Aaron Stanfield has just left Gainesville Raceway, home of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season opener, the AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. He’s heading home after more than two weeks on the road here in sunny Florida following a second-round exit in his Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage/Janac Brothers Racing Pro Stock Camaro out of the Elite Motorsports camp. Now about a week removed from his $150,000 win at the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod presented by Red Line Oil, Stanfield is still buzzing over the victory, thanks in part to the reception he received at Gainesville.
When Stanfield pulled to the starting line for the first Pro Stock qualifying session on Friday, he was introduced as the World Series of Pro Mod champion. Fans and fellow drivers gave him congratulatory fist bumps and pats on the back in the pits. Here in the world of NHRA professional drag racing – what many consider the pinnacle of the sport – it was apparent people had paid attention when Stanfield turned on the final win light late Saturday night at Bradenton Motorsports Park.
“You can tell just how much buzz these events bring,” says Stanfield, a 14-time NHRA Pro Stock winner. “There’s a lot of eyes watching, and rightfully so. Those events are in a league of their own. From winning an NHRA event in Pro Stock to winning the Pro Mod race, I don’t think I’ve ever received that kind of acknowledgement from my peers. Near everybody that talked to me told me congratulations and how they were proud of me.”
[Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #200, the World Series of Pro Mod issue, in May / June of 2026.]
To find out how Stanfield ended up here, we have to go back to last winter when Stanfield’s Elite Motorsports teammate, six-time NHRA Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders, drove a ProCharged ’69 Camaro in the inaugural Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service through a partnership between Elite and Scott Tidwell Racing. Stanfield watched Enders on the FloRacing live stream throughout the Winter Series. Between seeing how much fun Enders and team owner Richard Freeman were having and noticing the competition level, Stanfield realized he wanted in on the action.
“It just sparked it in me,” Stanfield recalls. “I was like, ‘I want to do that. It looks pretty dang fun.’ One thing led to another. With the help of Pat Quinn and Richard and the Tidwell camp, everything came together and it gave me an opportunity to do it.”
Freeman worked with Modern Racing to put together a pair of screw-blown, late-model Camaros for Stanfield and Enders to drive in the three-race 2025/2026 DI Winter Series, which began at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks in early December and continued at the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission in late January.
Both drivers found themselves outside the 32-car field at the Snowbirds as the team dialed in the new setups. The Elite team stepped up at the U.S. Street Nationals, where Enders qualified No. 31 with a 3.595-second pass and Stanfield qualified No. 37 with a 3.598. Just three thousandths separated them, but it was enough to keep Stanfield out of the first-ever all-3.50-second 32-car field in Pro Mod history. Still, Stanfield saw it as another learning experience and vowed to come back stronger at the Winter Series finale.
“I’m probably a lighter driver than what’s been in some of those cars, and they wheelie for a couple hundred feet, so it’s difficult to get them to go straight enough to get it down the racetrack when the front end’s up in the air,” Stanfield says. “I think that was a learning curve. But I felt like we made respectable runs at those first two races with the screw blower car and just barely missed the field. Obviously, there’s a lot of really good race cars out there. It was a good experience to get my feet wet and get used to driving one.”
Just when Stanfield was starting to get settled in to the screw-blown Camaro, a series of moves put Stanfield in Tidwell’s silver Harts Charger-boosted ’69 Camaro for the WSOPM. Justin Bond drove the car at the first two Winter Series races, qualifying No. 11 at the Snowbirds and fifth in the record-setting U.S. Street Nationals field. Bond wasn’t able to compete at the Winter Series finale, and Tidwell and Freeman agreed that putting Stanfield in the silver car gave him the best odds at the WSOPM.
Qualifying got off to a rocky start. After a best of 4.225 across Thursday’s two sessions, Stanfield went into Friday’s three sessions in the No. 61 spot. It all turned around in Q3, though, when Stanfield ripped off a 3.582 at 210.05 mph to move up to No. 12. Tuner Chris Terry took another big swing in the fifth and final session, sending Stanfield on a 3.568-second pass to end up No. 8 on the final qualifying sheet. Finally, Stanfield was ready for his first race day start in Pro Mod.
“We didn’t just get in there right on the bottom. We went a ways up the ladder,” Stanfield says. “I just wanted the opportunity to be able to compete and race, as I’m sure every single other person out there wanted, so it was a great feeling. You could just see how much it meant to everybody just to qualify for that event. I’ve watched a lot, but I’ve never been in the thick of it, so it was definitely an exciting feeling.”
