Drag Illustrated Issue 149, October 2019 | Page 94

WORLD SERIES OF PRO MOD 2019 Oksas and tuner Jeff Pierce were feeling confident after making a string of strong passes during pre-race testing. Pierce quickly found the sweet spot on Oksas’ twin- turbocharged ’67 Mustang and gave the Californian driver all the horsepower he needed to pull off the $100,000 victory. every respect. “It’s just pure excitement,” Oksas said. “This is just giant. I’ve busted my ass for 10 years doing this Pro Mod stuff, I’ve worked so hard and I can’t believe I’m standing here, I really can’t. To win this, it’s always been a passion of mine to win some- thing like this. I can’t even describe it. It’s just overwhelming, it’s crazy.” Just a few months ago was the last time Oksas thought about being done with racing. He blew up an engine right as the team was test- ing before racing at the NHRA Pro Mod event in Topeka, frustrated with more dollars down the drain. Something kept driving Oksas, though. He couldn’t stop, believing his moment was coming. Oksas had seen the difference Pierce’s exper- tise had brought and he was con- vinced there was a light at the end 94 | D r a g “THE PEOPLE PROBABLY HEARD SCREAMING INSIDE THE CAR AS I WAS TURNING OFF THE TRACK. I WAS PRETTY PUMPED UP.” of the tunnel. He might not have been expecting a $100,000 spotlight shining solely on him, but his love of the sport – and what it meant to his family – was too much too ignore. “Right before Topeka, I thought, ‘This is stupid. I’m spending so much money.’ But it was just deter- mination and the love of the sport. I just love it,” Oksas said. “I would have so much more money if I didn’t do it, but I just love to do it. I’ve been racing since I was 16 and when I set my goals to do something, I have I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com to do it.” By the time Oksas arrived at Bandimere Speedway for the sec- ond time, things were decidedly different than his debut at the WSOPM in 2018. He had hired Pierce to join a team that included Roger Rompal, who is the car chief, and Keith Howard, and the difference was immediate. It was Oksas’ admission that someone else needed to be making the tuning calls other than him that made the difference. It’s been his car and his opera- tion since day one, but the successful businessman viewed the addition of Pierce – and handing over the tuning reigns – as a smart busi- ness move. “I install water heaters, that’s what I do. I don’t race cars for a liv- ing, but Jeff does,” Oksas said. “All of this is because of him and my guys, not me. I tried to tune it for years and years, and didn’t win anything. I just worry about driving now.” Oksas joked they “don’t let me even touch the car now,” but he’s fine with that and that confidence was evident the moment he arrived on Thunder Mountain. He boldly claimed he was coming to win the race and the $100,000 prize, and then went and made a series of in- credible passes in testing. That set the tone for the weekend and it was on from there. Leaning Issue 149