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.
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24 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
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