Pro Mod Warrior: Jay Cox Ready To Take The PDRA Pro Nitrous Title

The PDRA Pro Nitrous class could be considered one of the toughest in all of Pro Mod drag racing thanks to its cut-throat level of competition. Just getting into the field can be considered a victory for many racers and there are no easy round wins. You won’t find a tougher Pro Nitrous racer than Jay Cox and he’s ready for another season of PDRA racing to begin at the East Coast Nationals.

For the past two seasons, Cox has battled it out with Tommy Franklin for the PDRA Pro Nitrous championship. Each year the title was decided on the final pass of the last race, so Cox understands what it takes to get to the highest levels of racing. What makes Cox’s winning even more amazing is the fact he does it on a very tight budget.

“I’ve always been used to not having enough money and being an underdog. Last year knowing the sponsor I had was only a one year deal, every time I was at the track I treated it like an opportunity to learn how to go faster. My dad and I had a brand new engine built for this year and went to Orlando early in the year to test and learn on the budget we had. We can run this car as long as we make it to the finals at each race and win some money, but testing is what kills us funding-wise during the year. You rent the track, test, tear up parts and don’t get money back, so we really can’t do it,” Cox says.

Last year while he had some sponsorship money, Cox went to two different test sessions to work on his program for 2018 and it paid off. The effort he put in on his new combination showed results at the first GALOT Motorsports Park Mad Mule event where Cox laid down some big numbers. This is also a direct result of the pure obsession Cox has with racing and going faster every time out.

“I study my Racepak a lot and try to learn what I can. I’m not one of these guys that loads my car into the trailer, go to the race and if it does fine that’s great, and then stick it back in the shop until the next event. I think about racing all the time, more than anybody in this world. I never miss the small things, I go to the track with a purpose and try to see what we can do to become faster. I study everything and don’t take anything for granted,” Cox says.

This season Cox has some help from Butner Construction for the first four races, but he will be racing smart to maximize the amount of track time he can get for his money.

“All these races are the same: I want to qualify good so I can take it easy on the car the first couple of rounds on race day. I don’t have the money to hammer the car every round right now. I took it one pitch at a time in baseball and I’m going to do the same thing this year in racing — take it one pass at a time. There might be times where I skip qualifying sessions if I do well and just sit out to save on parts. I‘ve got that much confidence in myself, my crew, and this car that we can do that to save money and keep us racing,” Cox explains.

To win the East Coast Nationals at GALOT Motorsports Park Cox knows that it will be a dogfight when racing begins Saturday. “It’s going to take a car that is consistent and can run in the .60s. There are four cars that can do it and if you aren’t in that range, you’re going home after the first round. When I show up to the track I’m there to win, so you can bet we will be putting the wood to the car when we have to at GALOT to bring the win home.”

You can see Jay Cox take on the Pro Nitrous world at the PDRA East Coast Nationals April 6-8. Every round of racing from GALOT Motorsports Park will be broadcast live RIGHT HERE on SpeedVideo.com. This broadcast is brought to you by presenting sponsor Jerry Bickel Race Cars, along with COMP Cams, Driven Racing Oil, Moser Engineering, Flying A Motorsports, Moroso, Howard Cams, and Neal Chance Racing Converters.