Because when you invite the baddest door cars on earth to Bradenton…you don’t get a “race.” You get a knife fight.
There are drag races…and then there are Drag Illustrated Winter Series races.
The 2026 U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission didn’t feel like a stop on the schedule as much as it felt like a pressure cooker with grandstands. A four-day adrenaline drip. A place where reputations don’t protect you, the chip draw doesn’t care about your résumé, and the difference between glory and heartbreak is measured in thousandths, not tenths.
That’s the whole deal with this Winter Series thing – it’s not built to be fair. It’s built to be real. The kind of real that creates moments you talk about all year. The kind of real that makes even the winners look relieved more than cocky.
So here it is – the best, boldest, most “what the hell did we just witness” moments from the biggest, best version of the U.S. Street Nationals in history.
BEST: Cole Pesz, “The Comeback Kid”
If you want a snapshot of what makes this place different, start with Cole Pesz.
Because on Wednesday – during a True 10.5 shakedown run – his weekend basically ended. Lockup converter comes on. Nitrous comes on. The tires leave the chat. His screw-blown C7 Corvette gets sideways and tags the wall on the passenger side. The kind of hit that makes everybody’s stomach drop.
Pesz gets checked by on-site EMS, gets released… and instead of packing up, he goes back to the pits and starts a thrash that turned into a near 24-hour, all-hands-on-deck rescue mission. Not just his guys – competitors, too. Bill Lutz’s camp pitched in. Wrenches, parts, brains, and grit, all thrown into one common goal: get the kid back in the fight.
Then he goes out and wins the thing.
That’s not just a comeback story – that’s a statement about the culture of this event. A wreck that should’ve ended the weekend becomes the opening chapter of a $40,000 victory. He wasn’t supposed to be in eliminations. He was supposed to be loading the trailer.
Instead: holeshot over Scott Taylor, a solid win over Ryan Hendrickson, then he drags the 2024 Snowbirds Pro Mod winner Kye Kelley, throws down a 3.969 at 204.70 to stop Ryan Martin in the semis, and watches Brandon Sandlian go red in the final while he stamps a 3.980 at 204.76.
You can’t script that. But you can earn it.
BOLDEST (AND BEST): “Light the Boards” – True 10.5 Turns the Clocks On
True 10.5 arriving at U.S. Street Nationals with the boards lit wasn’t just a rules tweak. It was a line in the sand.
At Snowbirds, True 10.5 was introduced as a no-time eliminator. It worked. It popped. It built buzz. Fans were leaning in hard because these small-tire hot rods were doing things that didn’t look possible. After that opening-weekend energy, Drag Illustrated made the call: turn on the clocks and keep them on.
That move had everything: excitement, controversy, conversation. Some people loved it immediately. Some people worried it could spook participation. But here’s the truth – the minute you “light the boards,” you stop arguing in theory and start arguing in facts. And those facts became very loud, very fast.
Because once those boards were lit, True 10.5 didn’t just entertain – it validated itself.
BEST: Bill Lutz Is Flying
Ohio’s Bill Lutz has always been a problem. But this stretch? This is different.
Coming off a Snowbirds win, Lutz rolled into Bradenton and promptly reset everyone’s expectations by firing off a 3.915-second pass – the quickest run ever made on 28-inch tall, 10.5-inch wide slicks.
That matters for a bunch of reasons.
One: it’s a legitimate performance landmark.
Two: it arrived right as True 10.5 was stepping into the spotlight with the clocks on.
Three: it poured jet fuel on a narrative that was already brewing after Ryan Martin’s private Bradenton test session a few weeks earlier, when he became the first to rip a 3-second pass on 28×10.5s (3.94).
The sport has been begging for a small-tire class that feels like a main event, not a side show. Lutz and this True 10.5 wave are giving it to them.
WTF: Pro Mod Is Officially in Another Universe
The Pro Mod numbers from this weekend are the kind that sound fake if you haven’t lived it.
The top 32 cars were separated by four-hundredths of a second after four rounds of qualifying.
The top 64 cars were spread within a tenth.
That isn’t “tight.” That’s insane. That’s a field so dense it feels like one long car.
Then eliminations hit and the insanity didn’t cool off – it escalated. There were 24 3.5-second passes in the opening round. There were 37 3.5-second passes across five rounds of eliminations. That’s roughly 60% of race-day runs going sub-3.60.
This is not a nostalgia class. Not a “big name” class. Not a “show up and figure it out” class.
This is the most competitive knife fight in drag racing.
WTF: Bad Timing (Literally) – The Jackson vs. Alvarez Grudge Race Chaos
This one had everything: anticipation, money, ego, and then… total confusion.
During the highly anticipated grudge race between Stevie “Fast” Jackson and Bradenton Motorsports Park owner Victor Alvarez, the timing system malfunctioned. The win light came on in Jackson’s lane… but multiple video angles had Alvarez looking like he got there first at the eighth.
With $20,000 on the line, this could’ve turned into a full-blown civil war.
Instead, both drivers made the smart call: let it go, race another day.
