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By Nate Van Wagnen
Steve King and the Pilot Racing team added their names to the big-money Pro Modified history books on Monday , May 13 , when King defeated No . 1 qualifier Kurt Steding in the final round of Cecil County Dragway ’ s $ 50,000-to-win Pro Mod Invitational . The rain-plagued event was held in conjunction with the track ’ s NHRA Lucas Oil Series Division 1 race , so the team also walked away with a special edition NHRA Wally trophy commemorating the inaugural Pro Mod Invitational . Steding and King qualified No . 1 and 2 , respectively , with Steding ’ s 3.599 at 208.78 in his screw-blown P2 Contracting ’ 69 Camaro and King ’ s 3.607 at 207.85 in the screw-blown “ Savage 3.0 ” ’ 22 Corvette . Jeff Rudolf qualified third in his ProCharged “ Ghetto Sleigh ” ’ 69 Camaro with a 3.621 at 208.01 , followed by Johnny Camp and his 3.623 at 207.27 in his ProCharged “ Hells Bells ” ’ 69 Camaro . Maryland ’ s own Chuck Ulsch rounded out the top five with a 3.624 at 208.46 in his screw-blown ’ 68 Camaro . Due to persistent rain showers , qualifying was cut to just one session on
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Saturday before going into eliminations .
King opened eliminations with a side-by-side race with Matt Deitsch and his nitrous-fed ’ 69 Camaro . Deitsch was away first with a . 009 and ran a 3.65 , but King drove around him with a 3.611 at 207.50 to win by . 010 seconds . Another quick nitrous car awaited King in the second round .
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This time King was first off the line , an advantage he needed to beat Fredy Scriba ’ s stunning 3.603 at 208.39 with a 3.618 at 206.54 .
“ That makes me feel like I ’ m doing my job ,” King says . “ Every car in this field is fast and you can ’ t leave even a number on the table , so you gotta get out there and get up on the wheel and run these guys . With everything Gene and Jon [ Salemi ] and them are doing , I have to do my part . It makes you feel really good to be able to go out and do your side of what needs to be done . I ’ m just very lucky .”
The third-round match with recent first-time Pro Mod winner Mike Decker III was worth double round wins , as it came with a bye to the final in the next round . King left first with a . 005 reaction time to Decker ’ s . 012 . He crossed the finish line first with a 3.615 at 202.24 , down on power , while Decker slowed to a 5.709 . With a fresh engine , King made his quickest pass in competition , a 3.59 at 207.24 , on the semifinal bye run .
“ We hurt an engine there in the third round ,” King says . “ The rain came and gave us time to put a fresh bullet in , so that bye run was important to go out there with that fresh bullet and see where we were .”
King was around a hundredth behind Steding , who had a first-round bye run
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY JEFF KLINE AND TARA BOWKER |