When the IHRA announced its schedule for 2025, it originally had five races, but then it had a significant addition, the Outlaw Pro Mod Nationals. This race would be off the trailer, meaning no testing, just straight into qualifying on Friday and then eliminations on Saturday. The winner would walk away with $125,000.00, and that attracted the biggest names in Pro Mod racing.

In total, the Pro Mod payout was over $170,000.00, and there were more than Pro Mods coming to Darana Dragway – Milan (formerly Milan Dragway). Mountain Motor Pro Stock had a $15,000 to-win race, Top Sportsman paid $6,000.00, and as an added bonus, a 64-car Top Bulb Shootout bracket race for $10,000.00 was announced for each day.

On Friday, racers entered into the 64-car Top Bulb Shootout bracket race started off the day with one test run before moving into their elimination rounds to see who would walk away with the first $10,000 payout of the weekend.

The first winner of the weekend was Kara Jo Brank with her win over Jamie Elrod. Both with identical 4.67 dial-ins, which meant this would be a side-by-side race. Kara Jo had a huge starting line advantage over Jamie, and at the top end, it was Jamie Elrod breaking out, trying to make up the starting line difference. Brank ran 4.713 at 136.94 mph to Elrod’s 4.656 at 149.95 mph to pick up the win.

Pro Mod would have 32 cars for qualifying to see who could take the top spot in the field. After the first round of qualifying, it was the ProCharged entry of Jason Harris with a 3.654 at 206.14 mph, taking the top spot. In round two, it was the screw-blown combo of Kallee Mills taking over the number one spot with her 3.636 at 206.42 mph run in the car she calls “Scarlett”. In the final qualifying round, Randy Weatherford and his newly converted Harts Charger combo ran a 3.607 at 210.67 mph that narrowly bumped Jason Harris’s 3.608 at 207.18 mph to the number two spot.

Weatherford came into Darana Dragway – Milan fresh off a number one qualifier and race win at the PDRA Northern Nationals just a week ago. Could he carry that momentum along with another number qualifier all the way to the winner’s circle two weeks in a row, and get the big payday of $125,000.00? Yes, he could, and yes, he did. The race this weekend was Weatherford’s third win of 2025 and the second race win with the new Harts Charger supercharger.

On his way to the finals, Weatherford faced Pro Mod heavy hitters such as Bubba Greene, Kurt Steading, and Robin Roberts. While Randy Weatherford was working his way through the competition, number seven qualifier Kallee Mills was making her way towards the finals on her side of the ladder. In round one, she got the win against Kyle Canion, and then went on to get past Robert Davis, number two qualifier Jason Harris, and then Ken Quartuccio in the semi-finals.

Everyone knew that the final round was going to be exciting. Kallee Mills had run in the 3.60s the entire weekend as well as cutting great reaction times, but was it enough to stop the momentum of back-to-back race number one qualifiers and now back-to-back final rounds that Weatherford was riding? As the teams paired up and staged, Weatherford left with the starting line advantage, but Mills was door to door with him all the way down the track. Randy Weatherford was able to make it back-to-back race wins, and he did it with a close margin of victory of 0.016 over Mills. Weatherford ran 3.601 at 210.38 to Mills’ 3.604 at 207.47.

Mountain Motor Pro Stock had seven cars show up for the eight-car field that paid $15,000 to win and an IHRA Ironman for the winner. Dwayne Rice laid down low elapsed time during qualifying and took the number one spot with a 4.086 at 175.23 mph, with John Montecalvo claiming the second spot with a 4.091 at 175.71 mph. In the first round, Rice had a bye run and faced Dillon Voss in round two, where Voss would get the win and make his way to the finals.

On the bottom side of the ladder, number two qualifier John Montecalvo would get the win light against Mike Murphy and Chris Powers on his way to the finals against Voss. As both racers staged their Pro Stock machines, Montecalvo had issues and timed out before he could get the car fully staged, handing the win to Dillon Voss.

Mike Savoia was the quickest Top Sportsman car on the property. Savoia qualified with a 4.030 at 182.48 mph. In eliminations, the top half of the ladder had Mike Badia making his way to the final, while Justin Sowders was doing the same with the bottom half. In the finals, Badia had the better reaction time (0.015) against Sowders (0.025), but it was Sowders’ win light that came on as he ran 4.255 at 163.82 mph on a 4.23 dial-in versus Badia’s running 4.431 at 159.86 mph on his 4.38 dial-in.

In the Saturday 64 Car Top Bulb Shootout, Frankie McCullough and Howard Michael would meet each other in the finals to see who would take home the $10,000.00 check of the second shootout of the weekend. As the tree dropped, the slight advantage went to Michael with his 0.008 reaction time, and he would hold on to that advantage all the way for the win. Michael ran (4.74 dial) 4.744 at 143.91 mph against McCullough’s (4.75 dial) 4.749 at 144.79 mph.