Troy Coughlin  (Adam Cranmer photo)

Track and atmospheric conditions allowed many of the professional class cars to reset some of the Gainesville track records for speed and ET, and that included Pro Mod where Troy Coughlin’s turbo car reset the track speed record with a 256.26-mph lap during qualifying that bettered the 255.19 effort by turbocharger racer Brad Personett set at last year’s event.

The NHRA made some rule changes over the winter to deal with a perceived problem that turbocharged and supercharged cars had a performance advantage. The rules were designed to satisfy NHRA’s search for the ever-elusive “level playing field.” They reduced the maximum size of the turbochargers and increased their minimum weight but left the rest of the cars in the class basically as they were. As a result, looking at the stats, the only thing that changed significantly was that the turbo cars lost some ET! As an example, last year the bump for 16 cars was a 6.065 while this year it was a 6.995. That is a lot of change!

With the victory, Smith opens the season in the series points lead, 19 points ahead of Castellana. The next stop for the RX Pro Care-backed Pro Mod series is April 13-15 at Bruton Smith’s Charlotte, NC, zMax dragstrip. 

Qualifying

1. Mike Castellana, Chevy Camaro, 5.862, 245.72
2. Danny Rowe, Camaro, 5.892, 246.48 
3. Rickie Smith, Camaro, 5.911, 240.42
4. Donald Martin, Camaro, 5.919, 245.09 
5. Kenny Lang, Camaro, 5.942, 243.06 
6. Troy Coughlin, Camaro, 5.946, 256.26 
7. Leah Pruett, Mustang, 5.952, 250.83 
8. Mike Knowles, Camaro, 5.964, 240.08 
9. Pete Farber, Dodge Daytona, 5.976, 242.19
10. Steve Matusek, Mustang, 5.984, 248.34
11. Raymond Commisso, Camaro, 6.014, 246.26
12. Roger Burgess, Pontiac Firebird, 6.017, 244.25
13. Donald Walsh, Ford Mustang, 6.019, 239.57
14. Adam Flamholc, Camaro, 6.146, 231.04
15. Ike Maier, Chevy Corvette, 6.761, 189.95
16. Jay Payne, Camaro, 6.955, 214.89; vs.; 

Did Not Qualify:

17. Scott Ray, 8.278, 151.68
18. Mike Janis, 13.308, 68.31.