Having a high-level of repeatable success in Pro Mod racing is a difficult task for even the best teams due to the unpredictable nature these wild doorslammers provide. PDRA Pro Boost racer Marc “The Rodfather” Caruso found this out firsthand after a very successful 2016 season followed by a difficult 2017 campaign, but he is ready to change that. With a fresh car and outlook for 2018, Caruso and his team are ready to storm back to the top of the PDRA Pro Boost ranks.

Caruso’s first full season of Pro Boost racing came in 2016 after he purchased his 2014 Race Car Specialties-built Camaro from Mike Janis. In the previous two seasons Janis had driven the car to a runner-up spot in the NHRA points standings, so the Camaro had an outstanding pedigree. With Janis power under the hood, Caruso was able to do fairly well securing several number one qualifying spots and making two final round appearances in his PDRA rookie season.

Ready to storm into 2017 with the experience from 2016 in-hand, Caruso and his team were hungry to hit the track and pick up their first victory, but the racing gods had a different outcome in mind.

“We thought we would come out great in 2017, but we were really kind of a hot mess on the track. Nothing worked at all for us and we tried to make improvements and they made things worse. Coming into this year we knew we had to start out strong and forget 2017,” Caruso says.

The plan was to come into the 2018 season and go back to the basics that netted the team so much success in 2016 without making any wholesale changes. Early on in 2018, the team fought multiple gremlins including parts, wiring, engine, and even chassis issues.

“We solved all the problems we early this year and with the help of Mark Micke found the chassis problem was a broken anti-roll bar. Between the Orlando and Bradenton races we sent the car to Robert Haze and he got us squared away with our chassis issues. The engine program was always there, it came down to getting the chassis right to harness the power. Robert got us straightened out and that showed in our performance at GALOT during the season opener,” Caruso explains.

The performance gains at the East Coast Spring Nationals for Caruso were evident as soon as the team hit the track. During the third qualifier, Caruso set a new personal best with a 3.75 lap at 199 mph. Building on that data, in round one Caruso went even quicker with a 3.72 at over 200 mph, one of the quickest passes all weekend in the Pro Boost class.

With the gremlins of 2017 exercised at GALOT, Caruso is ready to move forward with the 2018 season.

“What has us excited going to the North-South Shootout is our new driveline parts from M&M Transmission. We added one of their TH400 with a lockup torque converter that should help us a lot. We ran that 3.72 at GALOT without the lockup even turned on so there is more on the table for sure,” Caruso says.

To get the most out of the new lock-up setup at the PDRA North-South Shootout, Caruso plans on completing all of his between-race maintenance early so the team can begin testing on Thursday at Maryland International Raceway. The goal is to get as many passes in as possible to see if the lock-up will net the big numbers most claim, and get some assistance from Micke if needed.

With so much positive momentum rolling into the second event of the 2018 season Caruso has high hopes for the team’s performance at the North-South Shootout. “We need to fine-tune what we have and we should be able to run at the front of the Pro Boost class. Short of some catastrophic failure I don’t see how we won’t be a top three or four qualifier and be there right at the end. We have all the right parts and we proved that at GALOT — it’s all about getting everything to work together now,” Caruso explains.

Marc Caruso is set to test his hot rod against the best in the PDRA Pro Boost class May 3-5 at Maryland International Raceway during the North-South Shootout. You can see all the racing live RIGHT HERE on SpeedVideo.com thanks to presenting sponsor Edelbrock along with, FAST, Jerry Bickel Race Cars, Driven Racing Oil, Moser Engineering, and Flying A Motorsports.