Presented with cool weather and incredible track conditions, the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by Elite Motorsports put on a historic show at the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois. New elapsed time world records were set in three consecutive qualifying sessions, but by Saturday night, it was Chip King who made history with the first-ever NHRA Pro Mod pass in the 5.50’s – an incredible 5.596 at 257.24 mph.
“Absolutely not,” King said when asked if he thought he’d be the first driver to dip into the 3.50-range. “We were just hoping to get into the low .60’s, but a .59 is unbelievable. I gotta credit my crew, my team, and the good Lord.”
King’s tuner, Joe Oplawski with Hyperaktive Performance Solutions, seconded the notion that the team didn’t initially go into the final qualifying session planning on making a record-setting run in King’s screw-blown, DreamWorks Motorsports ’70 Dodge Charger.
“We weren’t expecting that,” said Oplawski. “We made a transmission change to get it to run down low, then once we got up there and saw the conditions said, ‘Screw it. It’ll either go or it won’t.’ It went.”
King’s run capped off a wild weekend in the class that began on Friday night during Q2. Justin Bond got things started, ripping off a 5.619 elapsed time at 256.06 mph in his screw-blown, JBS Equipment ’68 Camaro to set a new world record. Billy Banaka matched him exactly on e.t. shortly thereafter in his Procharger-equipped ’68 Camaro, but Bond retained the record based on speed (256.06 to Banaka’s 254.76).
Saturday kicked things into another gear, as the record dropped three times during the third qualifying session. Sitting near the bottom of the qualifying sheet after struggling on Friday, two-time NHRA Pro Mod world champion Stevie “Fast” Jackson ran a 5.618 at 256.75 mph in Q3 in his screw-blown, Motion Raceworks / Killin’ Time Racing ’68 Camaro, grabbing the record by a mere one-thousandth of a second.
In a similar scenario to Friday night, the record would once again be determined by speed, as Nick Januik posted an identical 5.618 in his screw-blown Red Line Oil Camaro, but his 256.94 mph blast gave him the record over Jackson. Championship contender Derek Menholt would make it a moot point near the end of the session, however, as he lowered the record even further with a 5.605-second pass at 253.80 mph in his Harts Charger-boosted, Menholt Auto Group 2019 Corvette.
With multiple delays in the nitro qualifying session earlier in the day, the final Pro Mod qualifier was pushed back to the early evening hours, building anticipation for even better performances. King wasted little time, making his groundbreaking 5.596 run in just the fourth pass of the session.
While no one would be able to take away his achievement of being the first to the .50’s, logic dictated that it likely wouldn’t hold with so many elite cars yet to run. But hold it did, as pair after pair failed to match his incredible performance. And while King would eventually lose in the quarterfinals on race day to reigning world champion J.R. Gray, it didn’t diminish the monumental accomplishment for the veteran driver who competed in the very first NHRA Pro Mod event back in 2001.
“It has not sank in,” King said regarding the magnitude of his run. “St. Louis has always been great to me, and I can’t even believe it.”
This story was originally published on October 6, 2026. 
The post Chip King Records First-Ever 5.50’s Pass In NHRA Pro Mod During Historic Weekend in St. Louis first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