Of course, that didn’t stop the internet from doing what the internet does. Social media went full CSI on it, and the back-and-forth only poured more attention onto the event. In a weird way, it became a reminder: U.S. Street Nationals isn’t just racing anymore. It’s a content machine. A conversation driver. A spectacle.
Run it back soon, please.
BEST: Jerry Morgano Ends the Drought
Some wins hit different. Jerry Morgano’s did.
For the first time since 2019, the longtime Outlaw 10.5 hammer put “Copperhead” in the winner’s circle again – and he did it the hard way, with the chip draw format forcing him to stare down killers immediately.
He holeshotted No. 1 qualifier Carson Baker in round one, got the bye, then holeshotted Tim Partin, then beat Nick Agostino in the final with another solid leave and a 3.905 at 195.65 for the $10,000 win.
That’s vintage Pro 10.5. Reaction-time warfare. Small-block turbo violence. And one of the OGs reminding everybody he didn’t forget how to do it.
BRUTAL: Fletcher Cox Looks Like a Contender…Then the Tree Bites
Fletcher Cox showing up and qualifying third in Pro 10.5 with a 3.895 at 189.36 wasn’t a novelty – it was a warning shot.
The “Training Day” nitrous ’69 Camaro was a threat. Full stop.
But in round two, drag racing did what drag racing does: it humbled the narrative in one blink. Cox posts an uncharacteristically late .441 light and can’t run down Nick Agostino, who goes 3.931 at 200.65 to Cox’s quicker-but-losing 3.904 at 184.83.
That’s the brutality of this event. It’s not enough to be fast. It’s not enough to be famous. It’s not enough to have momentum.
You have to be perfect.
WTF: The Jerry Bickel Clean Sweep Challenge Ends on… Two Thousandths
Jason Harris missed out on the No. 1 qualifying position by .002 seconds to turbo monster Jimmy Taylor, and that tiny number did something huge: it ended Harris’ shot at the inaugural Jerry Bickel Clean Sweep Challenge – the three-race No. 1 qualifier sweep that pays out with a brand-new Pro Mod rolling chassis valued north of $250,000.
That’s not “close.” That’s drag racing’s version of losing a championship on a tiebreaker you didn’t know existed until the moment it breaks your heart.
BEST: The Junkyard Stude Shows Up and Shows Out
Some cars have polish. Some have budgets. Some have a vibe.
Brandon Sandlian’s Studebaker has a soul.
After a mess of race-rig issues that almost kept them from making the event at all, Sandlian and his crew show up, strap in, and start going rounds in True 10.5 like they belong there – because they do.
Four rounds deep. Fan-favorite chaos. Screw-blown Studebaker energy that feels like it crawled out of the pits and into legend. He ultimately comes up short against Cole Pesz, but the message was clear:
That low-budget, do-it-yourself crew is going to be a nightmare draw for anybody on a small tire.
BEST: Bowman, Enders, and Ellington Make the Move When It Matters
Saturday morning. Heat in the air. Last-chance qualifying. The kind of moment where the track is honest and the pressure is louder than the blower.
And three heavy hitters – 2017 WSOPM champ Mike Bowman, six-time NHRA Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders, and 2024 No Prep Kings champion Shawn “Murder Nova” Ellington – stepped up and threw down. Ellington recorded a 3.588, while Bowman and Enders made 3.59-second blasts to make the field.
That’s not just “they qualified.” That’s a reminder: when the window is small and the stakes are high, champions find the door.
Enders is already carrying the headline weight of being named to NHRA’s Top 75 drivers of all time. Bowman is a proven Winter Series/WSOPM monster. Watching both of them muscle into the quickest Pro Mod field ever assembled in the most intense conditions of the weekend was one of those “remember this moment” snapshots.
BEST: Stevie “Fast” Seals the Deal
If you’ve been around Drag Illustrated events since the beginning, you know one thing: Stevie Jackson has been there. He’s hauled. He’s supported. He’s been close. He’s been in the mix.
At U.S. Street Nationals, he finally got to stand on top of it.
Jackson wins the Pro Mod title with a 3.566 at 210.80 to beat Derek Menholt, who went red by .006 and still posted a 3.570 at 211.36. That final round wasn’t a victory lap – it was a gunfight.
And here’s the part that makes it even nastier: Jackson didn’t just win. He controlled the race with the starting line.
Reaction times by round:
.011 / .023 / .009 / .026 / .011
Average: .016
Five straight rounds in the teens. Two .011s. A killer .009. In a field where people flinch, chase, and crack, Jackson stayed exactly who he was – and the moment never got bigger than him.
That’s veteran energy. That’s weaponized predictability.
WTF: Big Names Bounced Early – and It Proved the Point
A quiet truth about this race: a bunch of star power didn’t survive… and it wasn’t because anybody was “off.”
Erica Enders. Kye Kelley. Shawn Ellington. Jason Harris. Victor Alvarez. Mike Decker III.
This wasn’t a celebrity invitational. This wasn’t reputation racing.
This was a fight where the margins are microscopic and the field is so violent that one hiccup – one shake, one slip, one light, one problem – sends you home. That’s not an insult to the people who got bounced. It’s a compliment to the event itself.
This format demands perfection. Most people can’t live there for five rounds.
