E-Town is Most Excellent

Story and photos by Jeff Burk
6/9/03

ere at Drag Racing Online we generally avoid the standard race report. You know the kind I'm talking about with speeds, elapsed times, and round by round results. We have a word for those kinds of reports here at DRO Magazine: boring. But once in great while a race comes along that is worthy of giving you the numbers because those numbers are so historically important or mind boggling enough that they warrant the attention and space. The Pro Mod race at Englishtown, NJ May 15-18 was absolutely one of those.

A combination of once-in-a-lifetime atmospheric conditions and a perfectly prepared track turned the E-Town track into a "mineshaft" (as in straight and fast) for the AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod competitors.

First, let's take a quick look at the numbers. It took an unreal 6.168 or better just to make the quick eight. In fact, two racers ran 'teens and didn't make the show: Mike Castellana (above) ran his career best (and the best elapsed times ever for a nitrous oxide-injected Pro Mod) of 6.175 and didn't make the show; ditto for Mike Stawicki's career best of 6.194.

Seven racers ran over 229 mph, but even more astonishing was the fact that four cars ran over 230, including MPH king Quain Stott's pair of 233+ laps that set the speed record at 233.88!

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