Rian Hayward of Rian Hayward Racing (RHR) earned his first Pro Mod victory of the 2025 season at a West Coast Grudge (WCG) event hosted by Willie Peterson at the iconic Qlispe Raceway Park in Spokane, Washington.
Hayward was the no. 1 qualifier and set the eighth-mile track record, running a string of low 3.70s in qualifying and eliminations. Even though the Washington native took top qualifier honors, it didn’t come without its challenges.
“The hardest part for us was setting the car up for the altitude of this track, with 4400’ DA, it’s hard to get these cars motivated, shared Hayward, “but with help from tuner Rickie Jones, we managed to send it on rails each run!”
Unfortunately, due to Saturday’s inclement weather and competition breakages, which forced other competitors to exit the race early, there were only two rounds of competition.
“The highlight of my race weekend was watching fellow racer Scott Blake run hard in testing and first round of qualifying,” Hayward explained. “Plus, it was great to see Eric Halverson debut a new-to-him car and run upper 3.70s even though he had an unfortunate parts failure in round four of qualifying.”
Hayward kicked off his season at the Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service, where he put on an impressive performance in his “Code Blue” 1969 ProCharged Camaro. He qualified 29th in the ultra-competitive field at the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission and notched a semifinal finish despite having minimal laps in his updated Pro Mod machine. Then, at the World Series of Pro Mod, Hayward secured himself in the no. 4 position entering race day and made it two rounds at Bradenton Motorsports Park.
After his outing in Florida, Hayward traveled down to Xtreme Raceway Park for the Mid-West Drag Racing Series Xtreme Texas Nationals. He collected the best E.T. and speed of the weekend and a semifinal finish.
Now, RHR is looking forward to the fast progression of fellow racers and hopes to see them all out in full force at the next (WCG) Pro Mod race at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA, June 6-8.
This story was originally published on May 8, 2025.
The post DI Winter Series Standout Rian Hayward Wins Local Pro Mod Race at Willie Peterson’s West Coast Grudge Event first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
