Jason Harris has been a part of the PDRA as a racer since it began in 2014, and was the first Pro Nitrous champion in the history of the series. Since that inaugural season, the Pro Nitrous class has evolved into one of the most competitive and brutal in all of doorslammer racing, where every round win is a hard-fought battle. Harris came into 2018 more prepared than ever and his hard work paid off with a victory at the Summer Drags along with the top spot in the PDRA Pro Nitrous points.

This season has been outstanding for Harris compared to previous years with a runner-up at GALOT against the formidable Jay Cox, and now the win in Michigan during the Summer Drags. For the first time ever, Harris is starting off the racing season with the same equipment he ended the previous year with. With no learning curve for a new engine package or new-car-blues to sort out, Harris has been able to hit the ground running and the results speak for themselves in 2018.

At the Summer Drags, Harris was hopeful he could bounce back from an early exit at the North-South Shootout with some extra testing — as it turns out that track time paid off. Getting a handle on the difficult weather conditions early put Harris and his Party Time team ahead of the game when qualifying began.

“When the racing started we looked at the qualifying sheet and saw there were only 16 cars so we decided to race smart and not beat on our equipment. When Scott Blake had his wreck, it pushed our final qualifying session into the night and the air got really good. That allowed us to make some changes in the lanes and put up a number good enough to go number one. That run gave us a lot of momentum going into Saturday so we were ready to go. Everything just fell into place and we were able to pick up the win,” Harris says.

Harris is coming into the Firecracker Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park with a win under his belt and points lead in-hand, but that won’t change how he approaches the race. The former PDRA Pro Nitrous champion and his team know that the season is a marathon, not a sprint, so sticking to their program will pay big dividends when the PDRA finals roll around this fall.

“In 2014 I didn’t look at the points, I just raced my race and I’m going to do that again this year. Going into this event, we plan on doing all of our maintenance, making sure there aren’t any stupid parts failures, and just taking the race round by round. Jamie Thompson, who maintains my car between races already has it torn down and ready to put back together for Virginia,” Harris explains.

Since the Pro Nitrous class has so many racers that run so close to one another every little detail matters. Harris understands that, and with the arrival of summer conditions it won’t be the team with the biggest bankroll that wins, but the one that can lay down consistent, race-winning passes each time they put their car in the beams.

“To win the race it’s going to be tough. This race is going to be a lot like Michigan with the air, and the Franklin family has done a great job with the facility so we know the track will be there. The air is going to be bad with how hot it will be, but it’s going to take consistency to win. It will be a race-the-track battle and you’re going to have to tune your way through and know how to read a track to go rounds on Saturday,” Harris says.

Virginia Motorsports Park is the place to be June 28-30 when the PDRA Firecracker Nationals comes to town. Every round of racing will be filled with excitement and you can see it all live RIGHT HERE on SpeedVideo.com. This broadcast is brought to you by presenting sponsor Royal Purple along with Howard Cams, Jerry Bickel Race Cars, Crane Cams, Moser Engineering, Flying A Motorsports, Atomizer Fuel Systems, and ATI Performance.