If things go according to plan, Vincent Nobile will return to competing in NHRA’s Pro Stock class at the 2018 season-opening Winternationals Feb. 8-11 in Pomona, Calif.

“We are definitely coming out in 2018 and more than likely we will be at Pomona,” said John Nobile, who tunes the car driven by his son Vincent Nobile. “We have a brand-new car coming from Jerry Haas. We are going to leave on Dec. 11, so Vincent can get fitted for it. We are hoping Jerry can get it done in time, so we can go testing (at Phoenix before the Winternationals) and then go to Pomona.”

John Nobile said his son will be campaigning a 2018 Chevy Camaro in the upcoming season.

“More than likely we are going to be with Elite (Motorsports) again,” John said. “That’s what it looks like.”

Vincent Nobile joined Richard Freeman’s Elite Motorsports team in 2016, finishing fifth in the points, highlighted by a win at Reading, Pa. Last season, Vincent competed in 19 of the 24 races, and placed 10th in the point standings. His best performance was a runner-up effort at Englishtown, N.J.

Vincent sat out the final five races of the season – Reading, Pa., St. Louis, Dallas, Las Vegas and Pomona – when his team owner Nick Mitsos decided to pull the plug.

“I personally have never sat out and I have been racing since 1987,” John Nobile said. “The only thing that made it easy (to sit out) was we were not doing well. The whole thing (about sitting out) was to pick up the pieces, get some new equipment, and get out here and try and kick some a**.” 

Back on Oct. 3, NHRA told Pro Stock competitors because of low car counts and low interest among other things, the sanctioning body was going to have 8-car fields, instead of 16, at nine of the 24 of the national events in the 2018 season.

On Oct. 29, NHRA changed its mind and said the Pro Stock Car category will feature 16-car fields at all 24 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series national events in 2018.

“I think an 8-car field was the stupidest thing they ever thought of,” John Nobile said. “If Pro Stock goes away in NHRA I’m going back to Mountain Motor stuff and going back to having fun. That’s not what I want to do. What I want to do is continue to race NHRA and I hope that they succeed in making the class strong again.”