NHRA Pro Mods at Norwalk, Ohio

Janis Takes First Victory This Year

Words by Jeff Burk
Photos by Chris Haverly

Once again the J&A Services Pro Mod Series had the largest field of professional race teams for a NHRA national event. Twenty-nine of the quickest and fastest NHRA doorslammers were on hand at Norwalk, Ohio, trying to make the elite 16-car Pro Mod field.
 
Pro Mod "OG" Mike Janis from the Buffalo, NY, suburb of Elma drove his supercharged Chevy Camaro to his first NHRA Pro Mod win of the 2015 season Sunday, July 5. Janis defeated former NHRA Pro Mod Champ Troy Coughlin Sr. in what should have been a classic turbocharged vs supercharged finale. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as Coughlin had seriously damaged his Corvette's turbocharged engine in his semifinal race against son Troy "TJ" Coughlin Jr.

Janis drove his supercharged Jan-Cen Racing late model Camaro to a final round performance of 5.902 seconds at 247.34 mph to hold off Ohio-native Coughlin, who finished in 7.120 at 137.43 when his turbocharged JEGS.com Corvette encountered engine problems near mid-track.

"We ran consistent," Janis said. "We ended up putting the Goodyear tires back on it. We've been going fast in qualifying, but then struggling first round on a hot racetrack. Now the Goodyear tires have put us back in the winner's circle like the last three times. We're pretty happy about that."

To reach the final and take his fourth career victory and first at Norwalk, Janis defeated Clint Satterfield, Robert Patrick, and Dan Stevenson. Janis considers this his home track, so winning here was very special.

"It's awesome to be here and to do this in front of (friends and family)," said Janis, who moves to third place in the points with the victory. "It's better than winning Indy, having everybody here cheering us on. You have no idea of the feeling going through us right now."

It was defending event winner Coughlin's second runner-up finish of the season and he moves into second place in the points standings. It was his third Norwalk final round appearance.