Colorado’s Jim Whiteley served notice for the rest of the 2018 NHRA Pro Mod season….

Whiteley drove to victory during the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service portion of the NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway. That weekend’s Pro Mod racing, presented by Tige Boats, is the second of 12 events this season.

Whiteley ran a 5.834-second pass at 239.14 mph in his J&A Services 1969 Yenko Camaro to take down Rick Hord in the final round and earn his first victory since Houston 2016 and second of his career. He defeated Mike Castellana, Khalid AlBalooshi and Steve Jackson on his way to the win.

“This is very special,” Whiteley stated. “We’ve tested and worked our butt off here the last two months. We’ve definitely got a hot rod here. Beating Stevie was just icing on the cake today.”

Jim Whiteley drove well and ran hard to win his 2nd career NHRA Pro Mod class event.

Whiteley finished the 2017 season 15th in the points standings and leaves the event in the No. 2 spot in pursuit of his first championship.

The event’s performance star was Jose Gonzalez, who is a very skilled 1/8th mile circuit racer who has since crossed over to 1/4 mile NHRA events this season. Driving his turbocharged Q80-sponsored Chevy Camaro Gonzalez paced the field with a spectacular low ET run at 5.696 secs.

Florida’s Rick Hord, a former NHRA Competiton eliminator class racer set top speed also in a turbocharged car. His 2017 Corvette C7 was credited with a 258.02 mph terminal speed while advance to his first ever career PM class final round.

Former NHRA Competition eliminator class racer Rick Hord was consistently fast while going to the final round in his turbo C7 – including top speed of the meet.

The E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service event program drew 28 entries to the Houston event and the bump spot (#16) was a swift 5.831 secs.

 

Posted by NHRA Communications and Bruce Biegler
Photos by Bruce Biegler