Dirt
Pro Mods and
Funny Cars? Why Not?
Mid-West Pro Mod Series
adds Top Alcohol Funny Car
with J&A Service backing
By Ian Tocher
In a stunning development, the Summit
Racing Equipment Mid-West Pro Mod
Series (MWPMS) will add Top Alcohol
Funny Car (TA/FC) as an official class
beginning July 10-11, with its event at Xtreme
Raceway Park in Ferris, Texas.
Significantly, each MWPMS event will pay
$10,000 to the TA/FC winner and a $1,000
bonus to the top qualifier, with paybacks reaching
all qualifiers for eight- or 16-car fields, dependent
on car count. Following a four-race
schedule in 2020, an MWPMS Top Alcohol
Funny Car champion will be crowned with appropriate
compensation, but starting in 2021,
the full-season Mid-West Series TA/FC champ
will receive a $20,000 end-of-year bonus, with
an additional $10,000 going to the championship
runner-up.
“This is all happening thanks to Jim and Annie
Whiteley at J&A Service,”
MWPMS founder and owner
Keith Haney said. “Annie, who
is one of the very best NHRA
Alcohol Funny Car drivers in
the country, came and raced
alongside us last month at
the Texas Motorplex and
that’s where we got to talking
about the possibility of adding
their class to our Mid-West
Series mix.”
Jim Whiteley, who also
drives in a two-car team with
son Steven in the NHRA Pro
Mod series, said he was impressed
by the professionalism
of the Mid-West Pro Mod Series in Texas
and by Haney’s desire to constantly improve the
organization.
“Well, we sure had a good time there. It’s a
friendly atmosphere, from the other racers to
the event staff and officials, to the announcers
to the live feed. I mean, to be honest it’s quite a
little gig,” Whiteley said.
“And I sure don’t want to take anything away
from Lucas Oil and NHRA and what they do, but
I think that with a little help and a little support
and a little guaranteed purses to get these cars
over to try it and get their feet wet, there’s a lot
of Alcohol Funny Car racers that would enjoy
running this series,” he added.
“I’m thrilled to know Annie Whiteley will be racing
in Top Alcohol Funny Car with us and hopefully
Jim and Steven are going to come over and play in
Pro Mod with us, too,” Haney said. “This man will
be promoting the sport and a class that he loves
and gets to race and do everything alongside his
wife and their son. I mean, what could be better?”
Like all current classes within the MWPMS –
Pro Modified, Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, Pro
Jr. Dragster and Sportsman Jr. Dragster – the new
Top Alcohol Funny Car class will compete on the
eighth mile, though both Haney and Whiteley
suggested that select quarter-mile races for TA/
FC may be an option for the future.
In addition to his team, Whiteley said he hopes
to see Top Alcohol Funny Car entries from top
contenders at the Ferris, Texas, event such as Sean
Bellemeur, Shane Westerfield, Doug Gordon and
Terry Ruckman, among others.
“This is exciting. To have
such a great company as J&A
Service come on board and
for a man like Jim Whiteley
to believe in not just the Mid-
West Pro Mod Series, but to
believe in me and my staff
and our vision for the future
is quite honestly, overwhelming,”
Haney declared.
“This is like a dream come
true for this series to be growing
the way it is. But we may
actually have to rename it now,
maybe the Mid-West Drag
Racing Series? I don’t know
yet, but yes, this is exciting.” DI
PHOTOGRAPHS BY SADIE GLENN AND JOE MCHUGH
28 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated.com Issue 158