The Mid-West Drag Racing Series was poised to hand out the largest payout in Pro Mod history at the Fall Smackdown at Flying H Dragstrip in Odessa, Missouri, but the weather had other plans. After two days of hot and sunny conditions, persistent rain on Saturday – and the threat of more on Sunday – forced event officials to make the difficult decision to call the race.
“It was a tough deal for them, but they did the right thing,” No. 1 qualifier Mark Micke said regarding the decision to halt the event. “They tried, but mother nature just threw us for a loop. You can’t make teams from the east coast sit around all day with that much uncertainty. One thing about Mid-West and Keith Haney – he really cares about his racers. For him to make that call…it may not have been in the best interest of his pocketbook, but it was in the best interest of the racers. At the end of the day, I think they need to be proud of stepping up and paying it out.”
The four drivers left in Pro Mod at the time – Micke, Jason Harris, Melanie Salemi, and Roderjan Busato – split the prize money. Adding the payouts for runner-up and semifinalists on top of the $150,000 going to the winner, the total purse for those four teams equaled $185,000, allowing each of them to take home $46,250. While not the record-setting $150k they were all shooting for, it was still a very healthy payday.
“The four cars that were left were all bad ass race cars,” said Micke. “It was fixing to be a pretty wild semifinal and finals. But it was still a good payday, and I’m proud of how they handled it. When it came to splitting the money, there was no hesitation – [Flying H owner] Scott Higgs wrote the check. I joked with the guys about how many events they’d typically have to win to get that kind of money.”
Throughout pre-race testing and qualifying, it was clear that Micke – whose shop, M&M Transmission, is less than two hours down the road from Flying H – was the clear favorite to win. In the sweltering afternoon heat, he clicked off an easy 3.62 elapsed time in the first qualifying session, a full five-hundredths quicker than Harris, his closest competitor.
Mark Micke
As the weather cooled Thursday evening, the competition seemed to close in, with both Harris and Busato running 3.63. But Micke quickly fired back with a 3.59, the only driver to run in the 3.50’s all weekend, and took home an extra $10,000 as the No. 1 qualifier.
“We just came off a major rule change, so we struggled a couple of runs in testing,” Micke admitted. “Then it just kind of fell together for us. We’ve got a little home-field advantage, because we test there all the time. My mindset was to set the pace, get out in front of everybody, and let them play catch-up. That was my strategy, and it worked perfectly.”
Jason Harris
On Friday, the temperature rose even higher, making for tricky track conditions in the first round. Upsets were the order of the day, with the lower-qualified cars taking nine wins, while the top half of the field only earned seven. Micke once again set the pace, running a 3.63 in a first-round victory over Scott Palmer.
However, as the day wore on, other top contenders closed the gap on Micke, culminating in an incredible quarterfinal round that saw four different combinations run within two-hundredths of each other. While Micke (twin-turbo) was low for the round again – as he was for every round of eliminations – with a 3.621, Salemi (screw blower) was right on his heels with a 3.625, while Harris (ProCharger) went 3.638. In a losing effort to Micke, Haney (nitrous) also ran a very stout 3.640. It was a level of parity not often seen in Pro Mod.
Melanie Salemi
“I think the rules are better than everyone thought they were,” said Micke. “I know there was a little gap in qualifying, but I think part of it was we got ahold of the perfect run, and the other guys hadn’t quite got there yet. But by the quarterfinals, they’d figured it out. All those teams are equally good. And with this kind of money on the line, you can’t back off your shit. You gotta be willing to get after it or you’re not going to get anywhere.”
While the four remaining drivers split the prize money, one thing they can’t split is the championship belt Higgs had custom-made for the Smackdown champion. Micke says there have already been discussions between himself, Harris, Salemi, and Busato about getting together at another event – perhaps as soon as the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals in Bradenton, Florida – and settling who will get to wear it.
“They’re allowing us to work it out amongst ourselves, and do what we want to do,” Micke said. “It’s a big race, and somebody wants that belt. You can split the money, but you’re not splitting the belt. I want to beat them for it and have that thing hanging on my shelf with all my other stuff.”
Roderjan Busato
This story was originally published on September 24, 2024.
The post Rain Halts Mid-West Drag Racing Series Fall Smackdown first appeared on Drag Illustrated.