PHOTOGRAPH BY JOE MCHUGH BANDIMERE SPEEDWAY • MORRISON , COLORADO • FRIDAY , AUGUST 4 , 2017
THE ORIGINAL WSOPM CHAMPION
California ’ s Mike Bowman lays down a smoky burnout across the Bandimere Speedway starting line during one of the shakedown sessions at the inaugural Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod . The next day , Bowman drove his twin-turbocharged Chevelle to victory , defeating Steven Whiteley in the $ 100,000 winner-take-all final round . While Bowman has focused on Street Outlaws : No Prep Kings competition for the last few years , he thrashed to prepare his latest Pro Mod – a nearly identical replica of his WSOPM-winning car – for the 2023 running of the big-money Pro Mod event . That included swapping in a new Pro Line-prepared , ProCharger-boosted engine and making dozens of test passes in California and at Bradenton . Bowman ended up not making the 32-car field with his 3.702-second best , but he came back on Sunday and got a holeshot win over Scott Wildgust in the first round of the Chicago-style Second Chance Shootout .
Drag Illustrated
162 DragIllustrated . com