoulders,” Harris says.
“Even though Tommy had to win the race to
pass us, we still needed to win some rounds.
Tommy is a great competitor and anyone in
Pro Nitrous can win at any time. It feels good
to win a championship in Pro Nitrous because
I feel like they’re the elite of drag racing.”
With the iconic “Party Time” name of Har-
old Denton on the side of his car and the sup-
port of his own family and Jimmy Boone and
Mid-Atlantic Infrastructure Systems, Harris
is again on top.
“I can’t help but thank everybody who’s stood
behind me: my crew, my wife, the Boone family.
Hoosier Tire stood behind me even when I was
blowing stuff up left and right. It just feels good
to be back on top.”
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
By Nate
Van Wagnen
JIMMY ÅLUND FIA PRO MODIFIED // BENGT LJUNGDAHL FIA PRO STOCK // DENNIS HABERMANN FIA TOP METHANOL
90 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 140