‘ FAST FREDDY ’ FINDS A WAY TO WIN
The racers who didn ’ t make the 32-car Top Sportsman field had the opportunity to compete in the second-chance race . The final round came down to “ Fast Freddy ” Perkins in his ’ 57 Chevy Bel-Air and Wes Goddard in his one-of-a-kind ’ 58 Nash . Perkins was first off the line and ran a 4.228 on a 4.22 dial-in for the win over Goddard and his 4.24 on a 4.22 dial-in . Perkins made the trip South to compete in both Top Sportsman and Top Dragster , while Goddard returned to Bradenton with his race car in tow after helping fellow Canadian Spencer Hyde win the WSOPM in 2023 .
“ What an experience the World Series of Pro Mod was !” said Perkins . “ Our dragster was printing 3.85 tickets and we qualified at No . 10 but the trans brake ground wire decided to fail first round of eliminations . We ran 4.26 in Top Sportsman ,
but unfortunately we didn ’ t make the field as the bump was 4.20 . Luckily and thankfully , Glenn Butcher and Gary Schween sponsored a Chicago-style shootout where they took the two fastest cars for a winner-takes-all purse and we turned on the win light !” — NATE VAN WAGNEN DI
HOMETOWN HERO WINS SUPER PRO
Michael Carpenter , who lives just north of Bradenton in St . Petersburg , cut a . 007 reaction time and ran a dead-on 4.87 in his yellow dragster in the final round to defeat Travis Logan for the $ 5,000 Super Pro Shootout win . Logan was similarly impressive with his 6.192 on a 6.19 dial-in , but his . 022 reaction time put him behind from the start . Carpenter raced past Brad Gibbs , Scott Ewing , Jeneane Pickett , and Jon Siegel on his way to the final . DI
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LUKE NIEUWHOF
124 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 188