PRO MOD
Twelve of the 16 qualifying spots in Pro
Modified went to supercharged entries, but
it was nitrous star Shannon Jenkins who led
the way with a 6.221 at 218.12 mph in his
‘68 Camaro. San Antonio winner Glen Kerunsky
secured the final spot for raceday with a
6.306 at 222.27 mph in his blown ‘57
Chevy. Eventual race winner Stott put his
supercharged 1963 Corvette sixth on the qualifying
list with a 6.252-secs pass at 228.77 mph.
Notably, Fred Hahn, the number-one qualifier
at Rockingham earlier this year, suffered
problems in all three qualifying rounds and
failed to make the show.
In round one, Stott barely nipped points
leader Al Billes at the finish line, going
6.360 to the Canadian’s 6.369. Next,
Mike Janis laid a holeshot on Stott, but he
passed Janis by the 330-foot marker and won
the round by about a car length. In his semi-final
against brother Mitch Stott, the two Stotts
left with practically identical reaction times,
and Mitch led all the way to the 1,000-foot
point, but at 1,320 feet Quain had a .007
advantage and led the way by only two feet.
Meanwhile, number-four qualifier Harold Martin
steered his nitrous-assisted, fuel-injected
2004 Grand Am past a red-lighting Carl Spiering,
an up-in-smoke Mike Stawicki, and a tire-smoking
Shannon Jenkins to reach the final round.
Regardless of his opponents’ troubles,
Martin enjoyed great performance all day,
running 6.282, 6.262, and a 6.326 in the semis
that was good enough to give him lane choice
over Stott in the fourth P/S final of his
career.
Both drivers had identical .104 reactions
times in the final, but Stott was ahead at
each incremental point down the track and
won with a 6.344 at 223.55 mph compared to
Martin’s 6.389 at 222.60 mph.
“We struggled so hard the first of the
year and we don’t like losing one bit.
We worked hard over the winter to get the
car ready, but didn’t get to test before
the season. It took us some time to figure
out the setup. Then the rule change didn’t
help, but everyone knows that’s just
part of racing,” Stott said in a victory
lane interview. “I’ve got a crew
that has stuck by me through some tough times,
when many would have left.”
Martin’s performance at Grand Bend vaulted
him to the lead in the Pro Mod championship
chase with 248 points, followed by Janis just
three points back and Billes, who dropped
to third with 223.
PRO STOCK
Fords grabbed the top five positions in the
second-quickest IHRA Pro Stock field ever
assembled, led by the 6.493 at 211.96 posted
by John Nobile’s 2003 Escort. Mike Del
Nagro’s 2001 Cavalier held on to the
16th-place bump spot with a 6.571 at 210.82,
edging out the ‘02 Cougar of John Konigshofer
from nearby Otterville, ON, who ran an identical
e.t., but ran only 209.79 mph.
Morton, from Jacksonville, N.C., qualified
his ’04 Mustang in the number-two slot
and dusted off Dwayne Rice in the opening
round. Frank Gugliotta rattled the tires against
him in round two, and Morton passed Rick Jones
late in their semi-final match to secure lane
choice over Brian Gahm in the final round.
Gahm edged Tony Gillig in the opener, easily
handled Mike Bell in round two, and squeaked
out a win by less than half-a-foot in the
semis over John Montecalvo.
In
the final, Gahm left first with a .030 reaction
to Morton’s .081, but by halftrack Morton
had reeled him in and went on to win his career-first
P/S national event with a 6.557-secs run at
210.67 mph. Gahm ran 6.613 at 209.69 to finish
about two feet short at the stripe.
“This is a tough class with a lot of
great drivers and great people,” Morton
said. “Brian (Gahm) has always been tough,
but I had a good feeling all weekend about
this race. We were using our second motor.
It’s kind of like the backup quarterback.
And it took us to the Super Bowl.”
Nobile leads the Pro Stock season points
chase with 347, his good friend Montecalvo
is second at 341, and Morton now holds third
with 335 points. Defending series champ Gahm
sits in fourth with 307 points. 
