Mark Micke Tops Quickest 32-Car Field in Pro Mod History at Snowbird Outlaw Nationals

BRADENTON, FL – Mark Micke’s reign of qualifying dominance continued Saturday night, as he snatched the No. 1 spot from Ken Quartuccio at the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission. Competing in the second of three races in the inaugural Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service, Micke put everyone on notice with his 3.567-second pass at 219.36 mph in the third and final qualifying session.

Quartuccio predicted his 3.572 from Friday night in M&M Transmission Outlaw Pro Mod presented by FuelTech and PJS Racing wouldn’t hold up through the next morning; but it was good enough until the final few cars of the night, when Micke unleashed his twin-turbo ‘69 Camaro in the cool air at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Matt Deitsch sits on the 32-car bump spot with a 3.655 in his nitrous-fed ‘69 Camaro.

The 32 drivers who qualified in Pro Mod assembled after the field was set to determine first-round pairings through a random chip draw, including marquee matchups between Snowbird Outlaw Nationals winner Kye Kelley and two-time NHRA Pro Mod champion “Stevie Fast” Jackson, as well as a rematch of the 2023 World Series of Pro Mod final round between Spencer Hyde and Kurt Steding.

The U.S. Street Nationals is also the second race of the 2024-25 FuelTech Radial Outlaws Racing Series, with No. 1 qualifier honors going to Lyle Barnett in PST Driveshafts Pro 275 presented by Pro Line Racing, Chad Henderson in Energy Manufacturing Limited Drag Radial presented by Callies Performance, Alan Felts in Motion Raceworks X275 presented by Precision Turbo & Engine, Shawn Pevlor in TRZ Motorsports Ultra Street presented by Innovative Racecraft, and Dean Fluhart in SP Tools Limited 235 presented by ICE Ignition.

Walter Lannigan Jr. qualified No. 1 in TBM Brakes Outlaw 632 presented by Rife Sensors.

PRO MOD
Mark Micke extended his No. 1 qualifier streak to an incredible 12 events in a row on Saturday night with his 3.567-second pass at 219.36 mph. Micke had joked the previous evening that he was going to let the screw-blower cars run out front, but after consistent prodding from Bradenton Motorsports Park co-owner Victor Alvarez, Micke decided to let it all hang out in Q3.

“The screw-blower guys, they’ve all made a hell of a lap,” said Micke, who is the owner of event-sponsor M&M Transmission. “I was going to kind of let them go, but Vic’s up there prodding me, telling me to let it hang out. I came back here and said, ‘I can’t take it no more. We’re going to go for it.’ These things, they’re animals, you don’t know if they’re going to make it, but we looked at the track and Wade [Rich] had that track on kill. This car’s just a testament to the crew and what we’ve done as a program.”

Despite his continued dominance in qualifying, Micke knows there are no ducks in the 32-car field out of 69 entries. With warmer temperatures expected for eliminations on Sunday, and seven cars that all ran in the 3.50’s during qualifying, it’s still anyone’s race.

“A .56 is stout,” Micke said. “That’s fast out there, but you won’t get these conditions tomorrow. It’s going to be warmer and the track will get hotter. But I mean, how badass of a series do we got going on here? It just shows the testament of the quality of the rules package. I really believe these teams are the best of the best. Everybody’s on edge. Whoever you draw can just beat your ass in any minute.”

Micke is also looking to defend his U.S. Street Nationals title, as he defeated Ken Quartuccio in the finals last year. Quartuccio qualified second with a 3.572 at 211.36 mph. Micke, who drew Steve King in round one, says that anything less than another win will be a disappointment.

“I’m almost speechless just to think that we’ve been able to maintain this since January of last year,” said Micke. “I’ve been fortunate enough to win this event a couple of times. We always sponsor this event, so we kind of feel like this is our event. This is our home. We own this event. And we won’t settle for anything else but a win.”

Right behind Micke is the aforementioned Quartuccio, piloting a screw-blown ’69 Camaro out of the Scott Tidwell Racing camp. Quartuccio runnered-up to Kye Kelley last month at the Snowbirds, and came into this weekend second in points. With 3.57-second passes on both Friday and Saturday, Quartuccio is incredibly confident headed into race day. He faces Brazilian native Sidnei Frigo in the first round.

“I feel good about all of it,” Quartuccio said. “I know I can race well tomorrow. I mean, it’s like a bracket car right now. Everybody here is hard, and you can’t make a mistake; it doesn’t matter if they didn’t qualify as good, we just got to go out there and race hard.”

The most anticipated matchup of round one is no doubt the pairing between the 2024 Snowbirds winner and Street Outlaws star Kye Kelley and two-time NHRA Pro Mod champion “Stevie Fast” Jackson. Speaking after Saturday night’s chip draw, the two weren’t short on trash talk.

“We’ve been going back and forth in the pits all day,” said Kelley. “It’s all fun and games. We come up here and draw each other, it’s like, you can’t make this shit up. It’s gonna be badass. I know we’re gonna let it all hang out, and people are gonna get to see a drag race.”

