Drag Illustrated Issue 149, October 2019 | Page 103

WORLD SERIES OF PRO MOD 2019
chief did a good job and
the driver sucked.”
While that lingered,
there were plenty of pos-
itives Jackson took from
his weekend in Denver.
He left the event last
year raving about the
advancements his team
had made from running
at an altitude of nearly
6,000 feet, winning in
Indy and St. Louis on
the NHRA scene im-
mediately after leading
Bandimere Speedway.
Jackson left Denver with the same
feeling this year as well. His team
tested a number of components
during the series of runs he made,
and nearly all of it seemed to be a
rousing success.
“We’re down 700 (horsepower)
up here, but to run 5.93 up here and
maybe have gone a little quicker,
that’s a good sign,” Jackson said.
“We did a lot of stuff in the engine
program and the supercharger pro-
gram to compensate. From a com-
ponent-testing standpoint, this was
a tremendous, smashing success.”
STEVIE ‘FAST’ JACKSON
■
As Stevie “Fast” Jackson de-
parted Bandimere Speedway,
he left the Drag Illustrated World Se-
ries of Pro Mod with mixed emotions.
The first was obvious.
After a red light during his
first-round loss against eventu-
al $100,000 winner Scott Oksas,
the NHRA Pro Mod points leader
wondered what might have been.
Instead, he joked he may be jinxed
on Thunder Mountain.
He went a blistering 5.932-sec-
onds in his blown Bahrain 1 Racing
Camaro, ultimately throwing away
the quickest blower run in Ban-
dimere Speedway history. Under-
standably, that part of the weekend
left him with a sour feeling.
“The biggest thing I hate is with
the fans,” Jackson said. “All them
folks come out to watch us race,
come to watch us put on a show
and going out first round, that’s the
worst. For me, losing sucks but let-
ting down all these guys who work
for us to give us a competitive car, all
the people that come out to watch,
that’s the heartbreaking part.
“I rolled the dice. I was up on the
wheel. I saw amber and I just went
for it, and I went .020 red. The crew
Indy didn’t go as well, as Jackson
lost in the first round, but he still
holds a large lead in the NHRA Pro
Mod standings.
As for the weekend in Denver,
Jackson couldn’t praise it enough.
“Driving a couple thousand miles
to come here might not seem smart
to some people, but coming here to
run on a stage this big in front of
this many fans, with a potential
chance to win, I wouldn’t change
it for anything. I love racing here,”
Jackson said. “I love it when the fans
come out. These fans eat, sleep and
breathe motorsports like I do, so it’s
a cool deal.”
Jackson also said he knew imme-
diately he had gone red. But at the
very least – or perhaps out of sheer
anger – he felt he should put on one
last show for the fans. In the process,
the run of 5.932 at a corrected alti-
tude of 9,000 feet might have sent
a message to the rest of the class.
“I saw it,” Jackson said. “I look at
the tree every time and I saw it, and
I went ahead and ripped it down
through here. I was mad as hell, and I
had a bunch in it and I wanted to see
what it would run.” – JOSH HACHAT
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CARL STEVENS JR.
■
Despite a strong showing
in testing, the weekend at
Bandimere Speedway never really
had a chance to get going for Carl
Stevens Jr.
He kicked a rod during Friday’s
shakedown runs, causing him to
borrow an engine from Rick Hord
for the next day’s eliminations.
Unfortunately for Stevens, he
didn’t have any better luck there,
either, burning up a number of
push rods during his first-round
win against Dave Walters.
Stevens went 6.059-seconds
at 214.21 mph – well below what
the Jim Bell-owned turbocharged
Camaro was capable of – but the
worse news was the damage was too
much to make the call for the sec-
ond round. “We burned up like six
intake push rods and we didn’t have
enough push rods,” Stevens said. “It
was disappointing.”
After a strong day of testing
the day before the event, Stevens
couldn’t recreate the same mag-
ic he had a year ago on Thunder
Mountain when he claimed the
$100,000 prize.
Stevens went as quick as 5.856 a
year ago, making the quickest Pro
Mod run in Bandimere Speedway
history, and he looked to be heading
down that path early in the week.
On the fateful run on Friday, all
signs pointed to an incredible pass
as Stevens lamented what could
have been.
“If we wouldn’t have had that blow
up yesterday, we would have come
out here and kicked everybody’s ass
straight up, to be honest with you,”
Stevens said. “The run where it
chucked the rods, we were probably
on a (5.83) or so. That’s what made
it that much harder to swallow. This
thing was on a mission.”
That was the case a year ago,
when Stevens was incredibly quick
and consistent throughout the
whole weekend. He looked to be on
a similar path, but too much down-
time between his final test run on
Thursday may have been his demise.
Stevens admitted he may have tin-
kered a bit too much with the set-up,
but even without a $100,000 check
for a second straight year, the Pro
Mod tuner and driver extraordinaire
had nothing but praise for the event.
“The facility, the people, the en-
ergy of the event, it’s all second to
none,” Stevens said. “The whole en-
vironment is great. I’ve prided my-
self as a tuner on making A-B runs
and the conditions are phenomenal.
You have to give credit to the facility
for that. The track is so good and
takes everything you throw at it.”
Stevens and Bell both felt the
good vibes returning to Denver,
the site of a win neither will forget.
Those memories will live on, as
Bell also has only positives when he
thinks of racing on Thunder Moun-
tain at the World Series of Pro Mod.
“This is the highlight of our race
year. It’s the best race Carl and I
have ever been to,” Bell said. “You’re
treated the best, the Pro Mods are
the show, there’s lot of spectators,
the track treats you like gold and
the facility is top drawer. It doesn’t
get any better. It’s the best race of
the year.” – JOSH HACHAT
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October 2019
DragIllustrated.com
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