Dirt
Texas Pro Mod veteran
cleans house at $50,000-towin no-prep shootout
By Brandon W. Mudd
R
ain outs suck. It’s a fact of racing. “Hurry Up & Wait” mode at a drag
strip leads to overthinking set ups,
wasting your weekend and, in some
cases, way too many trips to the concession stand.
But sometimes, a rain out can lead to a fifty
thousand dollar payday.
Steve Wiley was planning to take his ’63 Corvette Pro Mod to his regular track at Texas Race-
way in Kennedale, Texas for the Texas Outlaw
Pro Modified Association event there in March.
However, the ‘R’ word hit and the event was shut
down. Wanting a place to put his Hemi-powered
machine through its paces, he headed to San
Antonio Raceway for the Bounty Hunters NoPrep Nationals.
“(San Antonio) is kinda my home track because
I’m originally from Austin,” Steve said. “I don’t
live there now, but I was one of the first to make
a trip down that track when it was built and we
kinda called it home. We keep track of what’s
going on down there and there’s been some talk
about that race and that it was going to be big
and a lot of people there and so forth. We had just
finished rebuilding the car and needed a place to
go, so that’s where we went.”
No-prep racing has drawn massive crowds,
especially in the South, with the theory being
it provides a street-racing feel with the safety
of a professional drag strip. While the no-prep
description is a bit of a misnomer as drivers aren’t
racing on a virgin surface, no spraying or track
prep is done the weekend of the event. Wiley said
it definitely gets a little hairy, especially when the
rubber starts running out towards the finish line.
Drivers are allowed to apply glue to their burnout, such as VHT, but cannot go past the starting
line. “We could not cross the starting line which,
in Pro Mod racing, we normally do,” Wiley said.
Pro mod to pro street
shifting gears is just more fun!
Pro Mod, Gasser, Class racer, or
fast street, RAM has a clutch
system to meet your needs!
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42 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 109
PHOTO: CHRIS GRAVES
Change of Plans