Mike Castellana proved that there is parity in Pro Mod for the nitrous cars with his win in the Pro Mod Challenge.

Castellana qualified No. 8 with a 6.042/232.19 and worked his way past reigning IHRA champ Kenny Lang in the first round, low qualifier Roger Burgess in round two, and the turbo-powered  '68 Camaro of Brad Personett in the semi-finals to face off against Al-Anabi teammate and fellow-member of the nitrous brotherhood Burton Auxier for the finals.

Auxier had delivered consistent 6.0-performances en route to his finals berth, dispatching Danny Rowe, Rickie Smith and Rick Stivers to make the finals, but struggled in the end. Castellana cut a near-perfect .008 light to take the lead and never looked back, 6.040/228.77 to 6.174/229.12.

Al-Anabi racers Mike Castellana and Burton Auxier met in the final round.  (Todd Dziadosz photo)

"I'm really happy for the entire Al-Anabi team and how well everyone performed today," Castellana said. "To have a semi-final where we've got two nitrous cars, a turbo and one blower car really shows how far we've come in the past several years.”