GAINESVILLE, FL (MARCH 19, 2017) – Pro Line-powered teams from all over the world converged on the Sunshine State for the NHRA Gatornationals at Florida’s Gainesville Raceway. Not only was it the kickoff to the 2017 Pro Modified season, it also produced the quickest and fastest field of Pro Mods to date. Twenty-seven cars showed up, only sixteen made it to the show, and three out of the five Pro Line-powered teams were quicker than the challenging 5.855-second bump.
Qualifying order for the three PLR drivers who made the show is as follows:
In first round of eliminations, Frigo improved to 5.786 at 256 MPH but lost at the tree to Mike Castellana’s slower 5.897-second ET. Biehle and Coughlin both won their first round match-ups. Moving on to round two, Coughlin overcame Eric Latino’s NHRA record-setting 5.727-second pass with an equally impressive 5.758-second one, backed by a skilled .008-second reaction time. Biehle had trouble in round two and lost to Danny Rowe. Despite Coughlin’s impressive second round, he was not as fortunate in round three and went out to overall race winner Steven Whiteley. Congratulations to all teams that competed in this historically quick race.