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.