FRIDAY NOTES – FIRST DAY IS A BLAST AS RACERS TAKE TO THE TRACK
WIND WINS EARLY FRIDAY – High winds throughout most of the day Friday at the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod (WSOPM) postponed the opening round of qualifying from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Steady northerly winds gusting to 35 mph blew straight down the track from the shutdown area toward the starting line.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of these competitors and we will wait as long as we have to for safe conditions to return,” WSOPM promoter Wes Buck said.
DROPPING THE LAUNDRY – An exceedingly rare occurrence of two cars dropping their parachutes during side-by-side burnouts came during the opening round of Pro Mod qualifying Friday night. Tommy Franklin’s nitrous-breathing ’69 Camaro (far lane) and the screw-blown C7 Corvette of Randy Merrick both shook the chutes loose and both drivers lost their first official attempt on the track.
CAMP BACK-TO-BACK BEST ON FRIDAY – John Camp said he wasn’t sure what to expect when he arrived from Canonsburg, PA, this weekend for the DI World Series of Drag Racing at Bradenton Motorsports Park.
“Picked the motor up at Proline on the way down, brought it straight to the track and first (test) pass it went A-to-B. So, you know, I can’t say enough about Proline,” Camp said. “And it’s the same short block as we had last year with a little bit different cylinder head. Still a Procharger combination, still PDRA legal. Well, actually they put 25 pounds on it, so we’re a little bit heavier. We went across the scales at 2635 (lbs.) last night.”
Regardless, the new combination, with Proline’s Brandon Stroud calling the tune-up as crew chief, set low E.T. in both of Friday’s qualifying sessions to lead a stacked field of 61 Pro Mod entries.
“We were wondering how it was going to do and so far it’s panning out real well,” Camp said in a classic case of understatement after going 3.64 at 204.82 mph late Friday afternoon, then improving to 3.62 at 205.91 in the night session.
FREEMAN FASTEST IN PRO STOCK – We’re all more used to seeing Richard Freeman as the Elite Motorsports team owner standing behind five-time and reigning NHRA Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders, but at WSOPM he’s competing as a driver alongside Enders in the Mountain Motor Pro Stock class.
Freeman made sure everyone knew he was no field filler Friday afternoon with a 4.06 at 177.81-mph pass that was quickest and fastest of the 18 Pro Stockers at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Mountain-motored veteran John Deflorian Jr. was just two-thousandths behind in second, followed by Alan Drinkwater, Enders and Tommy Lee to fill out the top five.
Freeman is driving a 2020 Camaro built by Rick Jones, while teammate Enders is in a 2018 version of the same car, both of which were part of J.R. Carr’s mountain-motor program that Freeman recently purchased. He said in 2008, he and Carr started the team together, so it’s come full circle.
“When IHRA cut the program, I made the decision to go 500-inch racing instead, and Frank and J.R. continued (in mountain motors) so it’s kind of neat to get all back together,” Freeman explained. “We’re all having a lot of fun. J.R. and Frank (Gugliotta) are both part of the (Elite Motorsports) team now. Frank is crew chief Erica’s crew chief here.”
Proving her versatility behind the wheel, Enders revealed she’d never previously driven a mountain-motor car until her first test pass at Bradenton.
“I never hit the starter button in one of these cars until we got here on Monday,” she said. “It’s definitely got a learning curve to it, a lot different than my 500-inch stuff, but still really cool because it’s a clutch car with a five-speed Liberty. So same concept essentially, but nothing is really the same at all.”
She explained NHRA Pro Stock cars get shifted at 10,500 rpm, compared to 8,500 rpm for the mountain-motored rides. Likewise, she said 500-cubic-inch NHRA engines deliver power through a 6.5-inch “race car clutch” compared to the 10.5-inch “Mack truck” clutches in this weekend’s ride.
“So, it definitely drives a lot different. And we go from electronic fuel injection back to carburetors – which is what I love. My guys make fun of me. They like to call me ‘Warren Johnson,’ because I just love carburetors, I love gauges, I love old school,” Enders said.
“So that part of it’s been really cool to have that back and just to add another car to my resume of driving and the fact that it’s a door car and a clutch car makes me really happy.”
