Stevie‘ Fast’ Jackson battles back from Lights Out carnage to reach first WSOPM final round

By Kayla Zadel

Stevie“ Fast” Jackson, two-time NHRA Pro Mod world champion, had unfinished business at the World Series of Pro Mod. Known for his relentless drive behind the wheel of his screwblown“ Shadow 3.0”‘ 68 Chevrolet Camaro, Jackson had faced an unusual streak of misfortunes, from foul starts to mechanical failures, in previous WSOPM appearances.

This year, however, even fate couldn’ t slow

Jackson down, who was more than ready to capitalize on the semifinal finish he recorded at the 2024 edition – the furthest he’ d ever advanced in WSOPM competition.

His journey to the WSOPM finals began with a near miss. During the Radial Outlaws Racing Series Lights Out event prior to WSOPM, the“ Shadow 3.0” suffered extensive damage, tearing the engine apart and splitting the car’ s front end into five pieces while Jackson and his team were chasing the Radial vs. The World record.

Jackson and his team had essentially thrown in the towel when an encounter with a young fan, whose mom had waited all day to pick him up from school to see his favorite car, the Shadow, changed everything. Inspired by the boy and not wanting to let him down, Jackson and his crew pulled together every resource they had to repair the car, making it race-ready.

Then came the time to make the pilgrimage to Bradenton Motorsports Park for the WSOPM. After switching the Shadow from radial tires to big tires, every qualifying run was critical.

Jackson knew he had no margin for error, carrying just one spare engine and a car patched together with primer and tape. Yet he adopted an aggressive yet controlled approach.

“ Going up for Q1, you can’ t be conservative, and you have to go fast in the right run. If you have a night session and you don’ t haul tail, you’ re not going to make it in,” he says.“ I told my guys when we got there I was not going to miss one time. I’ m not going to abort one run. We can’ t make big swings, so we’ re going to be smart, and we were. We started qualifying with the intent to get high enough in the ladder to have lane choice, and that’ s tough against the competitive field that you have there.”

After qualifying in the top half of the ladder at the No. 10 spot, Jackson drew Stan Shelton as his first-round opponent. Clocking his lowest E. T. of the day, Jackson raced to a 3.614 to overtake Shelton’ s 3.655 pass.

Momentum continued to build through elim-

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