TUNER JEFF PIERCE REFLECTS ON KYE KELLEY ’ S SNOWBIRDS PRO MOD WIN
BY NATE VAN WAGNEN
MULTI-TALENTED tuner and crew chief Jeff Pierce has led numerous drivers to headline-grabbing race wins and world championships over the years , but his efforts with Street Outlaws : No Prep Kings star Kye Kelley at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks propelled him to a new level in the public eye .
Pierce , who was heavily involved in the construction of Kelley ’ s screw-blown , steel-roof-andquarters ’ 85 Camaro , tuned Kelley to the $ 50,000 Pro Mod win at the Snowbirds to kick off the threerace Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J & A Service at Bradenton Motorsports Park . Kelley qualified No . 13 out of 64 cars that attempted to qualify for the quickest 32-car field in Pro Modified history . He then used quick reaction times and a string of low 3.60-second passes to earn the win .
Kelley ’ s performance sent shockwaves through the drag racing community , as he accomplished it in a car unlike almost all of the other entries . It ’ s most definitely a purpose-built race car , not a “ street car ” like some have called it , but the Wizard Race Cars-built third-gen Camaro does have a shorter wheelbase , along with a steel roof and quarter panels , which comes with a 35-pound weight break in the DI Winter Series .
“ It ’ s a 104-inch wheelbase ,” Pierce notes . “ Typical
Pro Mods are 112 to 115 . It ’ s the rules for NPK . You gotta have that , you gotta have a steel body . That is an ‘ 85 Camaro body that rolled off the production line . I salvaged the body for that car myself .”
When the DI Winter Series was first announced , Kelley started trying to put together a deal to drive for a Pro Mod car owner during the three-race series , which also includes the U . S . Street Nationals presented by M & M Transmission in late January and the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod in early March . When those deals didn ’ t come through , Pierce convinced Kelley to bring his NPK car .
“ He had a couple deals that all flaked out and I told him , ‘ Let ’ s just bring your car , man . It ’ s a good car ,’” Pierce says . “ I knew we could do well . I didn ’ t know if we could do quite that good . I said , ‘ Just bring it , man . Maybe we ’ ll turn some heads .’”
They indeed turned some heads . Kelley was the first car on the track for pre-race testing starting on Monday . Though the scoreboards were off in testing , everyone watching in-person and online could tell he was making quick passes . Kelley ’ s YouTube videos confirmed that he was running in the mid-to-low 3.60s . Qualifying provided further confirmation , with Kelley recording a 3.621 at 207.21 in the final session on Saturday night . It put him No . 2 at the time , but ended up No . 13 by the time all 64 cars made their attempts . That performance carried over into race day , which culminated with the winning 3.594 in the final round .
“ We learned more about that car this week , and Kye put everything into this ,” Pierce says . “ He came Sunday and he started testing on Monday . We made I can ’ t even remember how many test runs . Ten freaking test runs . He wanted to do the best he could at this race . Just freaking incredible .”
The always-humble Pierce continued to praise Kelley , as well as the young Kye Kelley Racing team , for the incredible success they had racing against some of the best Pro Mod drivers , tuners , and teams in the world .
“ I ’ ve told everybody he is in my top five list of people I would put in any car I could ever tune ,” Pierce says . “ He is one hell of a driver . He had two holeshot wins today . He handles a car better than 99.9 % of people . He ’ s incredible .
“ His guys did a great job ,” Pierce continues . “ They ’ re both young kids , ‘ Sunshine ’ and ‘ Puddin ’’, but they did an awesome job today . Everything was perfect . Literally probably the best day they ’ ve had at the racetrack as far as making sure everything ’ s 100 %. Just incredible .”
Kelley returned the compliments , noting the impact Pierce has had on his program over the last couple seasons .
“ It ’ s just phenomenal . I decided to go screw blower – we were big nitrous guys – and Jeff and Jon Salemi , they both told me what I needed to buy , ordered all my stuff for me , told me how to set it all up ,” Kelley says . “ Jeff came over , we went to a test session , he jetted it up like it needed to be jetted up , showed me the ropes , and he just took it from there . We won a championship in NPK the first year Jeff was there , and we ’ re still doing the same thing . Jeff ’ s here , and we ’ re winning .” DI
98 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 192