because you want to SEE it

Janis Team Continues Up Hill Battle in Pro Mod

Courtesy of Mike Janis Racing
Photo by Mike Janis Racing

Elma, NY– For just over a decade Mike Janis has massaged as much power as possible out of his Supercharged Alcohol burning power plants. He has become one of the elite engine builders in the world but, fighting with one hand behind your back is never easy, no matter how hard you work.

Prior to this season the NHRA tech department adjusted the rules in the Pro Modified division. Nitrous cars were given an open rule book, Turbo cars had their turbo’s downsized from 91 mm to 88 mm, and the supercharged cars had their supercharger overdrive knocked from 20% over down to 14.55. The saving grace for Janis, after studying the rule book, was a 75 lb weight reduction for converter driven cars.

When the season began it was evident that the supercharged combination was at a disadvantage, but Janis was still able to post good numbers with his new converter driven Pro Mod. The top running turbo cars were also running converters and pushing the 260 mph barrier. On June 8th an effort to “maintain parity” the NHRA then placed the 75 lbs back on all converter driven cars. This rule became known amongst Pro Mod circles as the Janis rule; because the only one effected by the rule was Mike Janis.

Since then the supercharged combination has been giving a valiant effort only to watch both the nitrous and turbo cars continue to excel.

“It’s tough,” said Janis. “We keep trying to think of anything we can do to run with the pack but its hard and only getting harder. I’m not sure if we will be able to keep up. The nitrous guys have busted their butts to get where they are and you have to respect that but the turbo deal kinda came out of nowhere. Their performance advantage seems to be evident to everyone but the tech department. It only took a week to add the 75 pounds but they continue to run away from the pack and there seem to be more of them every race. I’m not sure how long we can go on like this,” added Janis.

Janis and his crew will continue on with their underdog roll; this time at weekend’s 4th Annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals, held from September 16th-18th at zMax Dragway in Concord, North Carolina, just outside of Charlotte.

Mike Janis and his Eaton Aeroquip crew will have three shots at cracking the tough 16 car NHRA Pro Modified field. Their first effort will be on Friday, September 16th at 3:30 P.M and a second Friday evening at 6:30. Pro Modified competitors will receive one final  chance on to make the cut on Saturday at 1:00 P.M. before the first round of eliminations later the same day at 3:30 P.M.

The remainder of eliminations will be contested on Sunday along with the other NHRA Pro classes.

Share
  • MBE Button 290x
Team/Series News
Follow Us On Facebook
Facebook Pagelike Widget