The U.S. Street Nationals wasn’t your average crown jewel race at Bradenton Motorsports Park. There were historic weather issues, tents flying into powerlines causing delays, and a truck hitting powerlines causing delays, but at the end of the day, the racing was amazing. Every class delivered an action-packed weekend in both the Drag Illustrated Winter Series and the Radial Outlaws Racing Series (RORS).
Pro Mod Winter Series Brawl
When you have 69 great Pro Mods on the property fighting for 32 spots, you know qualifying is going to be intense. Matt Deitsch clawed his way into the field with a 3.655 pass. Mark Mickie continued his impressive run of number one qualifying efforts and landed on the pole with a blistering 3.567 pass at 219.37 mph behind the wheel of his turbocharged Camaro. That pass earned Mickie a bonus of $5,000 for qualifying number one.
Just like the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, the matchups for each round of racing were determined by a chip draw. This adds to the intrigue of the event, and forces racers to bring the A-game to the starting line each round. The biggest matchup that came from the chip draw was Kye Kelley and Stevie “Fast” Jackson for round one. There was a ton of hype around this race, but Kelley rose to the occasion and sent the former NHRA champion home.
After four blockbuster rounds of racing only two competitors remained, Ken Quartuccio and Lyle Barnett. Neither racer had an easy path to the finals and they were ready to throwdown for the $75,000 prize. Quartuccio put together a monster run to pick up the win by cutting a .001 light and lighting the boards with a 3.586 pass at 208.62 mph. Barnett didn’t roll over, his 3.608 run at 207.62 was impressive, it just wasn’t enough to defeat the seasoned veteran.
The stage is now set for a huge final event of the Winter Series when the World Series Of Pro Mod comes to Bradenton Motorsports Park in March. Quartuccio’s 1,210 points put him ahead of Kelley (896), Micke (714), Kurt Steding (707), Mike Decker III (700), and Melanie Salemi (700). Since the World Series Of Pro Mod is points-and-a-half, all of these racers are in the hunt for the overall championship.
The RORS rolled into Bradenton Motorsports Park ready to kick off its second event of the 2025 season. This series features Radial vs The World, Pro 275, Limited Drag Radial, X275, and Ultra Street for this year. Radial vs The World sat out the U.S. Street Nationals but is set to return for the rest of the 2025 events.
Lyle Barnett was a busy man at the U.S. Street Nationals. He was running three different classes and was able to capture the number one spot in Tommy Youmans’ “Salvage Title” Mustang with a 3.689 at 204.79. Tim Dutton qualified number two with a 3.696 at 203.40, while reigning Pro 275 RORS champion qualified number three with a 3.711 effort at 202.36.
Once eliminations started, No Mercy 15 winner Grantley Schloss started to flex his muscles behind the wheel of his 1967 Nova. Schloss, an Australian native, plowed his way to the final round with an impressive string of wins. In the finals, Schloss faced off against Dutton and pulled off the win thanks to a remarkable 3.672 pass at 203.31 mph.
Limited Drag Radial has blossomed into one of, if not the most competitive class in the RORS series. Chad Henderson finished qualifying in the number one spot with a 3.902 at 190 mph. Rob Goss was able to lock down the second spot with a 3.924 at 186.69, and Matt Bell held down the third spot with his 3.928 effort at 195.65 mph.
Greg Blevins Jr. and his team have been steamrolling the LDR class since their big No Mercy 15 victory and 2024 class championship. That continued at the U.S. Street Nationals as Blevins and his 1969 Camaro smashed their way to a final round matchup with Jamie Hancock. In the finals, Blevins threw down a 3.878 at 187.83 mph to pick up the win as Hancock had issues.
The X275 racers struggled with weather and track conditions until the final round of qualifying. Alan Felts took the top spot with a respectable 4.197 pass at 163.41. The second spot on the X275 qualifying sheet was occupied by DJ McCain and his 4.201 pass at 168.14, while Jeff Moses went to the third spot with a 4.235 pass at 166.23 mph.
Things got wild in X275 once eliminations started. The upsets started to flow and the big winner was Maty Pearcy. Pearcy was able to ride his hot hand all the way to the final round where he met up with X275 standout DJ McCain. In the final, McCain had issues almost immediately, and Pearcy was able to ride down the track and pick up the win.
The racing got really sporty in a hurry at the U.S. Street Nationals when Ultra Street hit the track. Shawn Pevlor took the John Kolivas-owned Mustang to the top spot by clubbing the field with a 4.340 record-setting run at 166.89 mph. Davey Hull locked down the second spot with a 4.41 pass at 157.61 mph, and Jessie Coulter found some performance to land in the third spot with a 4.417 at 143.11 mph.
Ultra Street Eliminations proved that records don’t mean anything on race day. Coulter found a way to keep his momentum going and stacked up wins to punch his ticket to the final round. Terry Wilson put plenty of people on the trailer to face Coulter in the finals. When the tree dropped, Coulter grabbed the lead and never looked back, laying down a 4.378 at 164.97 to pick up the win.
In Limited 235, Eddie Ramirez defeated Australian Michael Konstandinou, and Mike Fiorelli bested Walter Lannigan for the Outlaw 632 victory.
The World Series Of Pro Mod is coming to Bradenton Motorsports Park on February 27-March 1 and will bring the Winter Series to a close. Based on what we’ve seen at the first two events, the Winter Series finale is going to be on for the ages.
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