A very impressive line-up of Canadian Pro Mod racers were at Drag Illustrated’s Inaugural World Doorslammer Nationals last weekend…
Canadian Pro Mod fans will most certainly have a lot to look out for this season. And while the first major Pro Mod outing of 2020 (held Orlando Speed World in Florida) did not produce a Canadian winner — the magnitude and potential for class car drivers from Canada was clearly on display.

Pro Mod racing at Orlando included the debut of not one but two new supercharged Mustangs from Canada. Scott Wildgust (top) from Stratford Ontario debuted his spanking new G-Force Race Cars for the first time and Jay Santos (Halton Hills ON) ran his newest acquisition (the former Mike Knowles car) at the event. Both drivers were DNQ first time out this year — but progress was also made.

British Columbia’s Justin Bond — made some huge noise at the event as driver for the highly funded Bahrain 1 Racing Camaro. Using a Pro-Charger for the first time – Justin qualified #1 at 5.623 secs (quicker then the NHRA record!) and went on to a semi-final round finish at the lucrative independent event.

Canadian superstar tuner Al Billes entered his ’69 Camaro at the event with talented driver Tommy D’Aprile at the controls. The team just missed the super quick cutline as their 5.740 secs effort was #17

Eric Latino’s first competitive outing of 2020 didn’t go exactly as planned as his best run of 5.875 secs in the potential rich GESI Camaro was DNQ. The talented Port Perry Ontario based team however now moves on to NHRA Gainesville next weekend.

There were a lot of eyes on the Stratford ON-based Hyde Racing/Ideal Supply Camaro at Orlando. Driver Spencer Hyde drove the machine (formally raced by Jason Scuggs) to a very solid 5.946 secs as they got their feet wet with their new program.

And it was just so super cool to see the beginning of a comeback for one of Canada’s most proficient Pro Mod racers — Kenny Lang (from Winnipeg). Lang — who was a former IHRA World Champion in the class and a winner at NHRA’s national event level — clocked in a promising best time of 5.806 secs at Orlando — which we all can safely assume is just the beginning of much more to come.
Posted by Bruce Biegler