BRADENTON, Fla. — Following historic Pro Mod qualifying that resulted in the sport’s first all-3.50-second 32-car field, the first round of eliminations at the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission featured several side-by-side 3.50-second races between some of the biggest names in doorslammer racing.
The second of three races in the Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service will crown a $75,000 Pro Mod winner on Sunday.
Eliminations also got underway in Pro 10.5, True 10.5, Lil Gangstas, and the FuelTech Radial Outlaws Racing Series drag radial classes. Eliminations in all classes will continue Sunday.
The first round of Pro Mod kicked off in a big way, as 2023 World Series of Pro Mod champion Spencer Hyde paired up with reigning WSOPM winner Steve King. Hyde, in the screw-blown Tidwell Nesloney Racing ’69 Camaro, got around the reaction time advantage of King and won with a 3.575 at 210.14 to King’s 3.599 at 208.55 in Gene Pilot’s screw-blown “Savage” Corvette.
“When the car shifted into second gear, we poked the nose out in front of him, and I said, ‘As long as the blower don’t fall off, we got this in the bag,’” Hyde said. “So thanks, Steve Petty, for that one. The first round’s always tough – the toughest round of any race. Unfortunately, tomorrow morning, in second round, it’s going to feel like first round all over again. But everybody’s gonna feel the same pressure, so we just gotta go keep turning on win lights.”
Two of the quickest drivers in qualifying, No. 1 qualifier Jimmy Taylor and No. 4 qualifier Eric Gustafson, met up in the opening round. Taylor moved first in his twin-turbo Xtreme Racing Engines ’69 Camaro, but he slowed to a 3.611 at 218.16 while Gustafson laid down low E.T. of the event, a 3.543 at 211.30, to get the win in his ProCharged Coast Packing Company “Lard Machine” ’69 Camaro.
“The other cherry on top of the ice cream sundae is my family’s here,” Gustafson said. “They don’t usually get to come watch me race. In fact, they haven’t seen me race since 2021 with their activities and all that stuff. Usually they’re in school, but thanks to God and the snow in Dallas, my wife said, ‘Let’s go to Florida and watch Dad race.’ It was super special to be able to do it in front of my family. I just feel so blessed to be able to do this.
Jimmy Taylor, his family, and the whole crew over there, they’re wonderful people – incredible team, great car, tough competitor, can’t say enough about them. A lot of respect to them.”
Jason Harris, who won the Winter Series-opening Snowbird Outlaw Nationals in December, kept his hopes alive for the inaugural Elite Motorsports Million when he turned on the first-round win light over former PDRA Pro Nitrous rival Jim Halsey. Harris got a starting line advantage in his Harts Charger-boosted “Party Time” ’69 Camaro and recorded the second-quickest pass of the event, a 3.547 at 211.89, to get the win.
Halsey, a four-time PDRA Pro Nitrous world champ, had to lift to a 5.443 at 88.50. An unprecedented $1 million bonus is on the line for Harris if he can also win the U.S. Street Nationals and the Winter Series finale, the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod, in late February.
“I tried not to think about the pressure, but I knew it was there,” said Harris, a two-time world champion in both PDRA Pro Nitrous and Pro Boost. “I’ve been in a lot of pressure situations before, but after losing the No. 1 qualifier by one thousandth, I just put it behind me and said, ‘You gotta win rounds.’ Nobody out here is a duck. Everybody’s great at what they do – you’ve just gotta be a little bit better than they are. I was a little nervous, but I finally just put it behind me. Whatever it is is gonna happen.”
Another one of the most highly anticipated matchups featured two-time NHRA Pro Mod world champion and 2025 WSOPM runner-up Stevie “Fast” Jackson taking on 2024 No Prep Kings champion Shawn “Murder Nova” Ellington. The two left with nearly identical reaction times – Jackson’s .011 to Ellington’s .012 – but Jackson pulled ahead with a winning 3.562 at 211.69 in his screw-blown Motion Raceworks “Shadow 3.0” ’68 Camaro, while Ellington encountered issues and posted a 4.553 at 113.28.
“I knew [Ellington] was capable of outrunning me if they made a run,” Jackson said. “I ran it to about 800 ft. because at 500 ft. I still didn’t see him, but that doesn’t mean he’s not coming. We were .011 and .012 on the light – that showcases how good of a driver Shawn is, and it’s a good deal to get the win. That was one of them deals where if you win, it’s good; if you lose, it’s worse. So, we wanted to get that one. We’ve got four more, and they don’t get easier as you go, they get harder.”In Pro 10.5’s first round, Super Bowl champion Fletcher Cox threw down the gauntlet with his 3.875 at 184.60 in his nitrous-fed “Training Day” ’69 Camaro to get past John Carinci, who recorded a 3.979. No. 2 qualifier Jerry Morgano won on a holeshot over No. 1 qualifier Carson Baker, running a 3.912 at 207.08 to Baker’s 3.892.
In the opening round of the True 10.5 class, Snowbirds winner Larry Larson pedaled his ‘66 Chevy II to a 4.564 victory over Taylor Strange. Snowbirds Pro 10.5 winner Bill Lutz and his ‘67 Camaro was the quickest car of the round, running a 3.934 to get the win over NHRA Pro Stock winner Cory Reed.
After a wreck in testing, Cole Pesz and his team thrashed to get his ‘18 Corvette, owned by Mark Gobert, ready for eliminations. He was rewarded with a holeshot victory over Scott Taylor and his “Lil Goldie” ‘69 Camaro. Pesz’s 4.007 defeated Taylor’s slightly quicker 4.000.
