More event results – updates — headlines — from major league class circuitry….
JBS Pro Mod/Road To Championship — NHRA’s JBS Equipment Pro Mod Series featured ferocious back-to-back weekend dates as the 11-race tour included events at Rockingham NC and then the St Louis area.
At Rockingham’s “Nationals At The Rock” — (race 9/11) it was Michael Stavrinos who jumped into the points lead when he defeating Canada’s Justin Bond on a holeshot in the final round. Stavrinos’ run of 5.664-seconds at 254.09 mph held up thanks to a .039 reaction time, which was enough to hold off Bond’s 5.656 at 257.29.
Mike Stavrinos – was the JBS Pro Mod class winner during NHRA’s inaugural “At the Rock Nationals” event.
That gave Stavrinos his second victory this season and fifth in his career, also moving the standout into the points lead standing for the first time this season — just ahead of Bond.
Stavrinos had defeated Kevin Rivenbark, reigning world champion J.R. Gray and Rickie Smith to reach the final round.
Bond (from Mission BC) reached the championship round for the fourth time this year by defeating Mike Castellana, Tony Wilson and Derek Menholt.
At St. Louis — (race 10/11) — it was 2X world champion Stevie “Fast” Jackson picking up his first win for the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Series since the 2022 season — winning at World Wide Technology Raceway, defeating Stan Shelton in the final round as part of that weekend’s NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals.
The race was also the fourth of five races in the “Road to the Championship” playoffs and featured some of the biggest performances in NHRA Pro Mod history.
Steve “Fast” Jackson won at NHRA’s penultimate season race – last weekend.
Sunday’s (Oct. 4th) eliminations belonged to Jackson, who got an automatic win when Shelton went red in the final round. Jackson, who qualified fourth, would have been tough to beat with a reaction time of .019 and an impressive run of 5.634 at 255.48.
It handed Jackson his 14th career victory and first in four years, finishing off a day that also included round wins against Kevin Rivenbark, Mike Thielen and reigning world champion J.R. Gray.
Shelton reached the final round for the first time this season after taking down Billy Banaka, Justin Bond and Jason Collins.
The quickest run in series history happened over each of the final three qualifying sessions, capped off by a historic run from No. 1 qualifier Chip King, who became the first NHRA Pro Mod driver to reach the 5.50s with a titanic blast of 5.596-seconds at 257.24 during the final qualifying session on Saturday.
Popular and veteran PM racer Chip King delivered the quickest run ever for NHRA’s Pro Mod class contingent – a 5.596 secs – racing at St. Louis.
The wild weekend also threw the points race into chaos, as Mike Stavrinos, who was the points leader heading into the weekend, fell in the first round. Bond is now the points leader with one race remaining, leading Stavrinos by 17 points (or less than one round). Derek Menholt is third at 54 points behind and Gray is 67 points back in fourth.
Canada’s Justin Bond ran very well at both Rockingham and St. Louis – and now sits at the top for NHRA Pro Mod points – heading into the final event of the season (at Las Vegas).
The JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by Elite Motorsports closes out its 2026 season on Oct. 29-Nov. 1 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as part of the MOPAR NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge.
East Coast Episode! Australia’s always impressive to watch Top Doorslammer and Pro Mod class categories were a big component for the NDRC’s recent Haltech East Coast Nationals (held Sep 27th) at fabled Sydney Dragway.
In Top Doorslammer the event running has thrown the title race wide open, with a second straight win vaulting Emilio Spinozzi into the points lead for the first time, two points ahead of 11X icon champion, John Zappia.
A nail-biting run into the A-Final saw Spinozzi claim his second NDRC Gold Christmas Tree in a row (after winning the Willowbank’s Winternationals last June) with a 5.690/407.83kph solo run, after Daniel Gregorini was given the signal to shut off at the line.
Emilio Spinozzi has assumed the #1 points slot for Australia’s unreal Top Doorslammer category- with one left for that season championship calendar.
Spinozzi had already reset the track speed record in Round 2, raising it to 421.77kph from 417.96kph as part of a 5.707-second pass over Peter Lovering (7.282) after an earlier Round 1 win over Nasser Matta (5.778/414.85kph v 5.786/405.10kph).
