Canadian Outlaw Pro Modified racer Jay Santos set the pace on the first day of the 52nd annual Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, emerging as the quickest doorslammer on the property with a 3.616-second elapsed time. 

Santos leads a slew of provisional No. 1 qualifiers that includes Mark Woodruff (Pro 275), Eric LaFerriere (X275), Paul Gargus (Limited Drag Radial), Daryl Stewart (Outlaw 632), and Shawn Pevlor (Ultra Street).

Santos led several 3.6-second players in the Pro Modified division. Over 40 cars are competing for a spot in the 32-car field. racing for the $52,000-to-win prize. 

The battle for Friday’s top runner actually came down to a battle of Canadian racers, with Santos coming around early leader Spencer Hyde. When the smoke cleared of Friday’s last session, Mark Micke ended up second quickest with a 3.621 at 215.79.

“Turbo” Todd Moyer in his Carl Stevens Jr.-tuned, twin-turbo ’15 Camaro qualified third with a 3.622 at 223.25. Hyde, who won the $100,000 Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod at Bradenton in March, ended up No. 4 with his 3.624 at 207.02 in his screw-blown “Jack & The Green Stock” ’69 Camaro. Derek Ward, the newly crowned Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association champion, drove his screw-blown ’68 Firebird to a 3.641 at 206.20 to round out the top five. A total of 28 drivers ran in the 3.60-second zone, with Bob Glenn’s 3.724 holding down the 32-car bump spot. 

“We always knew we had a car that could run, but we had some gremlins in the beginning with electrical issues,” said Santos, driver of the screw-blown Brampton Pallet ’69 Camaro. “It put us back like crazy, but we’ve been pushing hard. We finally got here, and we struggled a little bit the last couple days, but we made some adjustments, and she’s right back where she should be. We’ve got a car that we can race with anybody, to be honest.
 
Santos is honored to be the car to beat, but even more so to be competing against such elite company. 

 
“It’s unbelievable to race these racers,” Santos said. “It’s been a dream. We’ve been pushing hard to get to their level, and I think we’re there. We’ve got more. We’re going to work hard at it to show it.”

Santos understands Saturday’s qualifying will likely yield 3.50s. 
 
“I don’t think it’s going to hold,” Santos said. “I think people will go in the 3.50s for sure. It just depends on the weather conditions. We’re going to try for it too, though. We’re ready, and we’re going to do our best to get there.”

Woodruff took advantage of excellent atmospheric conditions to jump to the front of the line in Pro275 qualifying. He recorded a 3.765 at 198.26 in his screw-blown ’10 Corvette, passing newly crowned FuelTech Radial Outlaws Racing Series Pro 275 champion Jason Collins, who is now second with his 3.769 at 199.35 in his screw-blown ’69 Camaro. Ocala, Florida’s Chad Opaleski also threw down a number in the night session, a 3.866 at 185.59, to sit third going into Saturday’s three sessions. 
 
X275’s leader LaFerriere appears untouchable with a 4.161 at 178.90 in Duy Bui’s turbocharged ’97 Nissan 240SX, known as “White Rice.” Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Mark Meiering is the closest to LaFerriere with a 4.297 at 171.62 in his turbo ’07 Mustang GT500. Sean Lyon in his ’89 Mustang is currently third with a 4.33 at 168.18. 

Qualifying continues on Saturday with three sessions before starting eliminations on Sunday.