World Series of Pro Mod - $100k Winner Take All (1 Viewer)

[justafan]

Chris, thanks for posting.

A lot of Pro Mods seems to come out of the states below the Mason-Dixon Line. Assuming the trek to Colorado would be quite a haul for most teams. A few names still out there, to my knowledge, that have been not invited or heard from as attending:

Mike Castellana, leading the NHRA Pro Mod in points (he and Frank Manzo need to be there!)
Sidney Frigo (long haul from Brazil)
The Galot Motorsports team (Todd and/or Ty Tutterow, Kevin Rivenbark, John Strickland)
Todd Moyer who ran a 3.677 at 217.53 in the 1/8 at the PDRA race in Indy (converted to 5.83/269.74 for the 1/4 mile)
Would like to see the turbo cars of Snavely and Bowman show up.

 

[mgty3whlr]

I will bet you that there won't be a bathroom break while Stevie Jackson and Mike Janis are at the line.

 

[Chili]

The Fan vote has been cancelled. The finalists on Friday night will both get into the Saturday main event. According to Wes Buck he didn't want it to be a publicity contest from where someone might win but not be commited to come to the race if they don't win the fan vote.

The names that have been mentionedfor the Friday race are Melanie Salemi, Shane Molinari, Vern Mills, Rob Costa, Derek Mineholt, Tommy Johans, Yvonne Lucas, Mark Lovell, Daniel McKune and Lyle Byrum. I'm sure there will be several more in attendance but those are the names that Wes has mentioned on his live show.

 

[Bob]

Lovell might be a long shot to get in, but it is his home track... Chris, was that you that won another drawing at the Mile-Highs last weekend?

 

[Chili]

Yes that was me. Lol. Bought 5 scratchers when we got there and forgot about them. Finally scratched them and four of hem were losers. My wife ran to turn them in right as they were pulling the box. It didn't look like they even mixed them up and pulled right from the top. The other winner dropped them in around the same time. Won the race, 100 tickets and won $59.

 

[justafan]

The Fan vote has been cancelled. The finalists on Friday night will both get into the Saturday main event. According to Wes Buck he didn't want it to be a publicity contest from where someone might win but not be committed to come to the race if they don't win the fan vote.

I totally get this. On the subject of Pro Mods, there are 27 cars entered in Xtreme Pro Mod at the NMCA race at Joliet this weekend. Notable names include Harry Hruska, Dan Stevenson and Billy Harper. Adam Flamholc on the pole at 3.807. Not sure if any of these cars are heading to Denver.

 

[Chili]

Michael Bowman is in route to Denver right now. Not sure if Salemi is still going to be there. Her names has not been mentioned at all recently.

 

[megadeth]

The problem I have for a race like this at such a high altitude the numbers aren't gonna be great E.T. wise.
Denver is nice but it's not the nicest track.

 

[Chili]

Looks like we had a couple guys withdraw. Larry Morgan is out. Must be working on the Pro Stocker. Also Troy Coughlin is not in attendance. Not sure why. No clue yet if anyone has been inserted into the field or they are taking the final four from the Friday race. It's sucks that Coughlin is missing, I figured he was one of the heavy favorites.

 

[Chili]

Here is the updated pairings from what I have heard.
Matusek vs. Friday RU (was originally Morgan)
Jackson vs. Janis
Knowles vs. S. Whitley
Latino vs. Rowe
Biehle vs. Satterfield
Friday winner vs. Michael Bowman (originally fan vote entry)
Molinari (was Coughlin) vs. Hruska
Farber vs. J. Whitely

 

[Frank]

Damn, that sucks that Coughlin decided to pull out. With $100k on the line, I'm really, really surprised that the number 1 and number 2 cars in the current points standings decided not to attend.

When Morgan announced the Pro Stock news, I figured he was probably 50/50 to show up.

Thanks for the update Chris.

 

[Chili]

Steve Petty is tuning for Derek Menholdt this weekend so he could be a dark horse. If I was a betting man my money would probably been on Coughlin. With him out the lower side of the ladder is wide open.

 

[Frank]

Did Salemi make the tow?

 

[Chili]

I haven't heard. Jim Salemi was tuning for Tommy Johanns in testing. He has worked with him in the past.

 

[justafan]

Chris, thanks for the updates. When I talked to Melanie Salemi at the PDRA race, she seemed pretty stoked about going out to Denver. Would be surprised, and disappointed, if she didn't make it out.

 

[Chili]

What had me wondering was We Buck wasn't mentioning her name lately for the race. I was hearing other wild card entries but her name hadn't come up and as far as I know they didn't make any test runs on Tuesday or Wednesday. However they may be fairly confident in their tuneup and saving parts for the Friday shakedown runs and the wild card shootout. The only two non invited cars to make testing runs that were on Facebook were Menholdt and Johanns. Check out the drag illustrated Facebook page. They showed quite a few runs from the last couple of days.

 

[justafan]

I've been checking out their facebook page. Michael Biehle's run this morning looked on point.

 

[Chili]

No Salemi. Three cars left in the first shakedown and the turbo cars seem to be hauling. Satterfield and Bowman had excellent runs. Most blown cars clicked them early but Jackson had a quick run.

 

[Chili]

Great final tonight. Derek Meinholt defeated Daniel McKune in a tight race. McKune was leading most of the way before the turbo car ran him down in the lights. Knowles is out for Saturday after crashing in the shutdown area. He pulled the chutes after a strong run and the wind caught the chutes just right lifting the rear end off the ground. It could have been much worse but thankfully Mike was uninsured but the car suffered some front end damage. Johanns the third place car tonight will be the alternate for Saturday's race.

 

[Frank]

It was a great event! I hope they do it again next year. I would prefer to see the clocks turned on once eliminations begin but other than that it was great. Pro Mod is such a cool class and having 20 of them on the property was fantastic. A big thank you to Drag Illustrated, Bandimere, and all the racers/sponsors who made it possible.