Q80 and El General Rack up Win Number Five of the Year

September 24, 2021

Q80 and El General Rack up Win Number Five of the Year

NHRA Pro Mod made it's second stop at zMax Dragway in Concord, North Carolina for the Dewalt NHRA Carolina Nationals. Team Proline was represented by Justin Bond of Barain1 Racing, Jose Gonzalez of the Q80 Racing Team, and Mike Salinas of Scrappers Racing.

Qualifying

For the last couple events, Justin Bond has been driving Khalid al-Balooshi's 2019 Camaro while his car is being repaired after hitting the wall in Brainerd. He has been running great in Balooshi's car and managed to take the top qualifying position with a 5.775 at 246.71mph after three rounds of qualifying. 
Justin Bond Pro Mod NHRA Charlotte

Also making the ultra tight field was Gonzalez in the number 3 spot with a 5.786 at 247.93 and Salinas qualified 14th with a 5.856 at 245.90 mph.

Mike Salinas Pro Mod NHRA Charlotte


Eliminations

First round of eliminations paired PLR racers Salinas and Gonzalez against each other. They both left the line at about the same time but Gonzalez' 5.80 was enough to beat Salinas' 5.87. Bond faced off with Jerico Balduf but had troubles on the starting line and was eliminated.

In round two, Gonzalez took on the roots blown entry of Brandon Snider. He laid down a clean 5.79 at 248mph pass while Snider shook the tires and had to abort.

The semifinals was the Q80 team's toughest matchup of race day with nitrous racer, Jeffrey Barker. Barker ran a 5.764 at 251.49mph to Gonzalez' 5.781 at 248.57mph but lost on a holeshot. Jose had a .010 light to Barker's .031 and won by 0.0047 MOV!

In the final round Gonzalez faced Mike Castellana. Both drivers left the starting line with .011 reaction time, but Gonzalez was able to go 5.792 to Castellana's 5.828. 



The Q80 / El General team locked in their 5th win of the 2021 season and added a bit of padding to their points lead. Their tuner, Steve Petty, had the Q80 Camaro making really nice runs all weekend and the crew did everything they could to give Gonzalez the race car he needed to run on Sunday. Congrats to the team on another win!