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File photo by Jeff Burk
eteran Pro Mod racer Mike Ashley and Pro Mod
sophomore Zach Barklage have pushed their way
past names like Von Smith, Fred Hahn, Scotty
Cannon and Mitch Stott and have moved into the
NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod series spotlight
in the first two races of the 2004 season.
After winning at Houston Ashley currently leads the DRO/NMM Cup points
series and Zach Barklage moved into fourth with his runner-up finish at
Houston.
Both Ashley and Barklage struggled during the 2003 season and both re-
vamped their operation for the 2004 season. Ashley parked his '41 Willys
and wedge engine combo and replaced it with a new Tommy Mauney-built GT-
500E Mustang, hired fuel Funny Car tuner Jimbo Ermalovich to help tuner
Chuck Ford and with a new Hemi-motor under the hood went pre-season
testing. The team put close to 100 testing laps on the new car in
preparing for the 2004 season.
Zach Barklage got a new crew chief for the 2004 season in former fuel
Funny Car cylinder head specialist Chad Wilson and went to Darren Mayer
for a new engine combination.
The result for both teams has been both significant and immediate.
Ashley won his first NHRA Pro Mod event since Dallas 2003. Barklage
qualified for the first time ever at an NHRA event at Gainesville,
followed that up with a pole at the IHRA national event at San Antonio
and then qualified at the NHRA race at Houston and had top speed at that
race with one of the fastest laps ever at 232.59.
The eight-car Pro Mod field at Houston Raceway Park was one of the best
ever with a bump spot of 6.199 (Scotty Cannon). For just the second time
in NHRA Pro Mod history, only blower equipped cars qualified, which led
to an immediate rumor going through the pits that IHRA would be
instituting a rule change to slow the blown cars down after Rockingham.
From qualifying to eliminations the Pro Mod show at Houston gave the
fans their money's worth. Ashley ran a 6.19 on his first run while
Barklage's car had a starter failure and couldn't make the first lap.
Both he and Ashley came back in the second and Barklage ran an off-the-
trailer 6.188/230 to temporarily bump Ashley off of the number one spot.
But Ashley, who ran right after the 19-year-old Barklage, answered with
a 6.165, which stood as low elapsed time for Pro Mods.
| Qualifying
and Results |
|
1
|
Mike Ashley |
6.165/229.74 |
Winner |
|
2
|
Ed Hoover |
6.185 229.00 |
Semi-finals |
|
3
|
Zach Barklage |
6.188/230.96 |
RU |
|
4
|
Mitch Stott |
6.189/230.65 |
Semi-finals |
|
5
|
Al Billes |
6.196/230.17 |
1rd |
|
6
|
Von Smith |
6.199/231.24 |
1rd |
|
7
|
Chip King |
6.199/231.24 |
1rd |
|
8
|
Scotty Cannon |
6.199/230.10 |
1rd |
|
Low E.T.: Ashley,
6.555
|
|
Top Speed: Barklage
232.59 mph
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The final qualifying session saw Ashley's teammate
Scotty Cannon make his first NHRA field in the
bump spot with a 6.199/230.11.
Chip King's Mopar, tuned by Bill Barrett, also ran a 6.199 but his speed
was 231.24 which put him in the field as the number seven qualifier.
There were just 34-thousandths of a second between the number one and
the number eight qualifiers. A hard field to make, indeed.
With a qualifying field elapsed time spread similar to what fans are
used to seeing with NHRA Pro Stock, speculation was that Sunday's
elimination session would be more of a driver's race than a horsepower
contest...and it was.
First round action saw Gainesville winner and then points leader Al
Billes push the tree against IHRA World champ Mitch Stott and go red.
Billes ran it out the back door anyway but his 6.23 would have lost to
Stott's 6.22.
In the second round Barklage needed a holeshot to get by Ed Hoover.
Barklage had a .052 light while Hoover a .065. Barklage ran a
6.229/231.75 Hoover a 6.217/228.54. Barklage got to the stripe first by
.0012 of a second or about five inches in front of Hoover. In the other
pairing Ashley crushed Stott with a 6.155/229 lap.
In the final Ashley stayed in the teens running a 6.180/229 to hold off
a 6.193/232.59 top end charge by Barklage.
Next stop on the AMS Staff Leasing tour is
Bristol April 30-May 2. 
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