Running a top-tier racing operation requires a different approach in how you do everything, and that means continuous improvement is always on the front burner. Pro Mod racer Jay Cox doesn’t believe in the offseason, so he’s heading to the upcoming Snowbird Outlaw Nationals Jet Jam Night Of Fire to fine-tune his program and find extra performance that will aid him in the new year.

Cox finished in sixth place in the 2019 PDRA Pro Nitrous points standings, well below where you normally see him when the dust settles each year. That sixth-place finish really doesn’t tell the entire story of how the season went for Cox — in fact, if you ask him, the season was actually pretty successful when you look at the bigger picture.

“We made a lot of changes in 2019, starting with the new engines we got from Buck Racing Engines that had a lot of new parts in them, including upgraded cylinder heads. The biggest change we made was swapping fuel injection systems over to a MoTeC system from Brandon Switzer, and that made a big impact right away. This year we had the fastest car I think we’ve ever had running Pro Nitrous, as far as what the car was capable of and repeatability. I made some bad calls that caused parts failures and that cost us a few races during the season. Overall it was a good year, considering the amount of changes we made…heck, at one point we even held the Pro Nitrous world record,” Cox says.

Having even more power on tap was both a blessing and a curse for Cox during the 2019 season. Throughout the year he had to battle power wheelies on nearly every pass, and that was forcing him to change how he set the car up, ultimately costing him E.T. The wheelies really became a problem at the World Street Nationals when Cox discovered even more power in his engine program that led to several massive wheelstands. Going into the Snowbirds, Cox has one goal: find a way to stop the wheelstands without sacrificing too much performance.

“I think we have all the power in the world right now that we can use, it just comes down to finding the right balance. The big thing is I need to learn how to really manage the power more, and when that happens the car will be even faster. My whole goal for this event is to get the wheelie situation under control with this car; if I can get the car to run bottom 3.60s without big wheelies I’ll feel like we’ve won the war. I want to make a run at the PDRA Pro Nitrous title, so making some progress with this issue is going to be important,” Cox explains.

You can see Jay Cox take on the Pro Mod class at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals Jet Jam Night Of Fire this weekend at Bradenton Motorsports Park. SpeedVideo will have all the action live RIGHT HERE when racing begins Friday. This broadcast is brought to you by presenting sponsor Titan Fuel Tanks along with Edelbrock Performance, Lithium Pros, Flying A Motorsports, Moroso Performance Products, Inc., American Racing Headers, Livernois Motorsports & Engineering, Jerry Bickel Race Cars, and Summit Racing Equipment.