The Winter Series is quite a departure from what Stanfield has grown accustomed to in the NHRA professional and sportsman classes. One obvious example of that is the random chip drawings that are used to determine pairings in eliminations. Despite such an advantageous qualifying position, Stanfield could’ve ended up facing anyone from No. 1 qualifier Eric Gustafson to No. 32 qualifier Robin Roberts. That didn’t faze Stanfield one bit.
“I’ve watched all these guys race and they’ve never watched me race a Pro Mod,” Stanfield points out. “They probably didn’t know what to expect or how I would do, but to be honest with you, I wasn’t too worried about who I raced. I don’t mean that in the wrong way, just for the simple fact that I was going to go up there and just do my job and let the cards fall out how they fall out.”
Stanfield drew No. 10 qualifier Sidnei Frigo, who went to the final round at the Snowbirds. Stanfield left first before he had to give it a quick pedal to move on with a 3.879 at 200.98. He moved first again in the second round and sailed to a 3.651 to beat 2024 FuelTech Radial Outlaws Series Limited Drag Radial champion Greg Blevins Jr.
Stanfield’s first time pedaling a Pro Mod was in the first round, and that experience came into play in the third round when he faced 2018 PDRA Pro Boost world champion Tommy D’Aprile. Both drivers cut solid lights before losing traction. It was Stanfield who recovered quicker, winning with a 4.033 at 193.65 over D’Aprile’s 4.335 at 169.66.
“On that run against Tommy, it shook quite a bit harder and went pretty good right,” Stanfield recalls. “Whenever I let off the gas and got back in it, the car was still pretty upset. That was a little bit more of a stunt driving job for sure. But I think having experience first round, even though I only had to pedal it once to get it gathered back up then, definitely helped. I think you only get better the more you do it.”
In the semifinals, Stanfield drew Street Outlaws star Shawn “Murder Nova” Ellington, who qualified No. 29 in Keith Haney’s ProCharged “Blue” ’69 Camaro and made it through a murder’s row – fellow No Prep Kings champion Ryan Martin, U.S. Street Nationals winner Stevie “Fast” Jackson, and No. 1 qualifier Eric Gustafson – to reach the semis. Tension built as Ellington’s car lost fire after the burnout. His crew pushed him back to the starting line and he refired the car, but quickly shut it off again because there was no oil pressure. That gave Stanfield a free ride to the $150,000 final round. He stayed in his routine, though, cutting a .022 reaction time and recording a 3.614 at 210.37, missing out on lane choice by just a few thousandths.
“My mindset didn’t change at all,” Stanfield says of the unexpected single. “I’m going up there and trying to hit the tree good and make a nice, clean run. I hate it when somebody has a failure up there and doesn’t get an opportunity at it. I would’ve loved to race him, but I feel like we made a respectable run there. I was good on the tree and we made a nice lap and he was going to have to be good to beat us. I think it would’ve been a damn good race had he not had some issues.”
Tractor puller turned Pro Mod sensation Peter Norton, who defeated Randy Weatherford in the other semifinal match to secure the 2025/2026 DIWS Pro Mod championship, was waiting for Stanfield in the final round. The two drivers and their teams had to wait in the staging lanes due to a lengthy oildown on the starting line during the True 10.5 final round. When the tree dropped, Norton moved first by six thousandths. Stanfield had enough horsepower to sneak by him, though, as he lit up the win light with a 3.576 at 210.83 to Norton’s 3.585 at 210.57. The margin of victory was just .003 seconds.
“I normally don’t get super excited in the car, but I was pretty damn excited,” Stanfield says. “That’s a feeling that’s hard to explain. It was Chris Terry’s first win as a crew chief in the Pro Mod class with him making all the calls on his own. I had some guys that work on my Pro Stock team that were there helping. All in all, just the whole team aspect of how excited everybody was, it was just a great experience. As a driver, you want to always be perfect and do your best job. I think both of us missed the tree a little bit, but we were able to squeak one by.
“And he is no rookie either,” Stanfield adds, praising Norton. “He was driving like he’s been driving those cars for a lot of years. And ironically, his crew chiefs [Rickie and Rick Jones] used to be my crew chiefs on the Pro Stock cars, so it was kind of a full-circle moment.”
As excited as Stanfield was in the car, his wife, Joleigh, and the entourage that gathered in Stanfield’s lane on the starting line went just as wild. Getting to celebrate with them all at the top end and back in the pits made the win all the more rewarding.
“It’s the best feeling,” Stanfield says. “I had my wife and my kids and my father and mother-in-law there and some family. Anytime you can share those memories with the people that you’re really close to and care about, it means a lot. Richard Freeman and Erica Enders and Travis [Dieterle] that works on my Pro Stock car and all the Scott Tidwell guys – the Winter Series was the first time I’ve ever really been around them – we definitely created some lasting memories. It’s something I’m super grateful for.”
