Veteran 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

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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