Drag Illustrated Issue 149, October 2019 | Page 108

WORLD SERIES OF PRO MOD 2019 MIKE LABBATE CLINT SATTERFIELD ■ It doesn’t take much to get Clint Satterfield excited, so you can only imagine how he feels about racing at Bandimere Speedway for the World Series of Pro Mod. Satterfield made his third- straight appearance at the $100,000-to-win race in 2019, and he remains just as thrilled about the race as the first year. Calling it the race that makes his year, the NHRA Pro Mod veteran has made sure to always have a spot reserved for Thunder Moun- tain in early August. “(Drag Illustrated Founder and Editorial Director) Wes (Buck) puts on such a good event and it’s just a fun, exciting event,” Satter- field said. “Believe me, if we didn’t think racing was fun, we wouldn’t be out here. But we have a blast at this race. It’s the highlight of our year.” Satterfield and his “Turbo Pig” ’69 Camaro lost in the second round to Rick Hord’s blistering 5.925 at 233.20 mph in 2019, but the smile still wasn’t leaving Sat- terfield’s face. Satterfield and longtime tuner Bob Gardner have turned the cor- ner during the 2019 NHRA Pro Mod season, advancing to a final round in Topeka. He was hoping that would translate into a victory at the World Series of Pro Mod, but he literally races on Thunder Moun- tain stress-free. That’s the main goal and for the third straight year, that was mission accomplished. “It’s a lot of fun and that’s what we love about the race,” Satterfield said. “When it comes down to it, we are entertainers and, here, we’re the main attraction. The fans are there to see us and I love that. It’s really neat for us. It’s all about get- ting to enjoy racing and having a good time. I love racing in Pro Mod in the NHRA, but this is just different.” For Satterfield, different is good, especially when it comes to racing in Denver. He’s been a staunch supporter of the race since Buck first hatched the idea, and that’s a sentiment that won’t change. Satterfield hopes to continue to make strides with his Pro Mod operation, in part because he knows there’s one race where he can continue to find the ultimate enjoyment. “What we do is hard enough. You add the elevation to here, you have to change your stuff,” Satter- field said. “We’ve got to change our converter, it’s more work, yeah, but it’s worth it to have fun at a race like this. We come here because we love being here. The entire track facility is the best in the country and it re- news why you started this to begin with. It’s fun.” – JOSH HACHAT DI DI DI DI DI DI DI ■ Mike Labbate has a rich history in drag racing, as he grew up at Albuquerque Dragway, the track his late father, Bob, owned for nearly three decades, and he’s raced since he was 18 years old. The Albuquerque-area native has accumulated 10 cham- pionships in various classes over the course of his career, but he was able to check a handful of firsts off his list during his World Series of Pro Mod debut. Labbate rolled into Bandimere Speedway early in the week with a fresh twin-turbocharged Brad An- derson Hemi between the frame rails of his Jerry Bickel-built ’68 Firebird, armed and ready for his ued. “We were actually more confi- dent than we thought we would’ve been. I was thinking we might have a chance to win a couple rounds.” Labbate proved how bad he wanted a first-round win in his race against NHRA Pro Mod star Rick Hord, who looked fast throughout testing and Friday shakedowns. Labbate left first – .034 to Hord’s .097 – but ended up shaking the tires shortly after leaving the starting line. “We found out that the converter dump broke and drained all the fluid out of the converter and the motor actually hit the rev limiter,” Labbate explained. “That’s what caused the shake. It ended up hit- first quarter-mile pass in the car. He’d owned the car for less than a year, but even his previous Pro Mod-style cars hadn’t seen the quarter-mile mark before. He’d also never been over 200 mph, but that all changed in testing. “I’ll be honest, when we got there, I was going to be ecstatic to run a 6.50,” Labbate admitted. “The first run off the trailer was a 6.10 and we were like, ‘OK, we actually have a chance here.’” That confidence was tempered a bit as Labbate and tuner Wayne MacLeod dealt with the challenge of running a new-to-them car with some slightly outdated components. “We had some issues,” Labbate said. “We’re learning. We’re run- ning a few things that are still sort of ‘dinosaur age’ compared to this new technology. “But come first round, we were pretty confident,” Labbate contin- ting the fuel shut-off because the motor went to 9,900 (rpms). At that point I was just a sitting duck.” Hord went on to run a 6.10 at 243.94 to Labbate’s 6.788 at 161.11, but the construction com- pany owner was still happy with his performance. “That was so exciting to be able to run against those guys,” said Labbate, who thanked his spon- sors, MAC Hydraulic and Homes by Labbate. “It was really exciting, especially when I was out on him. I looked over and I’m like, ‘here we go, we have a chance!’ I sunk down in my seat when the car died. “I’d love to give it another shot,” Labbate added. “We raced again last weekend and we won a race [the Labor Day Bash at Albuquerque]. We just have to work the bugs out of it. We’ll get it figured out. It’s a good car, we just have to learn what to do with it.” – NATE VAN WAGNEN DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI 108 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Issue 149