Multi-talented tuner and crew chief Jeff Pierce has led numerous drivers to headline-grabbing race wins and world championships over the years, but his efforts with Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings star Kye Kelley at this past weekend’s Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks propelled him to a new level in the public eye.
Pierce, who was heavily involved in the construction of Kelley’s screw-blown, steel-roof-and-quarters ’85 Camaro, tuned Kelley to the $50,000 Pro Mod win at the Snowbirds to kick off the three-race Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Kelley qualified No. 13 out of 64 cars that attempted to qualify for the quickest 32-car field in Pro Modified history. He then used quick reaction times and a string of low 3.60-second passes to earn the win. Kelley fired off a 3.594-second pass at 207.78 MPH to defeat past U.S. Street Nationals winner Ken Quartuccio and his 3.688 at 194.66 in the final round.
Kelley’s performance sent shockwaves through the drag racing community, as he accomplished it in a car unlike almost all of the other entries. It’s most definitely a purpose-built race car, not a “street car” like some have called it, but the Wizard Race Cars-built third-gen Camaro does have a shorter wheelbase, along with a steel roof and quarter panels, which comes with a 35-pound weight break in the DI Winter Series.
“It’s a 104-inch wheelbase,” Pierce noted. “Typical Pro Mods are 112 to 115. It’s the rules for NPK. You gotta have that, you gotta have a steel body. That is an ’85 Camaro body that rolled off the production line. I salvaged the body for that car myself.”
When the DI Winter Series was first announced, Kelley started trying to put together a deal to drive for a Pro Mod car owner during the three-race series, which also includes the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission in late January and the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod in early March. When those deals didn’t come through, Pierce convinced Kelley to bring his NPK car.
“He had a couple deals that all flaked out and I told him, ‘Let’s just bring your car, man. It’s a good car,’” Pierce, a 2016 DI 30 Under 30 honoree, said. “I knew we could do well. I didn’t know if we could do quite that good. I said, ‘Just bring it, man. Maybe we’ll turn some heads.’”
They indeed turned some heads. Kelley was the first car on the track for pre-race testing starting on Monday. Though the scoreboards were off in testing, everyone watching in-person and online could tell he was making quick passes. Kelley’s YouTube videos confirmed that he was running in the mid-to-low 3.60s. Qualifying provided further confirmation, with Kelley recording a 3.621 at 207.21 in the final session on Saturday night. It put him No. 2 at the time, but ended up No. 13 by the time all 64 cars made their attempts. That performance carried over into race day, which culminated with the winning 3.594 in the final round.
“We learned more about that car this week, and Kye put everything into this,” Pierce said. “He came Sunday and he started testing on Monday. We made I can’t even remember how many test runs. Ten freaking test runs. He wanted to do the best he could at this race. Just freaking incredible.”
The always-humble Pierce continued to praise Kelley, as well as the young Kye Kelley Racing team, for the incredible success they had racing against some of the best Pro Mod drivers, tuners, and teams in the world.
“I’ve told everybody he is in my top five list of people I would put in any car I could ever tune,” Pierce said. “He is one hell of a driver. He had two holeshot wins today. He handles a car better than 99.9% of people. He’s incredible.
“His guys did a great job,” Pierce continued. “They’re both young kids, ‘Sunshine’ and ‘Puddin’’, but they did an awesome job today. Everything was perfect. Literally probably the best day they’ve had at the racetrack as far as making sure everything’s 100%. Just incredible.”
Kelley returned the compliments, noting the impact Pierce has had on his program over the last couple seasons.
“It’s just phenomenal. I decided to go screw blower – we were big nitrous guys – and Jeff and Jon Salemi, they both told me what I needed to buy, ordered all my stuff for me, told me how to set it all up,” Kelley said. “Jeff came over, we went to a test session, he jetted it up like it needed to be jetted up, showed me the ropes, and he just took it from there. We won a championship in NPK the first year Jeff was there, and we’re still doing the same thing. Jeff’s here, and we’re winning.”
To learn more about the DI Winter Series, visit www.TheWinterSeries.com.
This story was originally published on December 10, 2024. 
The post Tuner Jeff Pierce Reflects on Kye Kelley’s Snowbirds Pro Mod Win first appeared on Drag Illustrated.