FROM FIST-BUMPING CREW MEMBERS ON THE STARTING LINE TO ADDRESSING THE CROWD THAT ASSEMBLED AT BRADENTON, BUCK TOOK EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW HIS APPRECIATION AND EXCITEMENT FOR WHAT WAS DEVELOPING. grudge races happening. Plus, it’ s following the end of the regular season, and people’ s stuff is still in pieces; they’ re freshening up or struggling to find parts.
What I like about Snowbirds is its rich history— it’ s the following that it has locally and regionally really kind of set the tone. I felt really confident going into the Snowbirds that we were about to have a banger. I knew our car count was strong. We had all the big names and big stars that we were after. I also felt the fans would turn out, and they did, and that was a great way to start off. The energy was just there— you could just sense it.
Then the Kye Kelley win really was enormous. When we had Kye Kelley, who really made a name for himself on Street Outlaws, take out Ken Quartuccio, a former Drag Illustrated Outlaw Racer of the Year, a really big name in Pro Mods and fast doorslammer drag racing, it was a magical storyline. Here, Kye comes in and basically puts on a clinic. He was an absolute savage during eliminations as far as reaction times go.
To me, that was just the ultimate jumping-off
point for us— we had really brought together all these different communities of racers. We had the stars of the NHRA there. We had bigname outlaw doorslammer guys there, the Stevie Jacksons, the Todd Tutterows, and the list goes on. We also introduced this crop of characters from No Prep Kings.
To have Kye and Ken in the final, two great ambassadors for our sport, two guys that have fan followings, it was a match made in heaven— really fantastic.
Then you roll into the US. Street Nationals, which, to be candid, I felt was where our biggest opportunity lay. I felt the U. S. Street Nationals was an event that had always been successful from a racer participation standpoint. But just being candid, it was an event that had some real room for improvement in terms of fan turnout.
I really felt we had the chance to prove our point and demonstrate that Pro Mod and these men and women are marquee attractions and that we can sell tickets with a Pro Mod-only show. I knew what our ticket sales were looking like early on The FOAT, and I could see we were outselling Snowbirds.
I knew we were going to fight Mother Nature, but my racers were champs about it. On top of all that, we had“ Murder Nova” [ Shawn Ellington ] show up. Plus, we got a few guys that hadn’ t been at the first race for various reasons, like Amber Denton, Tommy Franklin [ though he wasn’ t racing ], and Keith Haney.
Then it was incredible to see Ken Quartuccio win the second race after going to back-to-back finals, and then he gets the win. It was like we really have some guys that are separating themselves from the pack. It started to put some juice into our points program— the first time we’ d ever tracked points and crowned a champion. So, it was fun to see those storylines start to develop.
We took that energy and momentum pretty quickly right back to Bradenton for the World Series of Pro Mod. There’ s still something about that World Series Pro Mod— maybe it’ s the name, or maybe it’ s the tradition that it has become, but it really does stand tall in our industry. I’ m really proud of it. It’ s hard for me, to be honest, when I think back to working the water box at Eddyville Raceway Park 20 years ago— these are things I would have dreamed of. To have this many badasses in one place at one time— it’ s just unheard of. It’ s absolutely unheard of, and I’ m giddy about it.
How important is it to have partners like Bradenton Motorsports Park and FloRacing, which is under the FloSports umbrella? I won’ t say that I’ ve held events all over the world, but I’ ve been involved in drag racing events at various levels all around the world, all around the country, and having a home like Bradenton ticks so many boxes. First and foremost, I’ m a firm believer in equally yoked relationships, and
158 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 194