Drag Illustrated Issue 125, September 2017 | Page 70

WORLD SERIES OF PRO MOD
READY FOR MORE
HAD THE NUMBERS been
known, it would have likely demon-
strated that Whiteley, whose Ca-
dillac CTS-V is tuned by renowned
crew chief Jeff Perley, had the car to
beat atop legendary Thunder Moun-
tain. Despite ultimately bowing out
in the final round to Mike Bowman,
Whiteley remained upbeat when he
dust finally settled in Denver, more
so looking forward to another go
‘round than anything else. “For the
longest time, Pro Mod was always
the outlaw in drag racing,” explained
Whiteley, son of well-known and
respected racers Jim and Annie
Whiteley. “That’s no longer the case.
Maybe more than anything else, it
was cool to see Pro Mod treated
like a big deal and presented cen-
ter-stage. When you have the most
elite Pro Mods racing for $100,000,
it makes us feel like a big deal, like
we’re Top Fuel. That’s huge. It’s a big
deal for this group of people. I can’t
wait to do it again.”
AMONGST THE FIRST to arrive on the property of Bandimere Speedway
for the inaugural World Series of Pro Mod was Battleground, Washington’s
Shane Molinari and his spectacular twin-turbocharged 1968 Pontiac Firebird
tuned by Brad Personett and Justin Barnes. After unloading on Tuesday
morning, Molinari and company wasted no time, making multiple test
hits throughout the course of WSOPM Race Week, rolling into elimination
day with what appeared to the naked eye as a terrifyingly fast race car. “We
came into this deal to win, you know,” admitted Molinari, who lasted until
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
the semifinal round of action until being forced to pedal against eventual
winner Mike Bowman and falling short by a car length at the finish line.
“We knew everyone was going to be going up there with their stuff on kill,
but we were really focusing on making laps. It’s all about going A to B; if
you don’t go down the track you can’t expect to win. When it came down to
it, though, we couldn’t leave anything on the table - especially not knowing
what anyone else had been running. We got a little too aggressive out there.”
Issue 125
LOADED FOR BEAR