BRADENTON, Fla. — Newly crowned Mid-West Drag Racing Series Pro Mod champion Mark Micke added an exclamation point to the end of his 2024 season by qualifying No. 1 in M&M Transmission Pro Mod presented by FuelTech and PJS Racing Saturday night at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks.
It was the quickest 32-car field in the history of eighth-mile Pro Modified, marking a strong kick-off to the three-race Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Micke qualified No. 1 with a 3.591-second pass at 218.87 MPH, while Bob Glenn ended up on the bump spot with a 3.647 at 204.29.
After taking the provisional No. 1 spot in Pro Mod in Friday’s two qualifying sessions, Mark Micke predicted that his 3.591-second pass wouldn’t hold up for the top spot after two more sessions on Saturday to set the field.
Though numerous drivers improved, including pair after pair of career-best numbers in the final session, no one could get around Micke. Amazingly, Micke in his twin-turbocharged M&M Transmission ’69 Camaro has qualified No. 1 at every race he’s attended this season.
“To be No. 1 against this group, that just puts an exclamation point on our season,” said Micke, who will take on 2024 Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod winner Derek Ward in the first round. “It shows the work we did, the dedication my guys did, and just shows the program that we have to be able to come out on top of these guys. That’s no small feat. I know tomorrow’s a whole other day, but today, we won by qualifying No. 1 and we’re gonna go to bed happy, smiling, and ready to rock and roll tomorrow.”
Jason Harris, the two-time and reigning PDRA Pro Boost world champion, fired off a 3.594 at 209.62 in his ProCharged Southern Diamond Company “Party Time” ’69 Camaro in the final qualifying session to qualify No. 2 behind Micke. He’ll take on his former Pro Nitrous rival, Jay Cox, who recently came out of retirement to field a new twin-turbocharged entry.
Melanie Salemi, who won the 50th annual Snowbirds in 2021, wheeled the screw-blown Al-Lee Installations “Purple Reign” ’68 Firebird to a 3.599 at 207.21 in the final session to round out the top three.
Behind the three 3.59s, three drivers ran 3.60s, five drivers ran 3.61s, nine drivers ran 3.62s, five drivers ran 3.63s, and seven drivers ran 3.64s to qualify in the 32-car field.
The randomly drawn first-round pairings are Jeff Rudolf vs. Ken Quartuccio, Kenny Lang vs. Randy Weatherford, Jerico Balduf vs. Jay Santos, Bob Glenn vs. Kurt Steding, Cameron Hensley vs. Spencer Hyde, Roderjan Busato vs. Melanie Salemi, Jason Harris vs. Jay Cox, Jason Lee vs. Chip King, Joel Wensley Sr. vs. Craig Sullivan, Matthew Deitsch vs. Keith Goolsby, Derek Ward vs. Mark Micke, Travis Harvey vs. Sidnei Frigo, Stevie Jackson vs. Mike Decker III, Steve King vs. Ty Tutterow, Kye Kelley vs. Mike Decker Jr., and Erica Enders vs. Billy Banaka.
Between cold conditions and a late-night oildown, Pro 275 didn’t get to complete its fourth qualifying session. The class didn’t see any changes at the top of the qualifying order from Friday’s two sessions. Lyle Barnett, pulling triple duty in Pro 275, Pro Mod, and Limited Drag Radial this weekend, locked in the top spot with his 3.676 at 202.30 in Tommy Youmans’ ProCharged “Salvage Title” Mustang. Nick Lacerenza stayed No. 2 with a 3.773 at 199.70 in his ProCharged ’90 Mustang. Chad Opaleski remained third in his screw-blown ’66 Chevelle with a 3.803 at 198.79.
Friday’s provisional No. 1 qualifier in Limited Drag Radial, Greg Blevins Jr., held on to the top spot and even stepped up from his 3.899 best from Friday. He laid down a 3.872 at 191.84 in his ProCharged ’69 Camaro to remain the only driver in the class to dip into the 3.80s. Matt Bell was the next closest with a 3.911 at 195.25, a slight improvement from Friday, to stay No. 2 in his turbocharged ’93 Mustang. Wally Farbaky moved up to third in his turbocharged ’20 GT350R with a 3.918 at 196.59.
Chris Holdorf threw down a stout 4.123 at 170.30 in the final qualifying session to take the No. 1 qualifying position from Kyle Salminen. Holdorf in his Nelson-powered Freedom Grow ’06 GTO made the pass next to Salminen, who similarly stepped up with a 4.124 at 172.72 in his Nelson-powered ’03 Cavalier to miss out on No. 1 by one thousandth of a second. Mike Fiorelli’s career-best 4.16 at 171.03 in his ’68 Camaro from Friday held up for the No. 3 spot.
Shawn Pevlor’s dominant weekend in Ultra Street continued when he lowered his own E.T. record to a 4.374 at 161.87 in John Kolivas’s ’93 Mustang. Davey Hull and Kieffer Simpson followed Pevlor into the 4.30s, with Hull running a 4.378 at 160.63 in his ’92 Mustang and Simpson recording a 4.398 at 163.47 in his “American Xpress” ’13 Mustang to qualify second and third, respectively.
