Castellana's 'Teen is a Gas

Words by Jeff Burk
Photos by Jeff Burk and courtesy IHRA
5/19/03

fter Shannon Jenkins ran a 6.20 in qualifying earlier this year at the IHRA Holley Spring Nationals at Rockingham (NC) Dragway, almost everyone thought he would probably be the first driver of a Pro Mod car into the 'teens.

As it turned out, Mike Castellana was the first, but you could sure make a case that Shannon Jenkins was along for the ride when Castellana broke that significant barrier with a stellar time of 6.175/226.66 at Englishtown, NJ. Part of the credit could be given to the sub-60-degree air temperature and corrected air of 400 feet below sea level that is the norm at Englishtown, but a closer look at the facts indicate that much of the credit goes to the Awesome Racing team and their suppliers.

The Western Beef-sponsored Camaro that Castellana drove was the same Tim McAmis-built car that Jenkins drove to both the NHRA and IHRA Pro Modified world championships in 2002 and it had one of Shannon Jenkins' nitrous oxide injection engine combinations under the hood. The same combination that Jenkins used to record the first 6.20 lap for a nitrous oxide injected Pro Mod earlier in this season

It was fitting that the Westbury, NY-based Castellana accomplished the historic feat in front of a hometown SRO crowd at his home track of Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

The quiet spoken racer was quick to credit his whole crew for the record-breaking performance.

"I really want to thank Shannon Jenkins and the crew for giving me such a great racecar to drive," said Castellana.

The joy Castellana, Jenkins and the crew got from their record-breaking performance was dulled by the fact that they were unable to qualify for the eight-car field that had a record bump spot of 6.168.

"I just wish that I could have raced on Sunday," he said afterward.

It was the first race for the team with engines that took advantage of a new IHRA rule allowing higher displacement engines for the nitrous oxide injected cars of up to 740 cubic inches. The engine in the car for that lap was a 731 cubic inch engine. Castellana allowed that the new larger cubic inch combination was an improvement over the 715-inch engines he previously ran, but still felt the nitrous racers needed more.

"It really isn't enough," Castellana said. "We are doing what we can to keep up... I have to say that it is a sad commentary when one combination runs the quickest-ever elapsed time and it still isn't enough to be in the show."

Castellana feels that the sanctioning body that controls the rules had promised the nitrous racers they would do something to bring the blower cars and nitrous cars closer together in performance.

"If they don't want the nitrous cars to be part of the show, we can accommodate them," explained Castellana. "We have no problem making the switch over. They told us in the early going that the playing field would be leveled and we just don't see that right now. . . . It's time for some decisions to be made and sooner or later, we are going to do what we have to do that is in our best interests."

The quickest supercharged car at the event ran a 6.08, which is nine-hundredths quicker than Castellana's career best 6.17.

Regardless of the outcome, Castellana, Jenkins and the rest of the crew have earned a solid spot in drag racing history. For racer Mike Castellana, it is obvious that he would have traded a spot in history for a spot in the historic Pro Mod field he missed.