Second half
of the NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge
begins at St. Louis
NHRA AMS Staff Leasing
Pro Mod Challenge
Eighth annual NHRA Sears Craftsman Nationals
Gateway International Raceway -- Madison, Ill.
by Mickey
Schultz
Photo by Ron Lewis
6/23/04
he
second half of the ten-race NHRA AMS Staff Leasing
Pro Mod Challenge, an NHRA exhibition class,
begins this weekend at the eighth annual NHRA
Sears Craftsman Nationals.
New drivers, as well as many familiar names,
have placed their names on the mid-season scorecard.
Perhaps the biggest surprise has been that
of the Barrie, Ontario driver, Al Billes.
Billes, the veteran driver of the Stratford
Motor Products '53 Corvette, is only one of
two drivers in the Pro Mod class to have qualified
for the eight-car field at all five events.
The other driver is Von Smith, from Oak Ridge,
Tenn., who drives the Conroe, Texas-based Tommy
Lipar Racing '04 Mustang.
But the biggest surprise of all is that Billes
has won three of the five events contested.
Billes's first career win at an NHRA AMS Staff
Leasing Pro Mod Challenge event came at Gainesville
in March of this year. Since then he has won
at Bristol and the just completed event in Englishtown,
N.J.
The other two winners thus far are veteran
Pro Mod driver Mike Ashley, the New York mortgage-banker
who won Houston, and Mike Castellana, from Westbury,
N.Y., who took top honors at the spring Chicago
race.
Both Billes and Ashley, in the Unique Performance/InfiNet
Insurance Shelby G.T. 500E Mustang, an exact
replica of the same Shelby G.T. 500E nicknamed
Eleanor and featured in the blockbuster
movie Gone in 60 Seconds, drive
supercharged powered cars, while Castellana,
behind the wheel of the Western Beef/Speedtech-backed
'68 Camaro, is the sole winner in a nitrous
car.
The youngest driver on the circuit, 20-year-old
Zach Barklage from Eldon, Mo., is another pleasant
surprise this season. Running on a limited budget,
he has qualified for four of the five events
contested thus far on the NHRA AMS Staff Leasing
Pro Mod Challenge, finishing runner-up at Houston
and advancing to the semifinal round at Chicago
and Englishtown.
The Barklage Racing team has not only improved
their overall performance, they've improved
their reliability. Plagued by engine problems
last season, the team hired Darren Mayer to
consult on engine building and tuning. He has
brought much needed consistency to Barklage's
program.
For the 2004 IHRA and NHRA seasons, the Barklage
team gained product sponsorship from Goodyear
Tire, Blower Drive Service, NGK Spark Plugs,
Goodson Tools, Royal Purple lubricants, and
Radical Graphics. RP Lumber of Edwardsville,
Illinois signed on as a major associate sponsor.
Barklage Drywall, owned by Zach's father, Mark,
remains the major source of sponsorship, however.
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