Photos by Robert Richard
THURSDAY PHOTO GALLERY
The man once nicknamed “serial killer” on the small-tire circuit is back to killing it again on the big tires of Pro Modified.
During the first day of qualifying for the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Modified, Ken Quartuccio thundered to the quickest pass of the first day with a 3.596 elapsed time at 207.69 mph and leading a group of 80 drivers attempting to qualify for the $150,000-to-win, 32-car field.
Joining Quartuccio atop the WSOPM leaderboard are drivers Johnny Pluchio (Mountain Motor Pro Stock) and Joel Wensley Jr. (Pro 10.5 Challenge).
Quartuccio, who won the second Pro Modified race of the DI Winter Series and last week’s Lights Out 16 Drag Radial event, led Friday’s qualifying from start to finish.
“I just love this place. I love everything about it,” Quartuccio said. “When Vic (Alvarez) went 3.61, I honestly thought at that time of the day it was going to be hard to beat. But as the sun went down, (tuner) Steve Petty slowly dialed the car in to go a little faster. When I went through the finish line and saw a .59, I was pretty excited about that. I believe a turbo car is going to qualify No. 1 tomorrow night, and I’m 100% OK with it. I know that I can go rounds with what I’ve got.”
Pluchino, the two-time PDRA Pro Stock champion and reigning NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock series titlist, recorded a 4.096, then improved to a 4.061 at 177.60 for the top spot.
“We’re an extremely confident group no matter what,” Pluchino said. “I said it a while ago – you don’t want to pull the orange car in the chip draw this weekend. You just don’t want to do that. Pull somebody else. You don’t want to pull this orange car.”
Wensley Jr. fired off a 3.925 at 194.32 in his Patrick Barnhill-tuned, ProCharged ’14 Camaro during the second session, which saw almost every driver step up in big ways. Twenty-five drivers made qualifying attempts, and it took passes in the 3.90s to qualify in the top five.
“This was extremely rewarding,” said Wensley, who thanked DiSomma Racing Engines and PTP Tuning. “After last year, we ended up putting a new front clip on the car to try to lighten up some weight on the nose. The first pass out, we come in with a 1.04 60-foot off the trailer. Unfortunately, it backfired on that run because of some valve seat issues, and we didn’t get much data after that, but we came back, and we were like, ‘Man, I guess we’re right back where we were.’ It was definitely rewarding and a big sigh of relief.”
Sportsman racing is also represented by the second annual Intercontinental Top Sportsman Championship and the second annual Intercontinental Top Dragster Championship. Reigning PDRA Top Sportsman world champion Glenn Butcher (Top Sportsman) and Russ Whitlock (Top Dragster) are the provisional low qualifiers after their first qualifying session.
Pro Mod is scheduled to get three more qualifying sessions on Friday before drawing chips to determine first-round pairings for Saturday’s eliminations. All other classes are scheduled for two more qualifying sessions.
