Bradenton Motorsports Park owner sets sights on Pro Mod By Kayla Zadel

Now , Alvarez ’ s dream is coming true as he ’ s announced his venture into the class with a newly built RJ Race Cars ’ 69 Camaro that ’ s complete with twin Precision turbos , a Pro Line Racing engine , and M & M Transmission components .

Alvarez got fitted in the car in early August before sending the car to paint and returning to RJ Race Cars for final assembly .

“ We ’ ll be pushing it , but we ’ re going try to run the Drag Illustrated Winter Series , so the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals , U . S . Street Nationals , and World Series of Pro Mod ,” he says , “ but we ’ ll definitely run U . S . Street and World Series of Pro Mod .”

However , after quickly remembering that WSOPM is an invite-only event , Alvarez says , “ I don ’ t want anything handed to me . I want to work for it . That ’ s part of the fun of what we do .

“ Being a track owner or being a shop owner , people always think that you have some sort of upper hand or advantage ,” he adds . “ In Pro Mod , there ’ s no upper hand , or there ’ s no advantages . You have to work for everything you get . You have to work for it , and that ’ s what I want to do . That ’ s part of the fun – if it was easy , it would have very little appeal to me .”

The New York native who now calls South Florida home also recognizes that he ’ s entering a class that ’ s stacked with heavy hitters like Jim

Halsey , Spencer Hyde , and Todd Tutterow , to name a few .

“ It is absolutely shark-infested waters , and to me , that ’ s the appeal , right ? The better your competitor is , the bigger the win is ,” explains Alvarez . “ To go up against those guys , that alone is an accomplishment and something to look forward to , and that ’ s extremely exciting . But to be able to compete with them and possibly beat some of those guys , which is the goal , that ’ s the holy grail of drag racing right now .

“ You win a World Series of Pro Mod , you ’ re a legend . You win a Snowbirds Outlaw Nationals , you ’ re a legend ,” he adds . “ It ’ s what I want to do .

I don ’ t want easy wins . I want to be in sharkinfested waters , and I want to travel , and I want to race with the best of the best and hopefully make a name for myself .”

After competing in the DI Winter Series , Alvarez doesn ’ t want to be committed to one series . Instead , he plans to check out the PDRA , NMCA , Mid-West Drag Racing Series , and the NHRA to explore various opportunities in the different sanctioning bodies .

Even though Alvarez grew up drag racing imports , like Toyota Supras , he has always had his sights set on the class .

“ I want to give thanks to RJ , Pro Line , M & M Transmission , FuelTech , Precision Turbo , and Braille Batteries ,” he says . “ All of them have come on and made this easier than I thought it would be and have just been very helpful and they ’ ve all supported the car quite a bit so far .

“ My dream and my goal is to run Pro Mod . To me , Pro Mod is the holy grail of drag racing .” DI

48 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 190