Seven months ago, no driver in Pro Modified history had ever competed for a million dollars. Since that time, Jason Harris has not only achieved that opportunity – he’s done it twice.
His first chance came in December after winning the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks, the first race of the 2025/26 Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service. The Elite Motorsports Million offered $1 million to any driver that could win all three events of the Winter Series.
Unfortunately, Harris suffered a second-round defeat to Derek Menholt at the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission in January, ending his initial quest for the huge payday. Although dejected at the time, Harris knew the odds were against him from the start.
“I think we all looked at the Million when it first came out and thought it’s not feasible, but then I think when you actually get in the seat where you think you can do it, then it is feasible,” Harris reflected after the loss. “It’s not like I lost it by a thousandth. I lost it by a lot of rounds. I had to go 10 more rounds to be perfect. Is it impossible? No, but it’s a very, very hard task.”
Harris admitted at the time that he felt a lot of pressure on himself, which may be why he’s the most well-positioned driver to go after it again. He’s no stranger to feeling pressure – with two PDRA Pro Nitrous world championships, back-to-back PDRA Pro Boost world championships, and the aforementioned Snowbirds victory, he’s been the hunted for much of his career.
His recent victory at the inaugural IHRA Triple Crown event in Hebron, Ohio offers Harris a unique shot at redemption, and this time he has prior experience on his side. The final two Triple Crown events will be contested as part of a doubleheader weekend, September 10-13, at Darana – Maple Grove Raceway. If Harris wins both races, he’ll get $1 million.
“I’m probably the one person they didn’t want to see win this because I’ve probably got the best chance at the million,” Harris said after his win in Ohio. “I’ve already had a chance at a million one time this year and it didn’t work out, but this is a dream come true. At Snowbirds, I thought it was unattainable until I won the first one, and then I put too much pressure on myself. This time I’m just gonna go out, have fun, and win races.”
When looking at whether winning the Triple Crown is a realistic possibility, there’s a variety of factors to consider: the car, the driver, and the competition. All three variables will play a crucial role in either a seven-figure payday, or another heartbreaking loss.
First let’s take a look at the car: the Harts Charger-equipped, “Party Time” ’69 Camaro tuned by ProLine Racing’s Brandon Stroud. Harris has found success everywhere in it this season – the DI Winter Series, PDRA, and especially IHRA. In the five IHRA events so far this year (Pro Mod Mania, Triple Crown, and three national events), Harris has four No. 1 qualifiers, two event wins, and two runner-up finishes. His round record is an incredible 20-3 in 2026 IHRA competition. In the one event he didn’t qualify No. 1, he still qualified third, only seven-thousandths of a second from the top spot. His worst performance in eliminations was a semifinal finish at Pro Mod Mania in Milan, Michigan.
Not only does Harris routinely have the quickest car on the property, he also has the most consistent, rarely needing to abort a run due to tire shake or parts failure. Other drivers have taken notice, including 2025 World Series of Pro Mod champion Steve King.
“He is the most dominant car and driver in Pro Modified since Scotty Cannon in years past,” says King, who also co-hosts the Boost & Bullsh*t podcast with Harris. “Not only is the car running low e.t. of every session, it is also the most consistent car and driver in the field. He is the one car that every racer would pick to be the one to win the million.”
Now let’s look at Harris himself. According to “Stat Guy” Chris LeCloux, nobody is better than Harris when it comes to gaining a starting line advantage. LeCloux took the average of the top seven reaction times in eliminations for every driver that has competed in the IHRA this year, and Harris sits atop the list with a .014 average, followed closely by Jacob McNeal and Kye Kelley, who both average an .015 RT.
In the final three rounds of competition at the inaugural Triple Crown, Harris went .012, .015, and .019 on the tree. When you pair that with the above-mentioned performance of his car, it’s a nearly unbeatable combination.
“I don’t see myself as the baddest man in Pro Mod – I just feel like I’ve been that guy this year,” says Harris. “I’ve got a great car, a great crew, and I drive okay sometimes. Everything adds up. If Brandon Stroud is on and I’m on, we’re unstoppable with the combination we’ve got.”
However, as good as he’s been, Harris isn’t perfect. Despite running a nearly identical elapsed time as Melanie Salemi (Harris 3.5992, Salemi 3.5982) in the semifinals at Pro Mod Mania, his -.0142 red light ended his chance immediately. At the two IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series events Harris hasn’t won, he’s suffered the exact opposite issue: uncharacteristically late reaction times.
