Roger Burgess recorded his first Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge victory in a weekend marked by record-setting performances and thrilling wall-slamming action. The teams were racing not only to beat one another Sunday afternoon, but also the rain that threatened to delay the action again at the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway as it had during Friday qualifying.
 
After qualifying in the No. 2 spot with a 5.931/244.96, Burgess' road to the winner's circle began on Sunday with a single run when Rick Stivers failed to show after a harrowing qualifying crash on Saturday that saw the left-rear wheel sheared off the axle and slip up into the chassis of his Trane-sponsored '06 Stratus, and push him from the right lane to the left guard-wall, up onto the nose and then over on the back before coming to a stop on all four wheels and the Kentucky HVAC business-owner walking away from the scene without a scratch.
 
In round two, Burgess faced Mike Knowles in his Mike Strasberg-tuned '63 Corvette. Burgess blasted away with his Al Billes-horsepower and dispatched Knowles 5.953/243.28 to 6.217/228.65. The semi-finals paired Burgess with reigning IHRA champ Kenny Lang who broke and coasted down the track, giving the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-resident an easy pass, 5.928/243.06 to 14.000/59.73.

Roger Burgess recorded his first Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge victory in a weekend marked by record-setting performances and thrilling wall-slamming action. The teams were racing not only to beat one another Sunday afternoon, but also the rain that threatened to delay the action again at the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway as it had during Friday qualifying.
 
After qualifying in the No. 2 spot with a 5.931/244.96, Burgess' road to the winner's circle began on Sunday with a single run when Rick Stivers failed to show after a harrowing qualifying crash on Saturday that saw the left-rear wheel sheared off the axle and slip up into the chassis of his Trane-sponsored '06 Stratus, and push him from the right lane to the left guard-wall, up onto the nose and then over on the back before coming to a stop on all four wheels and the Kentucky HVAC business-owner walking away from the scene without a scratch.
 
In round two, Burgess faced Mike Knowles in his Mike Strasberg-tuned '63 Corvette. Burgess blasted away with his Al Billes-horsepower and dispatched Knowles 5.953/243.28 to 6.217/228.65. The semi-finals paired Burgess with reigning IHRA champ Kenny Lang who broke and coasted down the track, giving the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-resident an easy pass, 5.928/243.06 to 14.000/59.73.
 
In the final, Burgess had to use every ounce of his accumulated driving skills to face nitrous-powered veteran Burton Auxier who had consistently been improving throughout the day but had failed to yet break the five-second mark. In the end, Burgess slapped a .018 to .040 holeshot on Auxier and crossed the line less than three feet in front of him to score his first ever event win.  By the numbers, it was Burgess with a 6.002/240.08 over Auxier's quicker 5.988/237.75.
 
"What an incredible win for us today," an ecstatic Burgess said. "It was definitely thrilling all day, and to win in such a close race, I have to tip my hat to Burton and his whole Al-Anabi team, but I so happy the things worked out the way they did for us.  Every man out here worked so hard for this, it is truly something we'll hold onto as our first win together.
 
"I couldn't be happier," Burgess said.
 
The racing action was marred by a breathtaking crash during the second round when Kenny Lang faced off against Pride, Louisiana-racer Harold Laird. At the green light, Lang took off and then sputtered to a slow crawl. Laird struggled to keep his '63 Corvette in the groove, eventually crossing the track and taking out the cone at the finish line before slamming the wall and rolling completely over and back onto the wheels.
 
Laird explained his perspective: "The car got out of the groove and moved over to the right a little bit, the right tire wanted to spin and the left one was still grabbing, and it just took me right across the track and into the wall. It happened so fast; I was going at least 200 m.p.h.
 
"I'm fine, my chest hurts. The safety equipment really did a great job - Tim McAmis builds a great car and it's a testament to the safety rules by everybody that I'm ok," he said.
 
"From here, we're just going to regroup. Driving one of these cars is like trying to tame a wild animal, but it's what we do - what we love to do, but we take the risk. We can't buy another car, so we'll just have to see what happens.
 
Laird added, "The main reason we're still here is God was looking out for us - there's no other reason. I give Him the glory. The impact of the wall, then the car does that barrel roll and you watch the bottom of the track come eye-level with you and the roof. It's indescribable and something I wouldn't wish on anyone because it's unimaginable. When you see the track upside down. You can't think when you're going through it."
 
Other notable action from the weekend included Jay Payne's No. 1 qualifying and personal-quickest 5.903/230.88 blast that was close to becoming a national ET record, had the California-racer been able to back it up. In the end, Payne had to settle for a GIR track record. Mike Castellana also delivered a nitrous-powered track ET record with a 5.969 in qualifying, and turbo-powered Brad Personett landed the track speed record with a blazing 250.88 mph pass in qualifying.
 
Up next for the get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge is the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals May 15-17 in Bristol, Tenn.
 
 
Points after Madison, Ill (Event 3 of 10)
1 Mike Castellana 241
2 Burton Auxier 216
3 Roger Burgess 212
4 Rick Stivers 200
5 Joe Baker 185
6 Danny Rowe 184
7 Harold Laird 155
8 Jay Payne 142
9 Kenny Lang 140
10 Brad Personett 139
11 Taylor Lastor 134
12 Mike Knowles 115
13 Tim Tindle 100
14 Raymond Commisso 80
15 Rickie Smith 52
16 Billy Gibson 42
17 Chip King 35
18 Kirk Wilmes 31
18 Andy McCoy 31
20 Tommy Gray 10
20 George Landis 10

Advertisement