Drag Illustrated Issue 149, October 2019 | Page 24

Hard
Knocks
Tyler Hard scores win as
NEOPMA headlines Super
Chevy Show at Maple Grove
By Van Abernethy
T
he Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod
Association traveled to Maple Grove
Raceway near Reading, Pennsylvania,
in mid-July to headline the heads-up
doorslammer portion of entertainment that coin-
cided with the Menards Super Chevy Show, which
brought out a healthy roster of entries across
several classes of competition. After a full day of
qualifying on Saturday, the Northeast Outlaw
Pro Mods squared off on Sunday to thrill fans
with their final eliminations to see who would
be crowned champion of the event.
Picking up the action in the semifinals, Tyler
Hard, who drove a ProCharged 1968 Camaro,
pulled out the victory on one side of the ladder by
driving around the 2018 Corvette of Dave Norris.
Hard was behind early in the race as Norris was
first out of the gate with a .064 reaction time, to
a slightly slower .075 for Hard. Hard began to
close the gap and pull away down track, stopping
the quarter-mile timers with a 5.845-second pass
at 246 mph. Norris was game and very much in
the race with a 5.936 at 246 mph.
The other semifinal matchup featured Chuck
Ulsch behind the wheel of his roots-blown 1968
Camaro, taking on Gary Hood, who campaigns
a nitrous-assisted 1963 Corvette. Ulsch left first,
but promptly rattled the tires and wasn’t able to
get back in the groove, while Hood cruised to vic-
tory with a 7.12 at 195 mph. This would set up a
showdown between Hard and Hood in the finals.
Despite being outgunned in performance,
Hood took a massive lead early by virtue of a
well-timed holeshot out of the gate with a .037
reaction time to Hard’s extremely late .417 bulb.
The early lead didn’t last long for Hood, though,
as he rattled the tires just off the starting line
and wasn’t able to get back in the
race. Hard uncorked a 6.042 at
248 mph to hold off Hood’s 9.268
at 121mph.
Hard, who is a two-time points
champion of the NEOPM se-
ries, has been noticeably absent
from competition this season,
as he’s worked tirelessly on a
new ProCharger combination in
the shop. “We kind of got a late
start this year as we worked on
the chassis and the ProCharger
combination,” explained Hard.
“In fact, this weekend here at
Maple Grove was our first full
quarter-mile pass with the new
set-up.” The team is based locally
in nearby Reading, with Hard re-
siding in Harrisburg. “Between
Kevin McCurdy and Patrick
Barnhill, those guys have been a
huge help and we couldn’t do it
without them,” Hard added. Now
that the combination is perform-
ing as anticipated, Hard plans to
finish out the remainder of the
season with the NEOPM series,
as well as a few other showings.
As for Hood, the veteran
racer left Maple Grove with his
best finish within the ranks of
the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod
series after capturing his first-
ever final round appearance. His
decorated career dates back to the
mid-1970s, when he competed
in IHRA Modified Eliminator for many years
before the joining the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod
series four years ago. “It was a great weekend for
us, and I just want to thank the series founder,
John Mazzorana, because he puts a lot of work
into this series,” commented Hood.
The Maple Grove event was the fifth stop on a
nine-race roster of events for the NEOPM series
in this 27th year of its existence. The NEOPM
series has races scheduled at New Jersey’s Atco
Raceway, Capitol Raceway in Crofton, Maryland,
and Maryland International Raceway in Mechan-
icsville. The series will close out its season with a
return to Atco on October 25-26.
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24 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 149
Dirt