A familiar face from the modern years of Mountain Motor Pro Stock racing will return to competition this year.

Pete Berner, who won IHRA championships in 2006 and 2008, reached 13 final rounds during his time racing in the class, while winning five times. When the sanctioning body disbanded its professional racing series, he held five IHRA track records for the Mountain Motor Pro Stockers.

“I wasn’t really even thinking about making a return, but after talking to my wife and a few of my old racing friends, we decided it was a great opportunity,” Berner said. “This is a great team that Richard’s put together with J.R. Carr, and it’s an excellent program. Getting to race with them again is going to be an awesome experience.

“I’m looking forward to being Erica’s teammate. We’ve tested together before, and I was there when she first got her Pro Stock license, so we go back a ways, but I’ve never had the opportunity to race with her, so that’s very exciting as well. She’s one of the best out there, if not THE best. She’s got such a talent. It’s unbelievable.”

Berner will take over driving the Chevrolet Camaro previously announced as Freeman’s ride, a dominating car formerly owned by J.R. Carr.

Five-time Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders will continue to pilot the other Elite entry in this growing category.

“We already know that the chemistry is there with Pete from our shared experience in the IHRA,” said Freeman. “He’s a skilled driver who knows his way around these cars, and I’m confident he can take anything that’s thrown at him out on the track. He’s the kind of guy people naturally want to root for out here, and his engineering mind will be an asset to our team in more ways than one. We want to grow this program in the NHRA and that means we need to have the best drivers behind the wheel. He’s one of the best and we’re excited to see what he can accomplish this year with the full power of the Elite team behind him.”

Frank Gugliotta, a former friendly foe and friend to Berner manages the large displacement Pro Stock program for Elite, making Berner’s return even more seamless.

“Frankie and I are pretty good buddies. He’s a fierce competitor,” said Berner. “He’s great fun to race with. He helped me win one of my world championships by defeating one of the guys who was in the running against me. We became good buddies with all of the Freemans. We used to love to beat up on each other and always had a lot of fun together. So, out of the blue, Richard called me and asked me if I would be interested in working with him and Frankie.

Berner lives in Crete, Ill., a southern suburb of Chicago, where he owns and operates Performance Mechanical, a mechanical contracting company specializing in retrofitting hospitals in the Chicago area.

“It’s going to be a great fit for us. I’m really looking forward to it,” said Berner. “I’ve got to go through a couple of hoops first, but we’re hoping to get all of that done and be ready for Chicago. I’ve made a lot of laps in these cars, so I just need to dust the cobwebs off and when we feel comfortable, we will start. If we need to wait for Epping, we will. There’s been no pressure, but I think I’m ready. I held the world record in that class up until a year or so ago. And those are the guys that surpassed it. So I know I’m with the right team.”

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