Pro Mod Portal – Independent’s Updates

by editor on Jul.18, 2020, under Smokies Garage - Pro Mod Portal

Presented by VP Racing Fuels — a snapshot summary of some recent Pro Modified class circuit adventures…

NMCA Atlanta — While the Coronavirus pandemic pushed pause on the 2020 NMCA and NMRA season, drivers in both series pushed play again at the 12th Annual Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals – held at Atlanta Dragway.

Sweden’s Adam Flamholc flew to a 3.73 in his Corvette to set the pace in VP Racing Lubricants Xtreme Pro Mod, where all but two drivers in the category also posted 3-second passes despite high heat and heavy humidity. The stellar Swedish driver was determined all weekend long, and put himself into the Aerospace Component’s “Peach State” Winners Circle when he won the final with a 3.85 against Craig Sullivan, who was no slouch before being forced to click off at 4.05 in his Daytona.

Sweden’s Adam Flamholc won the VP Racing Lubricants XTreme Pro Mod class during the NMCA’s season opening event – in his supercharged ’63 Corvette.

The NMCA’s next Pro Mod race comes within the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing — which for this COVID plagued racing season — has been relocated from Joliet Il to Madison IL (July 30-Aug. 2nd).

MWDRS Texas — Crew chief Bob Gardner unexpectedly jumped behind the wheel of Clint Satterfield’s 100-percent-NHRA-legal ’69 Camaro Pro Mod, fired up the ProCharger-equipped XRE Hemi, and motored from victory lane back to the pits at Xtreme Raceway Park in Ferris, TX. In the wee hours of July 12, the dynamic duo out of Springfield, MO, had just defeated nitrous stalwart Jim Sackuvich in the Pro Mod final for Satterfield’s career-first win in the recently rebranded Summit Racing Equipment Mid-West Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service (MWDRS).

Arizona’s Clint Satterfield increased his overall points lead in the MWDRS circuit when he won at their event in Texas.

Satterfield started from the number-two position in the 15-car Pro Mod field, just one-hundredth of a second behind a 3.74 at 201.79 by Sackuvich in the top spot. In eliminations he ran through Kurt Riffel, Bob Gulitti and Tommy Cunningham, while Sackuvich enjoyed the first-round bye, then beat Kevin Hargett and ran unopposed in the semis after Ronnie Hobbs crashed following a quarter-finals win over Scott Oksas.

Running in the right lane, Sackuvich gained a slight holeshot for the final, but both cars lost traction by half track, where Satterfield was able to recover quicker and post a winning 4.01 pass at 190.60 mph, while his opponent slowed to 5.11 at just over 90 mph.

“It feels great to finally win one, but the credit really has to go to my Bob (Gardner) for the tune and to Mark Menscer for the shocks and suspension,” Satterfield insisted. “This package that Mark has put underneath this car, when I pedaled it just instantly hooked and took off again. It felt incredible.”

The Mid-West Drag Racing Series (which features Pro Modified and Top Alcohol Funny Car eliminators) — will resume action Aug. 14-15, with a return to World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, near St. Louis. In September the Tulsa-based series will stage a double points event for all classes at 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI, followed by the MWDRS World Finals at Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park in October.

ADRL Invades Madison – There is a proverb in Drag Racing “That’s why we race on the track and not on paper” and that notion was very true during the ADRL’s recent Gateway Drags event.

Jason Hamstra came into Saturday’s ADRL Gateway Drags at World Wide Technology Raceway (July 11-12) as the American Drag Racing League’s Pro Extreme Top Qualifier, thanks to a blistering lap Friday night of 3.633 seconds. After a first-round win, he faced off against No. 9-seed Bill Doucet in E2 in front of a guideline-savvy crowd of socially-distancing race fans — and he got “treed”.

Hank Stubbs (driving Adam Flamholc’s Corvette) was the Pro Mod class winner at the ADRL’s Gateway Drags race in St. Louis

Doucet took Hamstra off the board with a massive holeshot, putting the PX favorite on the trailer early, leading the way for Hank Stubbs to tee off for the Minuteman trophy win, his first of the season.

Stubbs beat class champion Mike Recchia in a final for the ages, Stubbs’ 3.667-second lap at 206.29 mph just beating Recchia’s 3.676-second pass at 207.18 mph. It’s a victory that gave the fans at WWT Raceway a taste of what they can expect at ADRL Dragstock XII here Oct. 23-24.

The ADRL returns to World Wide Technology Raceway Oct. 23-24 for Dragstock XII and the next race on the schedule is Oct. 2-3 at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas. SpeedVideo will once again carry both events LIVE.