Mike Castellana maintained the qualifying lead and ran the second-quickest elapsed time in NHRA Pro Mod history during eliminations Saturday at the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. This weekend’s Pro Mod racing, presented by Pro Line Racing and FuelTech, is the fourth of 12 events this season.

Castellana’s 5.717-second pass at 251.81 mph in his Al Anabi Racing ’17 Camaro during Saturday’s qualifying sessions secured him the No. 1 qualifier. Castellana now owns four of the five quickest runs in Pro Mod racing history. During eliminations, Castellana defeated Kevin Rivenbark with a time of 5.794 at 248.98.

"It's great, we had that incident on the first qualifying round, but my crew got the car back in top shape and it's like nothing ever happened,” said Castellana who went into the sand trap on Friday. “We made a good first round win and we're just looking to go rounds tomorrow."

Todd Tutterow qualified second and went on to defeat Von Smith in the first round of eliminations. Tutterow ran a 5.801 at 246.44 in his Galot Motorsports ’69 Camaro.

Harry Hruska, who qualified third, defeated Bob Rahaim and No. 4 qualifier Khalid alBalooshi bested Doug Winters.

J&A Pro Mod Series eliminations continue Sunday at approximately 12:45 p.m. at Atlanta Dragway.
 

First round results from the 37th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, the fourth of 12 events in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series:
 

PRO MODIFIED:

ROUND ONE -- Sidnei Frigo, Chevy Corvette, 6.321, 184.85 def. Danny Rowe, Corvette, 8.757, 108.01; Larry Morgan, Chevy Camaro, 5.860, 250.23 def. Steve Matusek, Camaro, 5.855, 249.49; Steve Jackson, Camaro, 5.808, 245.94 def. Shane Molinari, Pontiac Firebird, 5.808, 256.70; Steven Whiteley, Cadillac CTS-V, 5.838, 248.20 def. Jonathan Gray, Camaro, Foul - Red Light; Khalid alBalooshi, Camaro, 5.850, 248.89 def. Doug Winters, Chevy Chevelle, 8.528, 108.33; Harry Hruska, Camaro, 5.957, 250.23 def. Bob Rahaim, Corvette, 6.143, 190.83; Todd Tutterow, Camaro, 5.801, 246.44 def. Von Smith, Camaro, 13.656, 65.63; Mike Castellana, Camaro, 5.794, 248.98 def. Kevin Rivenbark, Corvette, 5.957, 241.20.

 
Final order after 3 rounds of qualifying in Pro Modified at the 37th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals, the fourth of 12 events in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series:
 

Psn---Num-Driver, Home Town, Car Type---------------Qual-ET--Qual-Spd

  1   44 Mike Castellana, Oyster Bay NY, '17 Camaro      5.717  251.81

  2  202 Todd Tutterow, Yadkinville NC,  '69 Camaro      5.786  248.29

  3  325 Harry Hruska, Hebron IN,  '14 Camaro            5.796  253.42

  4    7 Khalid alBalooshi, Ajman UA, '17 Camaro         5.796  248.61

  5   13 Jonathan Gray, Artesia NM, '17 Camaro           5.796  248.20

  6 6718 Shane Molinari, Battle Ground WA, '68 Firebird  5.803  257.48

  7    5 Steve Matusek, Olathe KS, '68 Camaro            5.810  251.02

  8    8 Danny Rowe, Laguna Hills CA, '15 Corvette       5.812  249.30

  9  288 Sidnei Frigo, Sao Paulo BZ, '16 Corvette        5.813  254.04

 10  357 Larry Morgan, Newark OH, '17 Camaro             5.819  252.43

 11  280 Steve Jackson, Evans GA, '17 Camaro             5.825  244.74

 12 5200 Steven Whiteley, Grand Junction CO, '14 CTS-V   5.826  249.53

 13 2105 Doug Winters, Pleasant Garden NC,  '69 Chevelle 5.840  241.07

 14    3 Bob Rahaim, Grosse Pointe MI,  '15 Corvette     5.855  238.64

 15 2377 Von Smith, Kingston TN, '69 Camaro              5.881  246.21

 16  205 Kevin Rivenbark, Wallace NC,  '15 Corvette      5.881  242.54

       ------------ Not Qualified ------------

17 1938 Eric Latino, Port Perry ON,  '69 Camaro         5.891  249.21

 18 1262 Chuck Little, Atkinson NH,  '63 Corvette        5.894  244.78

 19 1456 Mike Janis, Lancaster NY,  '16 Camaro           5.903  244.43

 20 1518 Pete Farber, Baldwinville MA, '69 Daytona       5.907  251.44

 21    4 Michael Biehle, North Vernon IN, '67 Mustang    5.920  252.47

 22 5087 Jim Whiteley, Grand Junction CO, '69 Camaro     5.965  244.38

 23  701 Clint Satterfield, Albuquerque NM,  '68 Firebi  6.037  248.02

 24    2 Troy Coughlin, Delaware OH, '15 Corvette        6.101  248.07

 25 275T Ruben Tetsoshvili, Wesley Chapel FL,  '17 Cama  6.206  232.19

 26 5011 Mike Knowles, Grand Junction CO,  '67 Mustang   6.406  223.84

 27 220F Kevin Fiscus, Jacksonville FL,  '10 Mustang     8.039  107.80

 28   77 Shannon Jenkins, Tuscaloosa AL,  '16 Mustang   14.267   86.81