JOHN CARINCI LEADS PRO 10.5 QUALIFYING
John Carinci proved the potential of his turbocharged’ 04 Corvette in the final Pro 10.5 qualifying session when he laid down a 3.903 at 205.69 to take the No. 1 spot from young gun Joel Wensley Jr. He steadily improved throughout the four qualifying sessions on Thursday and Friday, starting with a 5.072 followed by a 4.049 that put him in the middle of the pack going into the final session. Tuner Carl Stevens Jr., winner of the 2018 WSOPM in Denver, then sent Carinci on a chart-topping pass under the Friday night lights.
“ We’ ve been struggling all weekend,” Carinci said.“ We did some work on the car. It’ s got a lot of new chassis work on it, and it’ s got a fresh engine in it. We were struggling, but then we were able to figure out a few little glitches and got them all taken care of. Carl Stevens Jr.’ s tuning, Xtreme Racing Engines, Mark Micke’ s transmission, Neal Chance Racing Converters, Precision Turbos, Atomizer Injectors, Aeromotive fuel pumps – these guys are all on board helping us out.”
Carinci continued to thank the people in his corner who contributed to his success to this point in the event.
“ Shoutout to my boys back home in Canada, my son James and good buddy Vince, and a big shoutout to Ronnie Partap and his brother and Chassis Stop,” Carinci said.“ They have all helped out big time, and without them, this wouldn’ t happen. But I thank Wes Buck, Tom Kasper, and all the people associated with this race, and
all the racers. This is an absolute class act – I love this.”
It was a validating performance for Carinci, who has competed in Outlaw 10.5 for years. He was one of the 24 participants in the first Pro 10.5 Challenge last year.
“ It’ s fun, it’ s exciting,” Carinci said.“ I drove 30 hours to come down here [ from Canada ]. I’ ve been doing 10.5 for a long time, and when they opened up the 10.5 in the World Series of Pro Mod, I said,‘ We’ ve got to be part of that because that’ s what we love.’ The 10.5 tire is the wildest tire – the cars look cool and people love them.”
While 25 drivers made qualifying attempts, only the quickest 16 raced on Saturday. Small-tire veteran Rob Valden, driving for Charlie Cooper in his turbocharged’ 22 Mustang, qualified second with a 3.914 at 204.39 in the final session. Wensley Jr., whose 3.925 at 194.32 gave him the provisional No. 1 spot on Thursday, slipped to third in his ProCharged’ 14 Camaro. The late Lizzy Musi’ s fan-favorite, nitrous-fed“ Bonnie”’ 69 Camaro, now driven by Blake Denton out of the Tommy Franklin Motorsports camp, qualified fourth with Denton’ s 3.952 at 191.73. Second-generation Outlaw 10.5 driver Ty Kasper wheeled his family’ s turbocharged Victus Sports“ Sinatra”’ 05 Mustang to a 3.953 at 199.76 to round out the top five.— NATE VAN WAGNEN DI DI DI
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116 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 194