Veteran Racer Fires Warning Shot!

by editor on Jul.25, 2015, under Smokies Garage - Pro Mod Portal

Alberta’s Glen Kerunsky, a long time Pro Mod class veteran who has raced only sporadically over the past couple seasons made a pretty big impact statement last weekend…..

Driving his supercharged ’53 Corvette (based from Priddis AB) Kerunsky raced to victory during the IHRA’s Mopar Rocky Mountain Nationals as part of that event’s independent Pro Mod program that was hosted and presented by the new WDRL (Western Drag Racing League) and their primary sponsor Unique Concrete.

Glen Kerunsky added to his trophy case when he picked up a big win at IHRA Edmonton

After qualifying #2 for the field that drew in 15 entries — Kerunsky was for sure the most consistent and quickest car throughout eliminations. He put together consecutive laps of 6.112 secs, 6.151 secs and then 6.105 secs while advancing through the first three rounds to make the final.

Then in the all Alberta-based championship round he took the measure of Ross Hogenson’s nitrous injected Corvette (from Lethbridge) winning a 6.189 secs 233.89 mph to 6.275 secs 230.65 mph dash.

Pro Mod runner-up Ross Hogenson

With that win — Kerunsky not only came away with a couple of new trophies for his career collection, he also added in some renewed inspiration.

“It was a good win — that was a credit to the whole team because of the consistency,” Kerunsky said. “We stepped on the car when we needed too and we had the power to do that. I’ve come close to winning at Edmonton before — but this is our first win here – so it feels fabulous. I’ve got trophies from NHRA, IHRA, WCMPA – so it’s nice to add in this new one from the WDRL.”

“The win was inspiring for us because we’ve been debating about the future and getting more deeply involved (in Pro Mod racing) again,” Glen added. “This for sure fuels that notion – especially because of the way the car and the team performed.”

The IHRA/WDRL Pro Mod program at Edmonton did include numerous other Canadian racer highlights of note. That included but was not limited to Saskatoon’s Mike Gondziola who qualified #1 and set low ET at 6.028 secs driving his ever improving Camaro and newcomer Jeff Doyle (from Fort St. John) who continued to make some early waves with his awesome RH Race Cars turbo Firebird by running top speed of the race at 243.77 mph.

Saskatchewan’s Mike Gondziola qualified #1 and set low ET of the event

Another veteran racer on the comeback trail is Calgary's Ricky Distefano in a turbocharged '70 Camaro

Another veteran racer on the comeback trail is Calgary’s Ricky Distefano in a now turbocharged ’70 Camaro

The Edmonton race marked the 2nd ever event attempt for the WDRL which came to formation during the past off season with veteran Western Canadian drag racing proponent and promotor Rome Awde at the helm. That group which made it’s initial debut at Mission Raceway’s recent “Doorwarz” event, has three more races scheduled this summer — back at Mission (this weekend) July 25-26 and again Aug. 29-30 before returning back to Edmonton’s Castrol Raceway Sep. 5-6.