“I believe things happen exactly like they’re supposed to,” Jackson said of the matchup. “When it got to number 10 (during the chip draw), I said, ‘Please just let it happen, Lord. Please just give it to me.’ This round right here will set the internet on fire. We race cars because of moments like this. This is probably going to be the biggest round of the year for the internet and maybe for the sport. And this guy just won the last one. He’s at the top of the heap, right? I’m used to being on top and swinging down. Now I’m swinging up. I like it.”

The randomly drawn first round pairings are: Matt Deitsch vs. Erica Enders, Craig Sullivan vs. Zach Sackman, Cameron Hensley vs. Travis Harvey, Spencer Hyde vs. Kurt Steding, Jason Scruggs vs. Isaias Rojas, Ken Quartuccio vs. Sidnei Frigo, Kenny Lang vs. Lyle Barnett, Raymond Matos vs. Ty Tutterow, Antron Brown vs. Joel Wensley Sr., Mark Micke vs. Steve King, Scott Taylor vs. Andrew Handras, Stevie Jackson vs. Kye Kelley, Mike Decker III vs. Bob Glenn, Jim Whiteley vs. Melanie Salemi and Jerico Balduf vs. Jeff Rudolf.

The U.S. Street Nationals is the second of three points-earning races in the inaugural Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service. Following the U.S. Street Nationals, Bradenton will host the World Series of Pro Mod on Feb. 27-March 1. The series will pay out more than $275,000 to the three race winners and overall series champion.

PRO 275
Several Pro 275 drivers made major improvements in the second qualifying session after struggling on Friday, completely changing the top three. Snowbird Outlaw Nationals winner Lyle Barnett scored the No. 1 qualifying spot by throwing down a 3.689 at 204.79 in Tommy Youmans’ ProCharged “Salvage Title” Mustang. Tim Dutton, who is also making his Drag Illustrated Winter Series debut in Pro Mod, moved up to second with a 3.696 at 203.40 in his ProCharged C7 Corvette. Reigning FuelTech Radial Outlaws Series Pro 275 champion Mo Hall rounded out the top three with a 3.711 at 202.36 in his nitrous-fed ‘17 Corvette.

LIMITED DRAG RADIAL
Limited Drag Radial saw changes at the top of the qualifying order on Saturday thanks to conditions that appealed to the high-horsepower, small-tire machines. Alabama farmer Chad Henderson scored the No. 1 qualifying position in his supercharged ‘87 Buick Grand National on the strength of a 3.902 at 190.46. Rob Goss took the No. 2 spot with a 3.924 at 186.69 in his ProCharged ‘23 Challenger. Matt Bell, who was Friday’s provisional No. 1 qualifier with his 3.928 at 195.65, slipped to third in his turbocharged ‘93 Mustang.

X275
Saturday’s conditions helped the X275 class step up in a big way. Alan Felts laid down a 4.197 at 163.41 in his turbocharged ‘91 Mustang to secure the No. 1 qualifying position. DJ McCain, who’s also competing in Pro Modified, almost dipped into the 4.10s as well with a 4.201 at 168.14 in his Musi-powered “Vecna” C6 Corvette to claim the No. 2 spot. Jeff Moses improved to a 4.235 at 166.23 in his Tennessee-based Mustang to qualify third.

ULTRA STREET
Shawn Pevlor and John Kolivas continued to prove that they’re on top of the world in Ultra Street when Pevlor wheeled Kolivas’ KBX Performance ‘93 Mustang to a new class E.T. record, 4.340 at 166.89, in the final session to lock in the No. 1 spot. Brunswick, Georgia’s Davey Hull in his ‘93 Mustang maintained his No. 2 spot with the 4.41 at 157.61 pass he made on Friday. Jessie Coulter moved into the top three in his Bowling Green, Kentucky-based ‘03 Mustang when he ran a 4.417 at 158.63.

LIMITED 235
Jacksonville, Florida-based racer Dean Fluhart moved into the No. 1 qualifying position in Limited 235 in the final qualifying session, recording a 4.847 at 141.00 in his nitrous-fed ‘68 Mustang. Jimmy Harris didn’t run quicker than the 4.857 at 141.65 that put him on top of the Friday qualifying sheet, but that run was quick enough to take the No. 2 spot in his ‘93 Mustang. Brad Schehr slipped one spot to third in his ‘89 Mustang, though he did step up to a 4.875 at 143.11.

OUTLAW 632
Walter Lannigan Jr., driving for Snowbird Outlaw Nationals Outlaw 632 winner Chris Holdorf in his Nelson-powered Freedom Grow ‘10 GTO, didn’t improve upon his Friday qualifying effort in Saturday’s second and final session, but he did hold on to the No. 1 spot with a 4.109 at 171.29. Mike Fiorelli recorded a career-best 4.117 at 171.29 in his Clayton Murphy-tuned ‘68 Camaro to move up a spot to second. Bradenton’s own Lenny Grawburg also improved in the final session, posting a 4.143 at 174.80 in his ‘69 Camaro to take the No. 3 position going into Sunday eliminations.

Tickets are available on TheFoat.com. Single-day admissions tickets are available online or at the gate for $30 on Sunday. Active military and children 11 and under get in free.