Veteran Pro Modified and Pro Extreme competitor Tommy D’Aprile and the entire Mel Bush Motorsports team are hoping that the new season kicks off in a much better way than last season came to a close. And they’ll do it with a brand new race car – a sleek C5 Corvette – compliments of Larry Jeffers at Jeffers Pro Cars in central Missouri. Jeffers also built the C5 ‘Vette of Frankie Taylor that drove to the first 3.5-second lap in history and ultimately claimed the 2010 ADRL Pro Extreme title.

D’Aprile and team had a rather tumultuous bookend to their 2010 season, to say the least. While en route to the ADRL World Finals in Dallas, the inside of the Mel Bush Motorsports hauler caught fire after a golf cart battery tipped over, burning the entire contents of the rig including the teams’ 1970-1/2 Camaro. At that point, D’Aprile was without a race car. That was, until the Barklage family graciously loaned their 1957 Chevrolet so that Tommy could compete at the season ending event. Now with the offseason spent recuperating from the fire drawing to a close and a new mount being readied for competition, the outlook is bright for the team as they kick off the new year.

“I feel like this is a new beginning and we have the right equipment, the right tuner with Quain Stott returning, and the right crew and driver. The sky is the limit for this team,” D’Aprile said.