CLOSE-UP
Patience
Tested
Farber’s season starts with
frustration and promise
M
assachusetts’ Pete Farber kicked off the 2017 Pro Mod season
with a strong showing and elimination round win at the RPM Pro
Mod Winter Warm-Up in mid-February, and followed it up with
the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Florida’s Gainesville
Raceway in March.
Returning to the most competitive doorslammer competition on the planet with
his supercharged CRC Automotive Brakleen ’69 Dodge Daytona, Farber got back to
racing after a long winter off-season. During the downtime, his car was gone over
from front to back. A refreshed engine and updated technology throughout also
meant Farber would be ready to race all season long, and Adam Lambert at Preci-
sion Racing Suspension helped to dial in the Daytona’s suspension setup.
At February’s RPM Winter Warm-Up event at Orlando SpeedWorld, Farber qual-
ified fourth with a 5.849 at 250.55 mph hit. He also set the top speed for the class,
and went on to get a big first-round win in eliminations. The race prepared him
well for the start of the NHRA season, and Farber headed to Gainesville in top form.
There, qualifying for the NHRA Pro Mod race began on Friday afternoon. Farber
had a good launch, but his car got loose early in the run. During the second session
that evening, the Daytona didn’t cooperate and produced massive tire shake near
the 330-foot mark, prompting Farber to abort the run. He put down his quickest
pass of the weekend during Saturday’s third session, but the numbers weren’t able
to break him into the Top 16 as the extremely competitive