DEREK MENHOLT DRIVES HIS WAY INTO THE WORLD SERIES OF PRO MOD

MORRISON, CO (AUGUST 6, 2017) – Drag Illustrated hosted the inaugural World Series of Pro Mod invitational race at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colorado over the weekend. With a $100,000 winner-take-all purse, many of the world’s quickest pro mods wanted in, but there were only sixteen spots for competitors in this clocks-off, no-qualifying, event. Two Pro Line Racing-powered teams earned an invitation based on previous accomplishments, Michael Biehle and Shane Molinari, yet one PLR-powered team had to earn it the hard way by fighting through a field of tough competitors in the Aeromotive Wild Card Shootout on Friday.

No invitation? No problem for Derek Menholt and his team as they came to crash the party with their Steve Petty-tuned, PLR 481X-powered 1968 Camaro. The special Friday night shootout had a $10,000 purse on top of a shot at the World Series of Pro Mod purse, and Menholt white knuckled his way to the money in a series of blistering back-half rundown wins. Congrats to Derek Menholt and team on a hard fought Aeromotive Wild Card Shoot Out win!

Saturday evening was the main event and unlike most races, these teams already knew well in advance who their first round matchup was going to be as the random pairings were selected prior to the race. The competitors had been making shakedown runs for days, but no times were posted. With $100,000 on the line, the anxiety was high for the first round.

Biehle’s PLR Hemi-powered 1967 Mustang outran Clint Satterfield’s 1968 Camaro to the finish to advance to round two. Menholt lost to Mike Bowman and did not advance. Molinari got the win light over Harry Hruska to move on to the next round. In round two Biehle gave it his best, but Mike Bowman got to the finish first. Molinari’s PLR Hemi-powered 1968 Firebird charged past Jim Whitley’s 1969 Chevelle for the win and a spot in semi-finals. With $100k up for grabs, Molinari came out of the hole hard and straight, then made a slight move to the wall and gave Bowman a lead that he could not overcome. Congrats to the Molinari Bond Motorsports team on a semi-final appearance in the inaugural World Series of Pro Mod.

MADISON, IL (AUGUST 6, 2017) – The Street Car Super Nationals came east of the Mississippi for the fourth annual Anarchy at the Arch at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois. The Mills Racing Team was on site with their signature twin 1968 Camaros, powered by Pro Line Racing.

DeWayne Mills and his PLR Hemi-powered Golden Gorilla was on the hunt for Radial vs The World victory. The team was off to a good start by qualifying second with a 3.81-second shot down the 660.

Going into eliminations, Mills ran a 3.84 to beat Jeff Hansen in the first round and then ran a 3.83 in round two for a solo run victory over Giuseppe Gentile who had problems before the round. Mills earned a bye run in the semi-finals and was set to face number one qualifier, Mark Micke, in the final round. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans and the race was called, forcing Mills and Micke to share the glory. Congratulations to the Mills Racing Team for getting a Radial vs The World tie.

In X275 action, Daniel Pharris drove the PLR LS-powered Golden Panda to the tenth qualifying position with a solid 4.68-second run.  Pharris improved to a 4.67 in the first round of eliminations to take the win over Mike Buttafuso. Then, Pharris slowed down just a bit in round two, but still beat Chris Groves to the finish for the win. Moving on to the semi-finals, Pharris turned up the heat and ran a 4.65, which was his best pass of the weekend, yet it was not enough to run down Marty Chance.  Congratulations to the Mills Racing Team for an X275 semi-final appearance.

Photo: Joe McHugh