At the season opener in Benson, N.C, Harris was .093 on the tree and lost the final round on a holeshot to 2025/26 DI Winter Series points champion Peter Norton after Norton went .026, allowing his 3.567 to stay ahead of the quicker 3.545 run from Harris. At Virginia Motorsports Park earlier in the season, Harris was even later in the final round (.133 reaction time), giving Tony Wilson the victory.
Those examples are clearly the exception, not the rule – even with those hiccups, Harris has been superior overall to every other driver this year. But in the hunt for $1 million, it only takes one hiccup to derail the entire plan. Harris understands that, and has adjusted accordingly.
“We just have to do the same thing we’ve been doing,” Harris says. “Race the racetrack, race the guy next to you, and don’t make mistakes. I made some mistakes earlier in the year that cost me some wins, but I learned from those. That’s all you can do as a driver is learn from every little mistake.”
And finally, the competition. When I first began looking into this, it appeared to me that winning the IHRA Triple Crown should be less difficult than winning the Elite Million at the DI Winter Series. Notice I didn’t say easy; there’s nothing easy about any of this. Simply less difficult.
My reasoning is two-fold. First is simply the quantity of top-tier competitors. When Harris won the Snowbirds, there were 80 Pro Mods on the qualifying sheet. Subsequently, the U.S. Street Nationals featured 70 cars, while the WSOPM had 64. That means at the very least, half the field was going home before eliminations even began. By comparison, the first IHRA Triple Crown race fielded 31 cars. Pro Mod Mania had 25. Fewer cars means fewer teams that can potentially beat you.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, is that IHRA features a standard qualifying ladder, while the DI Winter Series uses a chip-draw format for every round. By virtue of his four No. 1 qualifying positions (as well as his No. 3 spot), Harris has the advantage of receiving a more favorable draw throughout eliminations. In fact, according to LeCloux, four out of the five bye runs Harris has received in eliminations this season was by virtue of him being the top qualifier, including the first round of the Triple Crown.
In contrast, when Harris qualified No. 1 at the Snowbirds, he still drew Pro Mod legend Mark Micke, who had qualified No. 1 at all three Winter Series events the previous year. It didn’t get any easier after that, as Harris immediately drew No. 2 qualifier Jimmy Taylor in the second round. At the Triple Crown, that matchup wouldn’t be possible until the finals.
But while there are clear advantages this time around in his quest for a million dollars, there are still a ton of elite drivers that can knock Harris out of contention – and with (likely) 10 rounds of competition still to go, it only has to happen once.
Here’s just a small sample of some of the competition Harris had to outlast in Hebron, and will likely be gunning for him again in September at Maple Grove:
DI Winter Series points champion Peter Norton; 2026 U.S. Street Nationals winner and two-time NHRA Pro Mod world champion “Stevie Fast” Jackson; 2026 Shakedown at M’Town winner Paul Gargus, driving the same Scott Tidwell Racing Camaro that earned Aaron Stanfield a 2026 WSOPM championship; 2025 WSOPM champion Steve King; 2024 Snowbirds winner Kye Kelley; 2021 Snowbirds winner and 2026 Pro Mod Mania runner-up Melanie Salemi; as well as a slew of rising young stars like Triple Crown runner-up Jacob McNeal, Kallee Tally, Paige Coughlin, and Mike Decker III.
Oh, and let’s not forget Travis Harvey, the $125,000 IHRA Pro Mod Mania winner who missed the first Triple Crown race due to prior obligations with his Carolina N/T series. Harvey is one of just a handful of drivers who can match Harris pound-for-pound with his driving skills, which he proved over the weekend at the PDRA North vs. South Shootout, defeating Harris on a holeshot in the Pro Boost semifinals en route to an event win.
Am I rooting for Harris to take home the $1 million? Yes. Do I believe he has a legitimate shot at it? Absolutely. He was correct when he said he’s the one driver who probably has the best shot at it. He has the skills, the car, and the experience to put it all together. He may only have to win 8-9 rounds instead of 10 if he earns more bye runs.
But…as great as all that sounds, do I think it’s likely? No. And that’s not a knock on Harris at all. I’ve followed this sport for more than 40 years, and all too often I’ve seen the smallest thing lay waste to the best-laid plans – whether it’s a red light, tire shake, a 20-cent part failure, or simply a hero run by another driver. But if Harris can navigate through all that, he will go down as the only driver in Pro Mod history to ever do it, further cementing his legendary status in the sport.
And as for finishing the year out as a millionaire? Harris is pretty blunt about that.
“I hope I do. I need it bad. I’m gonna try to keep this thing rolling while I can because you never know when it might stop.”
The post Op-Ed: Can Jason Harris Become Pro Mod’s Million Dollar Man? first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
