Pro Mod Portal – Early Season Episodes!

by editor on Jan.29, 2026, under Pro Mod Portal

Drag racing’s world wide Pro Mod class scene kicks 2026 into gear….

Bradenton’s Premiership — Race #2 of 3 for the immensely popular Drag Illustrated Winter Series (presented by J&A Service) went down at Florida’s Bradenton Motorports Park – last weekend.

The U.S. Street Nationals (presented by M&M Transmission) event attracted a truly phenomnal field of race cars – highlighted by a marquee Pro Mod class featuring truly star-studded drivers.

After making world wide headlines during qualifying by producing the quickest field ever seen in history — the sport’s first all-3.50-second 32-car field — eliminations began for the $75,000 first prize winner on Sunday.

Less than a year after racing to a runner-up finish at Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod, it was Stevie “Fast” Jackson taking his screw-blown Motion Raceworks “Shadow 3.0” ’68 Camaro to that payday.

Jackson won it with a 3.566-second pass at 210.80 mph after opponent Derek Menholt went red by .006 seconds on a 3.57-second pass at 211.36.

By winning the second of three races in the Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service, Jackson moved up to second in the Winter Series points standings.

Highly reputed Pro Mod driver Steve Jackson prevailed at Bradenton’s record smashing event.

Jackson qualified 6th for this quickest field in 1/8th mile Pro Mod class history. In round one he drew 2024 No Prep Kinds champion Shawn “Murder Nova” Ellington, before then toping 2nd generation driver Brylon Holder in round #2.

In a difficult quarterfinal round, Jackson managed to get by 2023 WSOPM champion Canadian Spencer Hyde in a pedalfest and muscled his way down the track to a 3.771 while Hyde, suffered severe tire shake, causing his chutes to deploy early.

“Stevie Fast” then beat the quickest car of the entire weekend in the semifinals – the “Lard Machine” ’69 Camaro driven by 2020 NMCA Xtreme Pro Mod champion Eric Gustafson. Jackson once again got the reaction time advantage, .026 to .080, and used it to earn a holeshot win, with his 3.602 staying ahead of Gustafson’s quicker 3.591 secs.

It was Jimmy Taylor pacing the record quick 32 car field with a 3.555 secs low qualifier effort with his XRE-powered Camaro.

The 2025/2026 Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service will wrap up with a grand finale Feb. 26-28 at the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod at Bradenton Motorsports Park.

First Round Fizzle — While Drag Illustrated’s Winter Series race in Florida was truly remarkable, the first season race for the IHRA’s Australia Pro Mod class season – did not (thru no fault of it’s own) enjoy the same success.

For 2026 IHRA Australia has chosen to forgo it’s previously event format — from what was formally 1/4 mile 5.85 secs index racing — to all 1/8th mile races this year. The series will also now be known as the IHRA Pro Mod 660 Ironman Classic class.

Their first venture using that methologhy was included within the NDRC’s season opening round – the Pro Alcohol Nationals – held at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway – last weekend.

While qualifying was completed, Sunday’s race day schedule was not after a violent storm — including unprecedented winds — rolled through the Ipswich facility – cancelling the event after the first round.

The sheer force of the gusts quickly saw gazebos destroyed, banners ripped from fences, and fans ducking for cover. When the winds finally died down, the rains had set in and lightning cracked overhead, forcing organisers to call this competition in favour of the weather gods much to the disappointment of all involved.

The introduction of the IHRA Pro Mod 660 Ironman Classic class of racing at Willowbank Raceway’s Pro Alcohol Nationals did provide close and competitive racing from the eight prominent teams that did show — from both within Australia and also New Zealand.

Six cars within the field ran sub-4.00 secs and four cars exceeded 200 mph.

The top qualifier was John Ricca, from Victoria, a car which has run in the 3.5 secs zone previously. Ricca set the track record at 3.724 secs in his supercharged Camaro while the turbo-charged Corvette of Queensland’s Steven Smith took the speed record at 206.16 mph.

John Ricca — from Victoria state – was the quickest Pro Mod car at Willowbank’s IHRA season opening race.

Best times for the other teams were: Barry Plumpton 3.823, Steven Smith 3.869, Neil Murphy 3.872, Russ Pavey 3.906, Rod Harvey 3.923, John Cannuli 4.038 and Jack Danaher 4.097.