What started out as a dream will, in 2018, move towards a tradition.

Drag Illustrated publisher Wes Buck, the brainchild behind the World Series of Pro Modified drag racing, confirmed the event would return in 2018, with its unique format of blank scoreboards and most importantly the $100,000-winner-take-all format at Bandimere Speedway outside of Denver, Co.

The second annual Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod is scheduled for August 11 -12, 2018.

"We’re thrilled that we’re coming back to Denver," Buck confirmed. "Once again the Drag Illustrated World Series of Promod will be at Bandimere Speedway. We’re so excited about what we accomplished together. This past August, we believe it was a historic moment, a big moment for Pro Mod drag racing for doorslammer drag racing. I have to say again, huge thanks to Bandimere Speedway, our team at Drag Illustrated but more importantly, the fans and the racers and our sponsors that supported this vision form the very beginning. 

"I’m personally humbled beyond words by the number of cars and racers. Guys that I’ve idolized at different times and admired that I have an infinite amount of respect for that they chose to come out and be a part of this first-time event, stick their neck out, make an investment. The names, the people that were involved, it’s hard to put into words how validating it is. And that said, we’re excited."

With both the inaugural event, and now the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in the rearview mirror, Buck felt the time was right to start looking ahead to what he hopes will be even bigger and better of an event than the original proved to be. 

"We feel there are big things on the horizon and we wanted to make a powerful statement in the weeks following the World Series of Pro Mod," Buck said.  

The inaugural event was intended to showcase Pro Modified race cars, and utilized the rules and regulations native to the NHRA J&A Service Pro Modified tour. A bit of the grudge racing atmosphere was adopted in no qualifying, pre-paired races and probably the largest factor, no scoreboards until the final round.

While Buck and many who attended the event rated the event as a rousing success, there are some adjustments the promoter feels must be made for the next event.

"We’re actually examining a lot of things," Buck confirmed. "There are certain things that I’m going to stick to my guns about, but I’m open to changing some things. I’m open to exploring some things. Our biggest thing is increasing participation. Not surprisingly on the heels of our first event, our inaugural event, we’ve had a lot of interest from racers that want to participate next year that want to be involved somehow and someway. 

"My goal first and foremost is to cater to the guys who supported us this year, who came out and cast their vote with their wallets and with their time and effort. I want to take care of those guys, but I want to make sure that we find a way to get more race teams involved. So possibly an expanded field. 

"We’ve had a lot of incredible manufacturers in this industry voice their desire to support the deal. So we’re hoping to offer some products to the people that are involved."

The one untouchable in the unique format is the winner truly is the winner.

"I’m going to stick to my guns on our winner take all format," Buck stated emphatically. "I think that it brings out the best in everybody. It creates an air of electricity that’s unusual, and I love to be able to create those severe consequences. We’re looking at changing some things."

While Buck declined to elaborate further, he did point out an adjustment to the blank scoreboard policy is not out of reason. 

The major detractor from the inaugural event was the lack of nitrous-injected entries participating. Buck understands the origination of the Pro Modified division, and how instrumental the nitrous combination was in the pioneering day of the volatile doorslammer class, and hopes to find a way to attract more of these racers whose perception is there's no way their combination can be competitive. 

"It’s very tough," Buck said. "For those that are familiar with the combination, you can’t ask those guys to take a lot of weight off the cars because all of them are about as light as they can get. So we kind of have to work with some of those teams. It’s my goal to get three or four nitrous cars, top ten nitrous cars to race on the mountain with us next year. 

"That may come by some testing. That may come by some rule manipulation. The problem is that you get so far away from RPM, the rule set that NHRA has created that I believe should be the standard. One of the things that I’m personally passionate about is the unification of Pro Mod. I don’t think that we should be running 70 different variations of Pro Mod across the country. 

"I think it’s something that is hurting the forward growth of the sport, the Pro Modified segment. So I do not want to get into a deal where we’re creating our own rule set. I want to stay as close to the NHRA as we possibly can. We looked at our rule amendments for 2017 as exactly that, just slight amendments based on the unique conditions that exist in Denver." 

Buck confirmed in the months to come there will be more news to announce regarding the second running of the Pro Modifieds up on the mountain.

Steve Matusek, driver of the Aeromotive supercharged Camaro, already has his date marked on next year's calendar. He raced to a semi-final finish at the maiden even.

"It was a great experience," Matusek said. "It was great for the class. It was exciting. It added some elements to a driver and a tuner that you don’t normally see at other events. With the scoreboards being off, thinking what guys were running but not really knowing, it just added that extra element that made it a little bit more exciting, a little more intriguing and you had to put it on kill every run. 

"I thought it as a great venue. I thought it was a great event and we’re looking forward to going back next year."