Mason Wright secures first NHRA Pro Mod win at Epping By Rob King

Wright made the most of his first career final round , going 5.740 seconds at 249.72 MPH in his ProFlow Pumping Solutions Camaro to defeat Lazic on a holeshot . Lazic , who won in his first career NHRA Pro Mod start last year in St . Louis , went a quicker 5.733 at 254.47 , but Wright was a strong . 047 on the starting line , which was enough to hold off Lazic .

Wright , who knocked off Mike Thielen , Kevin Rivenbark , and former world champ Kris Thorne to reach his first career final round , picked up his first career win in just his 12th overall NHRA Pro Mod start .

“ Coming into the final qualifying session , we were way down at No . 17 and we were able to

move ourselves up to No . 5 . That ’ s a direct result of the program the team has been working on . They ’ ve been working hard and it paid off ,” Wright said . “ It ’ s tough in the Pro Mod class , it really is . It ’ s definitely a team effort and they ’ ve all pulled together to give us a great race car .”

Lazic advanced to his second career final round thanks to round wins against Lyle Barnett , former world champ and points leader Jose Gonzalez and Sidnei Frigo .

Wright ’ s Pro Mod program is a collaboration with Modern Racing and Elite Motorsports . Elite driver Troy Coughlin Jr . also won the New England Nationals in Pro Stock , making for a unique double-up for the Oklahoma-based megateam .

“ Getting to double up for Elite with Troy , that ’ s pretty exciting ,” Wright said . “ I ’ m not going to lie , my first win , I ’ m still in shock . These fans have been awesome . I love it .”

Modern Racing founder Justin Elkes serves as Wright ’ s crew chief . Elkes , who previously specialized in Pro Stock before branching out into Pro Mod and other fast doorslammer classes , felt good about race day after Wright used a 5.738-second pass in the final session to bump into the field and qualify No . 5 .

“ I just had a really good feeling on race day ,” Elkes said . “ Mason was driving awesome , the crew was doing a great job with the car , and the car was in a window where I was like , ‘ Man , this is our race to lose ,’ like it ’ s going to be my job to race smart . I ’ m going to have to play chess , and that ’ s what we did . We just took one round at a time and raced each opponent to how I thought we had to run with that opponent , and the cards fell in our favor .”

Elkes has been a key player in getting numerous drivers their first victories , most recently Lyle Barnett when he drove the Modern Racing / Elite Motorsports Pro Mod Camaro . Elkes saw an opportunity to do the same when Wright signed on to race with the team after earning his Pro Mod license in his Top Sportsman car in 2022 . After working together and getting to know each other for a season and a half , the win was a memorable one for both Wright and Elkes .

“ For me , I ’ m not going to sit here and say I ’ ve won a million races and this and that and the other , but I feel very fortunate that I ’ ve been involved with a lot of winning teams , won championships , won a lot of races , but this will go down as one of the most meaningful wins ,” Elkes said . “ To be able to see the emotion , to give his whole family the win – his dad and brother were there wrenching on the car – it ’ s awesome when you see that kind of emotion and just a great dude , and they ’ re a great family .” DI

PHOTOGRAPHS BY NHRA

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