Drag Illustrated Issue 142, March 2019 | Page 24

BRANDON PESZ in Weatherford, Texas, just west of Ft. Worth. Pesz also moved to Weatherford from his longtime home at The Woodlands, near Houston, and re- veals it was Sitton who convinced him to strap on radials to his trusty ‘Vette. “It was originally built by Garrett for ADRL back in the day, then Jeffers updated it, so it’s real light- weight, got lots of titanium bars and bolts. I ran Mid-West Pro Mod with it last year and I got the record with it there, so it’s still a real good car, and now I’ve got radials on it. It’s really been a pretty versatile car,” he says. “Jeff, well, he’s a gambler and an odds man, so he said to me if we have two fast hot rods out there we’ll have a better chance of winning. So when he asked me what I thought of running radials, I thought, well, I don’t have a good reason not to, so let’s do it and here we are.” Pesz has prior experience on the small tires, too, having previously driven Keith Haney’s “Enigma” Camaro on radials for much of the 2017 Mid-West Pro Mod Series season to put it in championship-winning position for Haney to finish the job at the final MWPMS race of the year. Pesz and Sitton are confirmed entries for Radials vs. the World in promoter Donald “Duck” Long’s Lights Out 10 and Sweet 16 events at South Georgia Motorsports Park “That was a nitrous car and it was fun,” Pesz recalls, “but I think I’ll enjoy driving the blown car more.” His days behind the wheel of a Pro Mod are far from over, though, as Pesz confirms he has a brand-new ride on the way from Larry Jeffers Race Cars in House Springs, Missouri, destined for quarter-mile NHRA competition. “It’s a new chassis design similar to Justin Jones’ new Corvette that we debuted here at Bradenton, but with Jeffers’ new version of a ‘68 Camaro body,” Pesz says. “I do like the older style cars, but the way Jeffers built the car he lowered the back deck so it has less drag, so it’s very aerodynamic just like the new-model Corvette or Camaro. And me and Larry are good friends so I’m running the body to help promote his new design.” The new car is destined to enter five NHRA Pro Mod races this year with Pesz, who plans to run the entire 2020 schedule. Unfortunately, the new multi-speed transmission can’t be a part of the program, though he anticipates it soon will become commonplace elsewhere. “I think pretty much anyone who runs a blower is going to have to go to multiple speeds,” he says. “Most screw cars will have three-speeds and the roots cars will go to four-, maybe five-speeds. I think a four-speed is definitely better in the eighth mile, but from what I’ve seen, the five- speed, there’s really been no gain with it. “But in legal quarter-mile Pro Mods I for sure would run a five-speed if they let us. But NHRA limits us to three-speeds, so we’re kind of stuck there.” Regardless, Pesz is thrilled with the potential shown in Bradenton. Jeff Jones qualified No. 4 with a 3.701 followed by a 3.689 and 3.733 in elimi- nations. Justin Jones, who was the star of pre-race testing with a 3.596 at 211.26, also fared well in competition with his No. 12 3.828 at 205.38 and 3.718 and 3.721, both at over 207 mph, on race day. Sitton qualified No. 3 in Radial vs. the World with a 3.752 at 198.93 and improved to a 3.692 and 3.678 in eliminations. DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI 24 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Issue 142 Dirt