- Race Coverage
- Pro Mods Coverage
oe Baker won his second JEGS ProMod Challenge race of the season Sunday at Houston Raceway Park to maintain a firm grip on the JEGS championship points lead after two of 10 races on the 2008 schedule.
Driving the ProCare Rx Corvette borrowed from fellow racer Roger Burgess, Baker repeated his unlikely Florida victory with a much more dominant performance in Texas. He had the quickest elapsed time of all three elimination rounds run on Sunday, including a pair of 5.9s in the quarterfinals and semifinals, and dismissed Tony Pontieri in the finals with a 6.022 at 239.19 mph to Pontieri's 6.048 at 237.42 mph.
In Florida, Baker was a last-minute replacement and needed some luck to get his Willys racecar to the winner's circle.
"It's been an incredible couple of weeks," Baker said. "Roger's team is first-rate and they made it very easy for me today. They definitely have their stuff together over there.
"The pressure is on for us now. We'll be back in my Willys for the next race and after a start like this we better be prepared. Gainesville was tough for us because we had no time to test so we'll make sure and get same runs on the car before we get to Atlanta.
"My thanks to Roger, Mike Ashley, and all of their crew for this weekend. We certainly won this as a group."
Baker is now a full 80 points clear of Pontieri in the JEGS points with Pontieri assuming second place with his runner-up finish. Raymond Commisso is third, 13 behind Pontieri.
 Hernandez and Steve Engel both hit the 5-second mark in the last round of qualifying at Houston. Hernandez went 5.962/242.50 while Engel clocked 5.989/241.37. |
Heavily favored on performance alone, the emotional push to win in front of family, sponsors and friends also drove Texas native Joshua Hernandez.
"We had the car to beat, and the race was ours to lose," Hernandez said. "We'd been running low numbers all weekend, and ending up number one and taking home the Ohio Crankshaft $1,000 low qualifier money was great. It seemed like destiny was ours again, except for that pesky fuel line."
Hernandez dispatched Harold Laird Saturday evening, 5.998/242.15 to 6.088/234.74, and felt he was on his way. When he lined up against John Russo Sunday morning to continue his path, his confidence was high.
"Russo has put down some incredible numbers in testing, and he's proven he has to be taken seriously, so I knew it was going to be a good race. Jim Oddy [crew chief] had the Camaro ready to rumble, and after we left the line I started to pull away from John. I thought it was in the bag, but at about four seconds into the run, a fuel line broke and I had to make a decision: do I push it and grenade the motor to get the win, or do I lift and hope I have enough momentum to take the stripe."
Now in his fourth year of Pro Mod drag racing and the reigning JEGS ProMod World Champion, Hernandez made a veteran's decision and lifted, saving the car to race another day.
"It was the right thing to do and it just came naturally. I really didn't think, I just moved. There will be another race, and, honestly, the thought of a fireball in my face going 230 mph just didn't appeal to me," he laughed.
Russo took the stripe more than a car's-length ahead of Hernandez, 6.084/236.46 to 6.149/192.38.