NHRA Pro Modified ace Mike Knowles captured his second AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals title in as many years on Sunday in St. Louis — at the home track of chassis builder Tim McAmis — when he defeated reigning series champion Rickie Smith in the final round.

Tim McAmis (left) with Mike Knowles. Photo credit: Real Pro Mod Association

Making the victory all the more special for Knowles was that it marked the very first race win for his incredible ‘Mob Edition’ 1967 Ford Mustang, which was built by McAmis and unveiled exclusively right here on Dragzine in 2013. Knowles collected the win at Gateway a year ago in his trusty Blown Money Racing 1968 Camaro, and soon after, began testing the Mustang for a planned debut in 2015. The team from Grand Junction, Colorado won the Best Engineered Car award at the season-opening Gatornationals, and has qualified at all but two of the nine races thus far in 2015, in what is widely considered the toughest professional NHRA eliminator.

With McAmis on hand to assist with the tuning, Knowles put the Mustang into the tough field in St. Louis with a 5.89 at 238 mph — good for the eighth spot. He survived a holeshot-aided pairing with Mike Castellana in the opening stanza, before taking down top qualifier Steven Whiteley in round two. A rout of Troy Coughlin, 5.88 to 5.91, punched his ticket into the final, where a steady 5.90 was enough to overcome an .044 to .077 edge by Rickie Smith at the starting line to seal the victory.

Photo credit: Real Pro Mod Association

“[St. Louis] been pretty good to us, we like it. It’s fun and it’s great for the team,” said Knowles. “Friday we had some engine damage and instead of rushing back up and trying to make the run, we just stopped and regrouped and the team made some good decisions and we came back and made a good run, qualifying to get in the show, and here we are.”

With the win, Knowles move up to 11th in the standings, just 13 points back of Pete Farber at No. 10, with one race remaining.

Lead photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster