NHRA Pro Mods at Gainesville, Florida

Whiteley gets first series win

Words by Jeff Burk
Photos by Steve Gruenwald, Adam Cranmer and Ron Lewis

Steven Whiteley (Steve Gruenwald photo)

The opening race of the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Series at the Gatornationals was one for the record books. It delivered three rounds of record-setting doorslammer performances during both days of qualifying as well as record-breaking sub six-second, 256+ mph passes during Sunday Eliminations.

Steven Whiteley drove the family supercharged 2014 Cadillac to his first ever NHRA Pro Mod win. Pro Mod fans saw the record ET for a sixteen-car Pro Mod qualified field reset twice, finally setting the record at 5.885.

Eric Latino (Adam Cranmer photo)

Eric Latino drove his supercharged ‘69 Camaro to the quickest ET in NHRA Pro Mod history (5.727, 256.36) and the huge crowd Sunday witnessed the quickest and fastest side-by-side race in NHRA Pro Mod history.

This year the weather for the Gainesville event was exceptional. On Friday temps were in the low 70’s and the “corrected” altitude on Friday was 400-500 feet below sea level. Near perfect conditions for quick and fast times.

Twenty-seven of the quickest and fastest quarter-mile NHRA door cars on the planet answered the first call to qualify on Friday. The knowledgeable fans in the packed stands saw all 27 entries make qualifying attempts.