Daniel Gregorini made his way to the A-Final with two round victories – a round one (5.739/404.79kph) win over a red-lighting Peter Lovering and round two win over Brody Davies (5.712/398.71kph v 5.885/394.86kph).
John Zappia’s bid ended on a strong note after his Fuchs Summit Monaro had come dangerously close to the wall during both rounds one and two. In a staunch B-Final he beat Nasser Matta by a wide 5.874/362.15kph vs 6.714/225.37kph margin.
Lisa Gregorini was left to run the C-Final solo, as Jeremy Callaghan – who made a remarkable comeback at this event after a heavy crash in June at the Winternationals – was unable to make the call.
For Pro Mod (which features a 5.85 secs index) the A-Final saw defending 2025 champion Zoran Gajic take on Eddy Hawach, who was enjoying his first NDRC final appearance. Gajic’s turbocharged Mustang went clean and straight down the road for a 5.858/418.37kph pass to take the win, while Hawach’s car drifted to the right, coming whisper close to the wall.
With a big win recently at Sydney Dragway — Zoran Gajic – has moved to the cusp of another NDRC Pro Mod Championship title.
Neil Murphy and Lorenzo Gullotto put on one of the best shows of the Pro Mod finals with a side-by-side B-Final drag race, though it was a case of first or worst which decided the winner, as Gullotto hung a cherry on the tree and Murphy ran under the 5.85s index with a too quick 5.781/398.34kph pass.
Neil Murphy (from Queensland) was the Pro Mod class B-Final winner for the Haltech East Coast Nationals.
Zack Knezevic meanwhile ran solo in the C-Final when Kirsten Cannuli was unable to pluck reverse after the burnout. The D-Final went the way of Craig Hewitt, whose 6.058-second pass was enough top Jeff Cutajar.
Top Doorslammer icon John Zappia – remains in contention for a potential 12th Australian national championship!
Both the NDRC 2026 Top Doorslammer and Pro Mod championship battles will come to a conclusion at this season’s block buster Grand Finale Springnationals event (Oct 22-25) — scheduled for at Dragway at The Bend – Tailem Bend SA.
PDRA Championships Claimed! — Drag Racing’s premier 1/8th mile drag racing circuit – PDRA – completed it’s 7-event 2026 season campaign with a successfully running of the Red Line Oil-presented ProLine Racing Brian Olson Memorial World Finals hosted at Virginia Motorsports Park (Sep 17-20).
For the PDRA’s marquee “Pro Boost” class category it was Jason Harris — completing his “Drive for Five” with style taking home both the event win and the season points championship – for that highly competitive category.
Jason Harris has collected his remarkable 5th career PDRA championship title in 2026.
With his unprecedented fifth championship already secured, Harris used a massive holeshot (.027 to .163) and a 3.601-second elapsed time at 211.16 mph to defeat Joel Wensley, who ran a 3.619 at 209.26.
The World Finals event also saw fans monitoring the close points Pro Nitrous championship battle going on between Marcus Butner and Tommy Franklin. But while that battle raged to a conclusion it was veteran Billy Albert quietly putting together a dream weekend and capped off by his first career win in the class. Driving his Albert Racing Engines-equipped, Structural Mechanical ’20 Camaro, Albert used a 3.679 elapsed time at 207.08 mph to narrowly take down No. 1 qualifier Tim Paap’s 3.687 at 206.16 in the final round.
Billy Albert earned his first career PDRA Pro Nitrous event win at the season finale race.
That chase for final glory for PDRA Pro Nitrous did see Marcus Butler prevail in points.
Marcus Butner successfully defended his 2025 PDRA Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous presented by Jerry Bickel Race Cars world championship when he clinched the 2026 title during eliminations at Virginia Motorsports Park. After a late-season surge put him in the points lead going into the season finale, Butner held off three-time world champion Tommy Franklin to become just the third driver in Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series history to win back-to-back Pro Nitrous championships.
2026’s PDRA Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous Champion – Marcus Butner
Posted with files by NHRA Communications – Nate Van Wagnen – Amanda Salmon – Bruce Biegler
Photos by Bruce Biegler – David Ostaszewski – Dave DeAngelis – Tara Bowker