BRUTAL: Derek Menholt’s -.006
Menholt’s final-round redlight hits harder the more you think about it.
He was solid all day. Competitive on the tree. Competitive on E.T. He didn’t look rattled. He looked like a guy who belonged in that moment.
Then: final round. -.006.
That’s not a choke – that’s the tax you pay for being in the final at this race. The difference between winning the U.S. Street Nationals and finishing second was six thousandths of a second.
And the twist of the knife? Menholt also took out Snowbirds winner Jason Harris earlier, ending Harris’ shot at the Elite Motorsports Million – the $1,000,000 clean sweep bonus that had the entire event humming with extra tension.
In a weekend built on dreams, Menholt was both the guy who crushed one… and the guy who watched his own slip away by six.
BEST: Fan Fare Went From “Racer’s Race” to Full-Blown Spectacle
For years, U.S. Street Nationals had a reputation as a racer’s race – an event that catered more to competitors than fans.
Not anymore.
As the second stop in the Drag Illustrated Winter Series, the event has grown teeth and electricity. Fans were everywhere: pits packed, grandstands full, energy humming for four straight days. That atmosphere made everything sharper – especially the cutthroat final round of Pro Mod qualifying, which felt like a heavyweight title fight disguised as “one more session.”
This is what happens when you blend star power, consequence, and a format that doesn’t care who you are.
U.S. Street Nationals didn’t just feel bigger.
It felt like it mattered.
BOLDEST: Double-O Dallas Takes His First Swing
Reigning, defending NHRA Pro Stock world champion Dallas Glenn made his Pro Mod debut at the U.S. Street Nationals, climbing into the iconic J&A Service ’63 Corvette and immediately validating the moment. Glenn ripped off several killer runs in testing and was every bit as sharp on the starting line as expected once qualifying began.
Evolving track conditions – especially during the heat of the day – made life difficult for everyone on the property, and Glenn ultimately fell just short of the qualified field with a stout 3.605-second pass at 206.99 mph. Still, seeing the sport’s reigning Pro Stock champion make a legitimate swing at Pro Mod was a powerful moment, and one the Pro Mod fanbase hopes is just the beginning.
WTF: Gustafson Breaks the Clock – and the Internet
Eric Gustafson reset the bar Saturday night under the lights at Bradenton Motorsports Park, ripping off a 3.543-secondblast in his ProCharged ’69 Camaro to defeat No. 1 qualifier Jimmy Taylor in the opening stanza of eliminations. The pass – made with a 5-speed transmission and lock-up torque converter – now stands as the quickest E.T. in Drag Illustrated Winter Series history, giving Gustafson sole possession of the Winter Series E.T. record. It was a jaw-dropping moment that immediately reignited conversations around innovation, parity, and just how fast this series is willing to go.
BOLDEST: Tom Gunner Steps Into the Deep End
Tom Gunner, better known as Jimmy Dale, made his Limited Drag Radial debut at the U.S. Street Nationals, climbing into Rob Kohler’s screw-blown small-block-powered “Stick Weld” fourth-generation Camaro. Gunner earned his license during private testing in the days leading up to the event, qualified for the field, and showed poise well beyond his experience level before exiting in the first round after banging the blower. The result mattered less than the message: Gunner gained valuable seat time and proved he has what it takes to become a legitimate threat in high-level doorslammer drag racing.
BEST: Tommy Youmans Finally Breaks Through
After years of grinding, Tommy Youmans scored his first-ever drag race victory, parking his car in the winner’s circle in Pro 275 competition. A diehard Pontiac loyalist and one of the most universally respected figures in the pits, Youmans’ win was a feel-good moment that resonated far beyond the scoreboard.
That loyalty mattered. Youmans has remained committed to a small-block Pontiac combination through the highs, the lows, and more than a few DNQs – never once wavering or chasing an easier path. According to crew chief and tuner Lee White, the breakthrough was years in the making.
“The big part for him is we have worked and worked on that Pontiac engine combo to get it to be competitive because he is one million percent a Pontiac guy,” White said. “We struggled with DNQs and the whole time he never complained or gave up faith in me or the combo – we just kept working on it, whatever it took.”
Racing alongside his wife Cheryl, and finally seeing that persistence pay off, Youmans’ victory was the kind of win that reminds everyone why drag racing still hits different.
WTF: Mark Micke Doesn’t Qualify – And There Was a Reason
One of the most feared Pro Mod racers on the planet, Mark Micke, failed to qualify at the U.S. Street Nationals – a sentence that almost doesn’t compute. Micke had qualified No. 1 at all three Drag Illustrated Winter Series races in 2024–25, swept low qualifier bonuses, and owned the Winter Series E.T. record. Post-race, the Jefferson City, Missouri-based team discovered a fracture in the chassis of Micke’s twin-turbo ’69 Camaro, finally explaining what had been a wildly out-of-character weekend. Repairs are already underway, and Micke now turns his focus to the World Series of Pro Mod, where few doubt a statement-making return is coming.
This story was originally published on January 31, 2026. 
The post Best, Boldest & Most WTF Moments of the DI Winter Series’ U.S. Street Nationals first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
