Words by Jeff Burk
Photos by Jeff Burk and Bret Kepner
5/25/05

An even dozen Pro Mod teams from around the Midwest showed up at Gateway International Raceway, in Madison, IL across the river from St. Louis, for the second of the six races that make up the Jeffers Pro Cars Pro Mod series.

Before the day's racing was done a couple of St. Louis racers, Bill Hill and his supercharged '53 'Vette and John Deflorian driving O.T. Hodges' nitrous-oxide injected '63 'Vette, ran some of the best eight-mile elapsed times and speeds the series has seen.

Hill, who has run a Super Chevy Nitro Coupe in the past, believes he may have run a 4.10 eighth-mile time during quarter-mile competition, but has never been as consistent as the string of 4.14/4.15 times he recorded at this event.

John Deflorian and car owner/tuner O.T. Hodges were the only other car in the 'teens for this event and ran a career best speed and elapsed time of 4.156/176.65.

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Hill qualified his Budweiser/Jeffers Pro Cars-backed Hemi-Vette on the pole with a 4.157/176.89 and Hodges was right behind him with a 4.185/174.

Despite the fact that he was four cars short, series promoter and competitor Donnie Little made the unusual decision to run a 16-car ladder and pay all of the competitors who came first round runner-up money.

Hill and Deflorian were the class of the field and marched through each side of the ladder to a final round meeting. Unfortunately that was when Ma Nature stepped in and put an end to the day's racing. The two men decided to call it a tie and split the winner and runner-up money. It was too bad that the pair didn't get to run the final round as their best times were within a hundredth of each other and the final round would have been a classic nitrous vs supercharger Pro Mod final.

Qualifying and Results

1. Bill Hill 4.157/176.79 (winner)
2. John Deflorian, 4.185/174.80 (winner)
3. David Schorr, 4.284/168.26 (QF)
4. Terry Murphy, 4.341/115.70 (SF)
5. Mary Baltzell, 4.344/167.05 (1rd)
6. Dan Saitz, 4.473/169.57  (QF)
7. Mark Mabry, 4.577/152.19 (1rd)
8. Delon Joseph, 4.643/153.07 (QF)
9. Rick Corn, 4.675/139.00 (1rd)
10. Jamie Hutchins, 4.704/153.25 (1rd)
11. Tim Albright, 5.276/119.67  (1rd)
12. Shawn Helfer, 5.328/143.14  (1rd)

Low ET/ Top Speed:  Bill Hill, 4.142/176.79