Pro Mod Portal – Mid-Season Update

by editor on Aug.04, 2025, under Pro Mod Portal

Another dose of Pro Mod class season results and news items – presented by Smokies Garage….

PDRA Michigan — Pro Boost driver Randy Weatherford raced to victory for the first time since the 2021 season at the Talbert Manufacturing PDRA Northern Nationals presented by Callies Performance at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI.

The WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive final round saw Ty Tutterow, the most recent winner on the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series tour, go red by .017 seconds, marking an early end to what would’ve been a side-by-side 3.57-second race. With his WS Construction ’21 Camaro sporting a new Harts Charger centrifugal supercharger, Weatherford recorded a 3.578 at 211.07 mph for the win. Tutterow posted a 3.576 at 209.40.

Randy Weatherford ends long drought with a Pro Boost victory at PDRA – US 131 event.

For the Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous category, it was rookie Amber Denton defeating her father, three-time world champion Tommy Franklin, in the final round to earn her first career win in the class.

In what was likely the most unique final round in the history of Pro Nitrous — both racers struggled to the finish line after each suffered engine issues earlier in the day. The teammates thrashed to prepare for the final round, with numerous other teams jumping in to help. With a wounded engine in Franklin’s car and a borrowed engine from fellow competitor Buddy Perkinson in Denton’s “OG Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro, the two drivers fired up their hot rods for a special family moment. Without the nitrous oxide activated, both drivers were sluggish out of the gate and well off their usual pace. Still, it was a side-by-side competition, with Denton winning by .006 seconds with a 5.44 at 147.49 to Franklin’s 5.468 at 149.01.

Rookie young lady driver Amber Denton takes dramatic Pro Nitrous win.

Game-Changing Pro Mod Payout! — Drag Illustrated has announced the Elite Motorsports Million, a landmark $1,000,000 bonus awarded to any Pro Modified driver who can win all three races of the 2025-2026 Drag Illustrated Winter Series at Bradenton Motorsports Park.

This unprecedented prize represents the largest single-performance-based payout in drag racing history, raising the stakes for the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals (Dec. 5–7, 2025), U.S. Street Nationals (Jan. 23–25, 2026), and the World Series of Pro Mod (Feb. 26–28, 2026).“This is about changing the trajectory of our sport,” said Wes Buck, founder of Drag Illustrated and architect of the Winter Series. “For too long, drag racers – legends and champions – have had to downplay their winnings when talking to peers in other forms of motorsports. That ends now. Drag racing deserves big numbers, and a million-dollar prize does more than get attention – it gets results. It motivates teams. It inspires dreams. And it tells the world we mean business.”

The announcement comes in partnership with Elite Motorsports, the powerhouse NHRA team and racing operation owned by Richard Freeman. Based in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, Elite Motorsports is widely recognized for its Pro Stock dynasty and recent expansion into Pro Mod, Mountain Motor PS and beyond.

Back Among Us! — Excitement is now building as the re-incarnation of the once proud IHRA became a reality during the month of July.

Now under new ownership and after a multitude of preceding developments, the IHRA finally relaunched a national event level product holding its first two races – now branded as the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series — in Ohio and Michigan.

While those event schedules did feature an impressive menu for both Pro and Sportsman class racing (included Top Fuel and Nitro FC) — they also included (1/8th mile) Pro Mod and Pro Nitrous eliminators.

At the Hebron Ohio facilty (formally National Trail Raceway – July 12/13) it was Texan, Frankie “Madman” Taylor, prevailing for Pro Mod in his supercharged Camaro. Taylor ran a final round 3.726 secs on a single to defeat Mike DiDomenico’s Corvette which failed to fire for the final round. Taylor, was the low qualifier at 3.699 secs (low ET of the race) while prevailing over 10 other entries.

Frankie Taylor scored at IHRA’s first Pro Mod class race held in a very long time.

The Pro Nitrous title went to North Carolina’s Tony Wilson who ran a 3.790 secs at 201.64 mph to top veteran driver Dale Brinsfield’s 4.106 secs in the finale for that category. 6 cars were entered for this inaugural IHRA P/N eliminator attempt.

Tony Wilson collected the P/N title at the IHRA’s Columbus-area event driving his GreenBrier Paving Camaro.

Two weeks after (July 25-26) the IHRA presented their second 2025 national event at the fabled Milan Dragway location (now rebranded Darana Dragway) – located South of Detroit.

A very impressive car count of 24 machines vied for the Pro Mod title with Kurt Steding’s P2-Contracting Camaro prevailing over that field.

Kurt Steding won convincingly in Pro Mod at IHRA’s new race held in Michigan.

Steding, who is from Pittsburg PA., and who had qualified 4th, recorded a winning time of 3.684 secs 204.64 mph in the final round to edge opponent Wes Distefano’s 3.711 secs. He had previously earned round wins over Tim Brown, Jason Lee, Frankie Taylor and Kallee Mills.

The event’s Pro Nitrous title went to Tim Molnar’s GEM-presented ’69 Camaro (below photo). Molnar recorded a winning 3.760 secs to top Ohio-event winner Tony Wilson who ran a 4.280 secs. Molnar also qualified #1 with a 3.731 secs effort (low ET) and recorded top speed for the race at 203.62 mph.

Empire State Powerfest — A Pro Modified class feature at Empire Dragway’s recent Powerfest event held mid-July was an exciting Can-Am affair.

In that conclusion at the Western NY based facility, Mike Stawicki (from NY) defeated Ontario’s Jay Santos in a match that did include some chaos. Stawicki left first and Santos was a bit tardy off the starting line. Then Stawicki had engine issues (a blown oil plug) which filled his car with smoke beginning at about half track. But he had built up enough momentum to still hang on for the event victory and the $10,000 first place cheque – by a 4.86 secs to 5.00 secs count.

Homestate racer Mike Stawicki won at Empire Dragway’s “Powerfest” race feature.

Both Stawicki and Santos did get round once singles due to mechanical issues for the scheduled opponents. Stawicki topped Bob Bauer while Santos eliminated pre-event favourite and Ontario-native Melanie Salemi, to advance to the finals.

A decent field of cars were present for the event – with 12 machines making qualifying attempts. Johnny Camp was the number one qualifier with a very stout 3.604-second, 206.04-mph pass – but he could not compete on race day after tagging the guard wall and damaging his potent Camaro on his 3rd qualifier.