Dirt
JOEY OKSAS
in the first round . Another holeshot advantage put him ahead of Jim Widener in the second round , then semifinal opponent and defending series champion Aaron Wells went red .
The young California native left first again in the final round , cutting a weekend-best . 015 light next to Tommy Cunningham . Cunningham ’ s supercharged Mustang was just two-thousandths quicker at the finish line , though , as he went a 3.717 at 200.53 to defeat Oksas ’ 3.745 at 214.48 .
Still , Oksas considered the weekend a massive victory .
“ I was absolutely ecstatic . I was smiling ear to ear ,” Oksas says . “ I was nowhere near disappointed even though we didn ’ t win the race . It was a close final round . The margin of victory was . 0029 I think . It was a nail-biter . I left on him , an . 015 to his . 041 light . If I would ’ ve been . 012 I would ’ ve won .”
Two races remain on the Mid-West Drag Racing Series schedule after St . Louis , a double points
race in Martin , Michigan , Sept . 11-12 , and the World Finals at Tulsa , Oct . 9-10 . Joey plans to drive the car at both events before handing the controls back to Scott for the quarter-mile Street Car Super Nationals in Las Vegas in November . The younger Oksas hopes to make some quartermile passes too .
“ Depending on how things go at these next couple races , maybe I can swing him to let me run the thing out the back door ,” he laughs . “ I think it ’ d be fun to go 260 or 270 . I can tell you it ’ s exhilarating running it to the eighth . I can only
imagine what it does out the back door .”
Beyond 2020 , Oksas says the family-based team will probably follow the MWDRS schedule in 2021 , choosing the Keith Haney-led series over NHRA Pro Mod competition partially because the current rules are more favorable for their twin-turbo combination .
“ We really like the Mid-West Pro Mod deal ,” Oksays says . “ They ’ re centrally located . It makes it pretty accessible for us to get out of California and make it to a lot of their stuff . We think we fit in pretty good with the rules . More than likely we ’ ll run the Mid-West stuff next year , maybe try to compete for a championship if we can .”
Oksas offered praise for his father for the opportunity to drive the car , as well as for Rick and Rickie Jones at RJ Race Cars and Richard Freeman at Elite Performance . He also gave a big shoutout to Pierce , who joined the Oksas Motorsports team shortly before the World Series of Pro Mod last year .
“ I can ’ t tell you what an amazing tuner he is ,” Oksas says . “ I got in the car and we made total of 13 passes . The car went down the track 12 out of the 13 times . It shook the tires once on the third lick , then the first full eighth-mile pass was 3.90 at 203 and it was on after that .” DI
28 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 160