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March 30, 2003 "The Strip" at Las Vegas Motor SpeedWay West Coast Pro Mod first winner of the year, goes to Canadian, Glen Kerunsky wins in the battle of 57's (Photos by L. Pfister)
Below Glen and crew chief Terry Morrow celebrate. Right: Pat Stoken
(Below)...... is one of the two times Rick Distefano went into the sand at Vegas
Below. Two of the non qualifiers. Randy Hagerty and Rob Pierce
At Dinwiddle Virginia Saturday, VMP hosted the " Infinet Ultimate Doorslammer Challenge" this weekend, and Nitrous powered cars dominated the event. Rickie Smith was the overall winner in this unique format where the winner is based of the op qualifier not an elimination format. Smith topped the field with a 6.247/224mph. After two rounds of qualifying, the four quickest cars came back for one more chance to take the cash and "Special Edition Jacket" presented by Infinet. The four finalist were all nitrous cars, and included Smith, Harold Martin, Steve Cossis, and Ed Burnley. On Sunday they ran a Pro Stock, Funny Car and Pro Mod "Shoot-out" as well, with the quickest two of each class facing off in the final. In Pro Stock,Carl Baker got the best of Frank Gugliotta 6.55 to 6.83. In Pro Mod, Steve Vick got revenge for Saturday's poor showing, by defeating Swedish phenom Hakan Nilsson 6.31/223 to a career best by the Swede 6.34/221. In Funny Car, Philip Hooper was the lone entrant and ran a best of 6.50/229. Check out Drag Race Central for all the numbers. March 22, 2003 Las Vegas is the place to be this weekend as they are hosting a doorcar extravaganza. The West Coast Pro Mods, the PSCA (Pacific Street Car Association) and Outlaw Eliminator (formerly Super Quick) all converge at the "Strip" at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Second in points in 2002, and assoc. president John Scialpi will debut his new (what!) 57 Chevy. The old steel bodied Chevy that has the current WCPM record of a 6.29 (set at Mission last year, and is the world quickest steel 57 Chevy)) has been retired after a decade or more of competing across North America and even Australia. The new car was built by John and is a 7/8's scale 57 much like the other 57's out on the Pro Mod trail. Another new 57 out there in 2003 is the bright yellow
ride owned by Glen Kerunsky out of Calgary. Glen has abandoned the truck
bodies he campaigned for a decade, and had Tim McAmis build him his
favorite classic car from the 50's - 60's. Glen had the car out once
already this year, testing at Darlington in late February, and ran a
career best 6.26 at over 224 mph. A tenth and a half quicker than he
had even gone in the pickup. Look for him to challenge for the title
this year on the West Coast Tour. This '57 (left: McAmis photo) will debut this weekend, but it isn't a Chevy, it is a 57 Buick Roadmaster owned by Kip Dupius and also built by Tim McAmis. This is one hot looking new car. Running a blown hemi combination, that was run by Bob Reiger last year (6.11), Kip will possibly have Kirk Kuhns in the seat this weekend.
Danny Rowe (right: Rowe photo) is back from Gainesville after his first outing of the year. After a best of 6.39 in Florida after chasing various electrical gremlins. Look for him to run in the 6.30's and challenge for the weekend title.
Rounding out the field this weekend is Pat Stoken and his very clean nitrous 68 Camaro, 2001 series champ Andy Neyer in his rebuilt Corvette, Lee Smith and his sweet 58 Corvette, Randy Hagerty and a 63 split window Corvette, Saskachewans's Tim and Dan Vogt and their Corvette and Rob Pierce who apparently has an ex-Rickie Smith split window.
We will keep you updated all weekend on this race as we do have a trusted spy at the strip to keep us informed (as long as he can get his Internet connected).Go to the Street Legal Zone to see what's up with the PCSA.
March 16, 2003 The first AMS Pro Mod Challenge event this weekend at Gainesville Florida is turning out to be an unbelievable affair with 23 cars on the soggy Florida grounds. The bump turned out to be an awesome 6.259 by the only nitrous car in the field, defending series champ, Shannon Jenkins Here is what the qualifying sheet looks like All I can say as wow! Fred Hahn ran the quickest ever in NHRA competition and had two runs in the teens. Canadian Al Billes made the canuck crowd happy with a great 6.18 to be one of two drivers in the teens. Elimination today should be great. Unfortunately, the west coast's lone hope Danny Rowe did not qualify, despite running a respectable 6.39.
