In Pro Modified Raymond Commisso continued his incredible weekend with an Ironman victory over Tommy Gray (Baltimore, Md.) with a 5.955 second pass at 244.83 mph over Gray’s 6.105 at 237.42 mph run.

“Every round you are trying to do your best and we just kept getting better every time,” Commisso said. “We didn’t have any computer so it was a bit of a crapshoot, but we rolled the dice three times in a row and it worked out in our favor for once.”

In the first two days of qualifying Commisso not only managed to grab the top qualifying spot, but also set an IHRA World Speed Record in the process at 246.08 mph. Add in an Ironman trophy and the Mardi Gras Nationals made for one incredible weekend for the Toronto native.

“Any racers’ dream is to qualify No. 1 and win the race and we have qualified No. 1 at a lot of races and this time we were able to close the deal,” Commisso said. “We set the speed record, we backed it up and we won the race going even faster E.T. wise and the car just kept going faster and faster all weekend. The funny thing is the last two rounds we didn’t have any data; our computer decided to pack it in, so it was basically a crapshoot.”

Gray’s Camaro took the first round win over Harold Martin’s new M4 car which ran an off-the-pace 8.721 at 135.40 mph. There were 11 cars in the Pro Mod field.

In the Pro Modified semi-finals Gray got the free pass to the final round while Commisso had put in a little extra work to advance. Commisso’s Camaro battled the Camaro of Ed Hoover (Gilbert, SC) in an excellent drag race with Commisso continuing his hot weekend with a time of 5.984 at 243.15 mph to edge Hoover (6.156, 207.05).

Commisso came into the semis already holding the new IHRA World Speed Record and he used that momentum to carry him through the ladder.

In the quarters it was Commisso over Taylor Lastor, Hoover over Danny Rowe and Gray over hometown-favorite and Baton Rouge native Harold Laird.