CECIL COUNTY PRO MOD

as the No . 1 qualifier . He then ran a 3.596 at 208.36 to take out “ Nova Joe ” Albrecht in the second round , a 3.601 at 208.55 to defeat twotime NEOPMA champion Mike Decker Jr . in the third round , and a 3.579 at 208.59 in the semis to knock out 2024 World Series of Pro Mod champion Derek Ward and his 3.589 at 209.92 . One round earlier , Ward set a new track record with his 3.576 at 210.34 .

In the final round , the starting line celebrations started early for the Pilot Racing team , as Steding went red by . 013 seconds before running a 3.602 at 207.53 . King charged to a 3.596 at 205.60 to secure the $ 50,000 win and the Wally .

“ Jon went up there I think trying to repeat the . 59 , trying to improve a little bit , but the sun came out for once the whole weekend ,” King says . “ You gotta make adjustments for that . The car was absolutely smooth that whole run . We knew it ’ d take a . 59 or . 58 and I had to be on the tree to be close because Kurt had been good all weekend . We keep up with what everyone ’ s doing . He ’ d been right up on the tree all weekend . He cut it a little too close with the red light and I think he shook a little bit and went . 60 .”

King was proud to park the “ Savage ” in the winner ’ s circle for team owner Gene Pilot . The team regularly won races and set records in quartermile NEOPMA competition , but they ’ ve been fighting to find that same performance since the

series – and outlaw Pro Mod racing in general – switched to eighth-mile competition .

“ We ’ ve struggled for a few years . No big secret there ,” King says . “ Gene never gave up . This win was more for Gene than anything . He puts so much effort and time into this deal and allows us to do what we do . It was really great to see him at the end of the racetrack after a win like that . It was very emotional for him . Everyone was happy , obviously , but I think he was very emotional happy .”

Along with Pilot , King credited the whole team , including tuner Jon Salemi and crew chief Jeff Miller . The ’ 22 Corvette is maintained by the Salemi family at G-Force Race Cars , while horsepower comes from Mike Stawicki and MSR Performance . Additional components used include Quick Drive , Liberty ’ s Gears , Neal Chance Convertors , FuelTech , and Feather-Lite Batteries .

“ Since Wednesday , in between rain drops and everything else all week long , we ran . 59 to a . 62 11 or 12 runs in a row ,” King says . “ You gotta give credit to Jon Salemi . He ’ s the keyboard guy . Jeff Miller is out there making sure this car is flawless , and the G-Force guys up there prepping this car in between races . I ’ m just lucky enough to drop the hammer . Gene Pilot is so adamant about making this car absolutely perfect . I don ’ t know what else to say . I ’ m just lucky to be able to go out there and do it and show the hard work these guys have put in over the last year .” DI

MATT GIANGRANDE - MOUNTAIN MOTOR PRO STOCK INVITATIONAL CHAMPION ramclutches . com | 803.788.6034

40 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 189