Pro Modified spent the weekend rewriting its record book at World Wide Technology Raceway. When the numbers finally stopped falling Sunday, Stevie “Fast” Jackson reminded everyone he knows a little something about winning, too.
The two-time world champion ended a four-year NHRA victory drought by defeating Stan Shelton in the final round of the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Series event during the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals. Jackson’s 14th career victory was his first since 2022 and came on a weekend when the class seemingly couldn’t make a run without threatening history.
“It’s really awesome when you go through adversity and get to come out the other side,” Jackson said. “This is a really hard place to win. Seeing these fans out in the grandstands, that’s what gets us fired up and it was awesome this weekend. We’ve had a really good car and have a good handle on it.”
Jackson qualified fourth and worked his way through Kevin Rivenbark, Mike Thielen and reigning world champion J.R. Gray to reach the final. Shelton never gave him the opportunity to settle it under power, leaving before the green light and handing Jackson the victory.
Jackson was ready for him anyway.
His .019 reaction time accompanied a 5.634-second pass at 255.48 mph, the kind of run that would have forced Shelton to earn every inch of the win had he stayed green. Instead, Jackson left St. Louis with the trophy after putting together four rounds worthy of a two-time champion.
Shelton’s runner-up finish was his first final-round appearance of the season. He knocked out Billy Banaka, Justin Bond and Jason Collins before the red light ended his bid for the victory.
If Jackson owned Sunday, Chip King owned the number everybody will remember from Saturday.
Pro Mod’s performance ceiling was assaulted throughout qualifying, with the series elapsed-time record falling in each of the final three sessions. King delivered the knockout punch in the final session with a 5.596 at 257.24 mph, becoming the first driver in NHRA Pro Mod history to break into the 5.50-second zone.
That run gave King the No. 1 qualifying position and put an exclamation point on one of the quickest qualifying weekends the class has produced. By Sunday afternoon, however, the bigger story had shifted from the record book to the championship standings.
Mike Stavrinos arrived in St. Louis holding the points lead and was gone after the opening round. Bond took advantage, doing enough before his semifinal loss to Shelton to leave Missouri as the new championship leader.
Bond will carry a 17-point advantage over Stavrinos into the season finale, a margin of less than one round under the NHRA Pro Mod points structure. Derek Menholt remains within striking distance at 54 points behind Bond, while Gray sits fourth, 67 points out of the lead.
The JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by Elite Motorsports closes out its 2026 season on Oct. 29-Nov. 1 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as part of the MOPAR NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge.