Final eliminations did not go according to qualifying as top qualifiers Fred Hahn and Al Billes were ousted in the semi finals. Mitch Stott got the best of Al Billes, and chassis guru Tim McAmis defeated Summit racing's Fred Hahn. The final was very anti-climatic, but had its share of excitement, with Mitch Stott's car not firing and the team thrashing like crazy to get the car started, but to no avail. McAmis singled with a 6.30.
March 6, 2003
Danny and Val Rowe’s new ride The Chevy powered (Woppado racing) Pro Mod ran 6.30’s last year while sorting out the bugs in the new car, and Danny has gone as quick as 6.23 @224 mph. He ran those numbers at St. Louis in winning the Pro Mod challenge in 2001. His was the first blown combination to win in the NHRA Pro Mod exhibition series.
Danny will be out testing this weekend to get some short
track numbers down, and then is headed to Gainesville next weekend to
challenge the likes of Shannon Jenkins, Mitch Stott, Rickie Smith and
the rest of the heavy hitters from the East Coast. He would like to
thank associate sponsor Red Line Oil for all their support. Any one interested in sponsoring one of the West Coast’s
top Pro Mod teams, are invited to call either Danny at 805-501-3969
or Kenny Nowling at: Nowling MotorSports Management
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February 2003 Doorslammer Zone
Coming soon; Your favorite West Coast and Canadian Pro Mod and Doorslammers web sites: Danny Rowe Glen Kerunsky Rick Distefano Trevor Lowe Al Billes John Scialpi Pat Stoken
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presented
by 
Glen
Kerunsky (left) took his new 57 Chevy to a final round victory
against Californian Kip Dupuis (below left) and his 57 Buick
at the opening event of the year for the West Coast Pro Mods. Glen was
the class of the 12 car turnout, running 6.40's all weekend.
In the final, he ran a 6.46 at 
219
mph to defeat the awesome deep green Roadmaster of Dupuis, as he could
only muster an off pace 7.17. Low et of the weekend also went to Kerunsky
who blasted out a great 6.41 under hot track conditions all weekend.
Kip had the fastest run of the weekend as he went 224.90. Other notable
players, included Rick Distefano who ran real well all weekend, but
could not stay out of the sand trap as his chutes apparently tangled
in his wheelie bars on two runs. The first time was Saturday night in
the final 
qualifying
session, and the team thrashed all night to make repairs, and the second
time was during a first round win against Dupuis. Due to the damage,
he could not continue, and Kip took advantage and made it to the final,
before bowing out to Kerunsky. The other semifinalists included, Danny
Rowe, who ran in the 6.50's, and Lee Smith, who also ran in the 6.50's
all weekend. Other qualifiers were Saskachewan's Dan Vogt (below
right), Pat Stoken and Andy Neyer. John Scialpi, out for the
first time in his 
awesome
new 57 Chevy, failed to qualify as did newcomer Brad Pierce and Randy
Hagerty. We'll have all the pictures of this event the middle of the
week, when our trusty secret agent returns by stagecoach from his 1200
mile jaunt. 
This
is the first of 7 events (so far) scheduled in the West Coast Pro Mod
Assoc. 2003 season. For the die hard Pro Mod fans that have followed
this series over the past 5 years or so, you will see alot of familiar
names in the class, but, you will need a program to recognize their
rides. No less than 8 of the regulars will have new rides for 2003.
The entry list for this weekends event is at 12 cars including 6 of
the new ones making their debut at the first points race of the season.
Rick
Distefano, out of Calgary will be in Vegas as well with his new 53 Corvette
that we featured earlier this year. One of the hottest new cars I have
seen laid down some high 6.20 passes earlier this season at Phoenix.
He is part of a two (possibly three) car team with Kip Dupius and another
to be named soon.
1.
Fred Hahn Summit Racing '02 Corvette 6.139 227.27
