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Pro Mod notes
Pro Mod winner Glen Kerunsky became one of
the few, if not the first IHRA Pro Mod racer
to win from the 16th qualifying spot. Kerunsky,
from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, competes mostly
on the West Coast but this year has hired car
builder Tim McAmis to fly in and tune the car
wherever he races.
Another Canadian, Carl "Big Dog" Spiering,
purchased McAmis' '63 'Vette from last year
and is campaigning that car on the IHRA tour
this year.
Both Mike Castellana and Shannon Jenkins qualified
for the IHRA event. Neither qualified for the
NHRA event at Gainesville the previous week
and there was a rumor circulating the pit area
that they would withdraw from NHRA competition
this season.
Pat Musi drove the '57 Chevy owned by the McManama
family and became, I believe, only the second
Pro Mod in recent IHRA history to qualify for
a race using an EFI/nitrous oxide injection
engine combination. In IHRA at least there is
a competitive balance between nitrous and supercharged
cars. At San Antonio six nitrous cars qualified
for the field and there were an even amount
of nitrous and supercharged cars in the field
after every round of eliminations.
Zach Barklage's supercharged Grand Am was the
number one qualifier and Harold Martin's was
number two. That was the first time in IHRA
history that a pair of late model Pontiac Grand
Ams qualified one-two in any doorslammer class.
Early in qualifying Harold Martin broke a wheel,
but still came back to qualify No. 2.
PRO STOCK
John Montecalvo's 2002 Cavalier dominated the
Pro Stock competition. Montecalvo, using a Sonny
Leonard-built 814 c.i. "Hemi" Chevy engine,
qualified number one with a 6.533 and had the
Top Speed of 213.57. The quickest pass honors
went to John Nobile, who shoed his Ford Escort
powered by an 814-inch Ford semi-hemi engine
to a 6.529 in the second round. That pass put
Pete Burner's '04 Mustang in the trailer.
The final round of Nobile's Ford against Montecalvo's
Chevy and was a Blue Oval vs. Bowtie Brigade
throwdown between a pair of veteran, New York-based,
Pro Stock racers. Nobile's Escort maintained
a performance edge during eliminations but the
Chevy driver, Montecalvo, had much quicker reaction
times throughout eliminations. He maintained
that advantage in the finals, cutting his third
straight sub-.430 reaction time, and used up
Nobile on the tree. Nobile recorded his fourth-straight
reaction time above a .460 and sealed his own
fate. Even though Nobile ran a quicker 6.542
elapsed time, Montecalvo's .427 light combined
with a 6.566 e.t. was enough to easily put Nobile
in the trailer and get the Pro Stock title for
the Chevy fans.
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