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It was a mixed day for Pete Farber and his 1969 Daytona Pro Mod. A broken rod bolt pretty much brought an end to their day, but not before blasting off a 5.86 at 247 mph. “Ya’ gotta’ pay to play,” said a crewman during the teardown.
A number of of NHRA race teams are gearing up this week for the NHRA Gatornationals at the Bradenton Motorsports Park, a short drive from the Auto=Plus Raceway in Gainesville for the annual kickoff to the professional drag racing season on the east coast. There were many key players Bradenton today in Pro Stock, Pro Mod, and Pro Stock Motorcycle, but there were also racers from some of the sportsman categories in attendance, as well.
Pro Stock
V. Gaines, Allen Johnson, and Chris McGaha were the only Pro Stock racers we saw at Bradenton. While Gaines only made a couple passes, Johnson made several 6.50 passes and appears very ready for the Gatornationals. McGaha, for his part, clicked off a best of 6.54 on the day. Gaines’ first pass of the day was a click-it-off, 1,000-ft run, but the next pass he utilized all of the MadCap Racing Engines horsepower to run a 6.59 at 210 mph in the heat of the day. They must’ve been happy with the run because the team loaded up after that pass.
V. Gaines tested last week at South Georgia Motorsports Park before making full passes here at Bradenton.
The 2012 NHRA Pro Stock champion Allen Johnson made many strong passes at Bradenton. He made several passes on Tuesday, running 6.50s at over 210 mph like he was driving to the grocery store.
Pro Mod
There were several Pro Mod teams at Bradenton testing. Pro Mod combines nitrous, superchargers, and turbochargers under one umbrella. Teams are looking for 5.80s to 5.90s at somewhere north of 240 mph to be competitive. During the test session, most racers were clicking it off early to keep potential damage at a minimum. Still, reigning series champion “Tricky Rickie” Smith let it all hang out with a 5.89 at 246 mph.
Although Billy Glidden’s Mustang looks brand new with a fresh Stickerdude wrap applied by Don’t Drive Naked out of Indianapolis. he says he has let the clutch out on this car 10,153 times as of the test session. Glidden says he is concentrating on getting his car to the 330-foot mark quicker than the Pro Mod class’ turbocharged and supercharged combinations. Besides his wife Shannon, arguably the hardest working woman in drag racing, Glidden says Jimmy Keen will be helping at the Gatornationals.
Another husband and wife team is Gerry and Heather Capano. Gerry drives this ’63 Corvette in Pro Mod with a supercharged Hemi combination. Gerry and Heather tested both Monday and Tuesday, and were making test passes to get used to the car again, since this is the first time the couple’s had the car out since last October. Gerry runs the Jerry Haas-built Corvette in both NHRA and PDRA competition.
It seems “Stevie Fast” Jackson can drive pretty much anything. In Pro Mod, Jackson drives this Jerry Bickel-built Camaro with a Reher Morrison engine and a Switzer Dynamics nitrous system on the car. Jackson didn’t make any full passes in the car on Tuesday.
Trickie Ricky Smith was one of the few Pro Mod drivers to make a full pass during Tuesday’s test session. Smith’s Jerry Bickel-built Camaro uses a Pat Musi powerplant on nitrous, and he was able to run a 5.89 at 246 mph, one of the quickest passes of the day.
Mike Janis brings a supercharged Hemi to Pro Mod, and was able to run a 6.07 at 243 mph. In the heat of the day, many Pro Mod racers were shaking the tires, and at that point, Bradenton’s track personnel scraped the starting line to help racers get some starting line grip.
Mustang fans turn away; those are the eyes of Aeromotive’s Steve Matusek in a Pro Mod Camaro. Matusek has raced Mustangs for many, many years, but for the second season he’ll be running the Agave Underground Camaro in Pro Mod. We only saw Matusek make two passes on Tuesday, and the second looked really good before he clicked it off, running a 6.32 at 149 mph.
Possibly one of the coolest looking Pro Mods, Bob Rahain’s brand new Jerry Bickel-built C7, packs a 872-inch Reher Morrison bullet with a Switzer Dynamics nitrous system, and a Lenco transmission. His tuner and former racer Brandon Switzer makes many components from the intake manifold on up on several high-profile Pro Mod nitrous cars, including the intake, fuel rails, nitrous plumbing and solenoids, and the like. At Bradenton, Rahaim ran a 5.92 at 242 mph, and then a 5.97 at 239 mph.
Kenny Lang’s Summit Racing Pro Mod made several laps on Tuesday, but he battled through tire shake and still ran a 6.11 at 235 mph, a 5.99 at 240 mph, and a 6.17 at 235 mph.
Dan Stevenson also uses a Reher Morrison/Switzer Dynamics nitrous combination with his Jerry Haas-built Camaro. Stevenson couldn’t make his power and the track work together for a clean pass on Tuesday.
Pro Stock Motorcycle
There were several two-wheeled teams at Bradenton testing for their season opener at Gainesville, and like the other category competitors, most were making 1,000 ft runs, and clicking it off. Eddie Krawiec ran a 6.87 at 191 mph on his Harley Davidson, which was the quickest pass we witnessed. Most competitors were in the 6.90s to 7.0s, though.
The Harley Davidson V-Rods of Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec were testing at Bradenton, and from what we saw, Krawiec was the quicker of the two with a 6.88 and a 6.87. Hines is the defending champion, but his biggest competition in 2015 could come from his teammate Krawiec.
Matt and Angie Smith tested their new Victory Pro Stock Motorcycle entries, and Matt was able to run in the sixes and then help his fellow Pro Stock Motorcycle competitors get down the track.
NHRA Factory Stock
To take advantage of the influx of factory hot rods, the NHRA has Factory Stock Showdown, which pits COPO Camaros, Cobra Jets, and the Challenger Drag Pak against each other in index-style competition. Joe Welch has his COPO Camaro at Bradenton in preparation for Factory Stock at the Gatornationals.
Joe Welch’s COPO Camaro is a ’14 model, purchased as a roller and fitted with a naturally aspirated 427 LSX engine featuring NHRA-legal modifications. In the Factory Stock Showdown, the minimum weight is 3,350, and Welch ran in the 8.90s on Tuesday.
