Mike Recchia Fired Up For His NMCA Pro Mod Debut At The Super Bowl

When the PDRA announced the discontinuation of its Pro Extreme class from its roster it left a handful of racers without a home, but 2017 class champion Mike Recchia already had a plan in place to continue Pro Modified racing. Starting at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing Recchia plans on racing with the NMCA as much as his schedule will allow. With one title already to his name in the PDRA and a fast car, Recchia will be a threat to win any event in NMCA Xtreme Pro Mod trim.

Recchia isn’t totally new to the NMCA; back in 1997 he raced in the iconic Pro Street class when they came to his home state of Illinois. At that event, Recchia got a taste of just how well the NMCA treated its racers, the family environment the series had, and most of all, the close competition on the track. All of those things stuck with Recchia over the years, and it made the choice to come race the NMCA Xtreme Pro Mod ranks easier.

“We did the Pro Extreme deal with the PDRA and won the title, but felt the class was going away with car counts. We started looking around for a place to race and the NMCA just felt like we were coming back home. The Joliet race is only an hour from my house so it works out for our first race. We’re going to be at Indy as well, and if we really like it, we will try to make more races next year,” Recchia says.

Getting his Jerry Bickel Race Cars-built Camaro ready for the NMCA will require some changes from its previous Pro Extreme trim package: Recchia will be adding 150 pounds of weight to the car, slowing the blower down, changing the spring package for the shocks, and adjusting the fuel trims, just to name a few adjustments. Even with all of these changes on the docket, Recchia anticipates they’ll be able to adjust to everything quickly and start making some fast laps.

Before Recchia can begin his quest to pick up a win in the NMCA, he must first put his racecar back together. At the Outlaw Street Car Reunion V Recchia had an unplanned meeting with the wall during qualifying that necessitated a visit to Bickel for some repairs.

“I slapped the wall pretty good due to driver error at Beech Bend. The car went to Bickel to get some tubes replaced and the body fixed, I hope to get it back this coming week. I have all the mechanical parts for the car clean and ready in my shop to put everything back together. I’ve got three guys who are ready to work on the car until it’s ready to put in the trailer and race,” Recchia explains.

After the thrash on the Camaro is complete, Recchia is prepared to get back behind the wheel and test his skills against some good competition at the Super Bowl.

“I want to have the drama to qualify for a race and since there are a lot of cars in the NMCA it will be a fun challenge. The competition in the NMCA seems very strong when you look at the times all the racers are running. With the rules package they have, all the cars are pretty fast and I think we’ll have something for them.”

The NMCA Xtreme Pro Mod division was already packed with some tough racers and fast cars, and with the addition of Mike Recchia the class is going to be even more interesting. With years of experience racing fast doorcars Recchia is sure to make the Xtreme Pro Mod class one to watch for the rest of 2018 and beyond.

About the author

Brian Wagner

Spending his childhood at different race tracks around Ohio with his family’s 1967 Nova, Brian developed a true love for drag racing. Brian enjoys anything loud, fast, and fun.
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