JEFFREY BARKER
The presence of two-time NHRA Top Sportsman world champion Jeffrey Barker added to the all-star format of the World Series of Pro Mod , as the Georgia native continued his Pro Mod rookie season in the turbocharged Bahrain 1 Racing ‘ 12 Pontiac GXP tuned by Stevie “ Fast ” Jackson . Barker and Jackson made strides through testing , improving to a 5.99-second blast at 245.81 in the first round , but opponent Michael
Biehle drew from his second-year experience and fired off a 5.92 to dispatch Barker .
“ I ’ m excited about it ,” Barker beamed , speaking of the race in general . “ It ’ s the biggest Pro Mod race there is , so how can you not be excited ? I ’ ve never been here , but the facility is great and the track is just killer . Everything is a little different with the altitude , but we were able to make real progress and put up a respectable number in the first round .”
- NATE VAN WAGNEN DI
CHAD GREEN
Chad Green went into the World Series of Pro Mod considered by many to be a legitimate underdog . The common narrative suggested that nitrous cars - one of which belongs to Green - would not be competitive against the supercharged and turbocharged cars at nearly 6,000 feet above sea level .
But with a Pat Musi-prepared 903 ci engine between the frame rails in his Bond-Coat ‘ 17 Corvette and Musi himself making the tuning calls , Green quickly dispelled the myth that nitrous cars don ’ t stand a chance on Thunder Mountain . The Midland , Texas-based driver went 5.99 right off the trailer in testing and continued to make 5-second passes , eventually recording a best of 5.95 .
When it came to eliminations , though , a nitrous malfunction prevented Green from capitalizing on a sizable holeshot advantage over Rick Hord in the first round . He drove into tire shake and recovered to a 6.377 at 223.95 , but Hord was already gone with a 5.92-second winning pass in the other lane .
“ We put in a fresh motor for the race and had problems with the manifold ,” Green revealed . “ We didn ’ t get any nitrous to our first stage . This affected our wheelspeed off the line , which in turn caused tire shake when the other nitrous stages came in .”
- NATE VAN WAGNEN DI
SCOTT OKSAS
PHOTOS : JOE MCHUGH |
A mechanical issue prevented Tommy Johanns from staging his supercharged Pit Mat ‘ 53 Corvette in the first round of the inaugural World Series of Pro Mod last year . A similar issue nearly caused the same fate this year when Johanns couldn ’ t roll forward after the burnout . Opponent Harry Hruska waited patiently for the Frankwood , Colorado-based driver , who eventually staged and nearly escaped first round when |
Hruska broke traction . Hruska ended up chasing him down for the victory , but simply making the first-round pass was an improvement over last year .
“ This year I got an invitation from Wes Buck to come back and I had a chance for redemption to see if we can make something good happen this year ,” Johanns said . “ We had another unfortunate bug bite us , but it was a great experience to be able to race here with these guys in front of our home crowd .” - NATE VAN WAGNENDI
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Just being at the World Series of Pro Mod was a feat for Scott Oksas , and the burly Los Angeles-area native made sure to enjoy every moment of his time at Bandimere Speedway . His weekend ended with a first-round loss against Jeremy Ray , but just participating was a huge step in the right direction for the former Pacific Street Car Association champ in True Street and Real Street .
He debuted a stunning new turbocharged ’ 67 Mustang from RJ
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Race Cars , receiving the car about a month before the WSOPM . It put his program on an elite course and Oksas was thrilled to have the car debut in Denver .
“ For me , it ’ s just awesome to see all these guys out here ,” Oksas said . “ The camaraderie and the competition are just great . Hopefully people realize this is a race they shouldn ’ t miss . To only have had the car a couple weeks we ran some great numbers . We ’ ve got the right equipment now to showcase what we can do .”
- JOSH HACHAT DI
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October 2018 DragIllustrated . com | Drag Illustrated | 99