One of those lasting memories came in the winner’s circle when reigning WSOPM champion Steve King presented Stanfield with the trophy. It’s become a tradition for the previous champion to present the trophy to the new winner, but King’s team owner, Gene Pilot, took it a step further by commissioning a “traveling trophy,” similar to hockey’s Stanley Cup, that will stay with the winner for the year between races. Stanfield will get his own name plate on it, joining Mike Bowman, Carl Stevens Jr., the late Scott Oksas, Spencer Hyde, Derek Ward, and King. Stanfield will present the traveling trophy to the 2027 WSOPM winner – unless he becomes the race’s first repeat winner.
“Steve let me know to soak it in and enjoy the moment because that’s one of the bigger moments you can achieve and they’re hard to get,” Stanfield shares. “Super, super nice guy. That’s the first time I’ve gotten to meet him. It’s a special moment and he’s been there and he knows what it feels like. It’s cool for someone to be able to pass it on.”
As the winner’s circle celebrations settled down, the motion picture prop hundred-dollar bills and champagne forming a paper mâché of sorts on the car, Freeman heaped on the praise for Stanfield, who’s won NHRA national events in five different professional and sportsman classes, as well as three NHRA Factory Stock Showdown championships.
“He’s a natural-born driver,” Freeman said in a winner’s circle interview with Elon Werner. “He’s good. He’s a champion. This is good for him. He comes from a great lineage of drivers, from his grandfather to his father. He’s a real good, humble guy. He’s got a long tenure with us. He didn’t drive that car until he got here Wednesday. The [poured] seat’s not his. He just drove with what was in there. He’s just that good. Not just in one of these cars. In a Pro Stock car and hopefully in a fuel car. That’s where we’re headed. But we enjoy this. We support Wes [Buck] and we come down here to this deal and we love it.”
Freeman knew what he was doing when he chose to put Stanfield in a car for the Winter Series. The son of five-time NHRA Lucas Oil Series world champion Greg Stanfield, he’s competed in Super Stock, Stock Eliminator, Top Dragster, Factory Stock, Pro Stock, and most recently, Factory X. When Freeman announced plans to launch a new Elite Motorsports Top Fuel team last year, he noted that getting Stanfield in the car to get his Top Fuel license was on the to-do list. It’s obvious Freeman believes in Stanfield’s abilities, which only adds to his prowess behind the wheel.
“Richard’s level of confidence in me is – I guess the word would be empowering – as a driver,” Stanfield says. “It gives me the confidence to hop in anything, and in a short period of time, be fighting for a chance to win. I hadn’t even sat in a Pro Mod car before the Winter Series and didn’t really know anything about the process of driving one. He had full confidence in me – enough trust to buy a race car and stick me in there. That says he’s got my back and I’m super, super thankful for it.
“Everything I’ve done in my career to this point, whether it be sportsman racing or at my early stages of bracket racing, I’ve put a lot of emphasis on being able to drive different cars and multiple cars at the same race,” Stanfield continues. “There’s always learning curves, but I fully expect within a short period of time, anything I get in, to be able to compete to win and not just go make laps. Richard told me whenever we were well qualified, he says, ‘You do your job tomorrow, you can win this race.’ He had full confidence in it. You just can’t make it up.”
Beyond Freeman, Stanfield also credits Tidwell and his team for putting him in a capable car. He also mentioned the supporters that’ve contributed directly to Stanfield’s upward career trajectory, as well as everyone that supports the massive Elite Motorsports organization.
“Joe Janac is the guy that really accelerated my driving career,” Stanfield begins. “He gave me the opportunity to race Pro Stock and race at a high level. Without him, some of these opportunities like the Pro Mod car might not have happened. I’m super thankful for everything he’s done for me and my career. He’s a big part of every single aspect of my racing.
“Pat Quinn, Melling Performance, JHG, CTech Manufacturing, and all of Elite Motorsports’ great partners, they’re all a part of our program and we strive to put their names at the forefront of our sport and I’m thankful for every single one of them,” Stanfield adds.
Stanfield has another 19 NHRA national events ahead of him as he contends for a Pro Stock world championship before he can really think about returning to the Winter Series and defending his title. But it’s most definitely on his mind, and the gears are turning behind the scenes to make it happen.
“We’ve got some things to figure out, but I know Richard’s already working on it,” Stanfield says. “On my end, I would love to do it again. I had a blast racing those cars, and as long as it’s got four wheels, it doesn’t matter, I’m in. You don’t have to twist my arm.”
This story was originally published on July 13, 2026. 
The post Natural-Born Badass: Aaron Stanfield Joins Pro Mod History Books as 2026 World Series of Pro Mod Champion first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
