Fletcher Cox came into the DI Winter Series finale, the World Series of Pro Mod, with something to prove. The Super Bowl champion’s holeshot loss at the U.S. Street Nationals – and the reaction it generated online – didn’t sit right with Cox, and he was determined to bounce back in a big way. He did exactly that, securing the inaugural Winter Series Pro 10.5 championship and the WSOPM win in his nitrous-fed “Training Day” ’69 Camaro.
In the second round of the U.S. Street Nationals, the typically consistent Cox left the line with a .441 reaction time. Tuner Phil Shuler armed him with a 3.904-second pass to chase down Nick Agostino, but Agostino’s starting line advantage and 3.931 were too much to overcome. Critics chirped online in the days following the race, but Cox and his team were already moving on and focusing on WSOPM.
“I talk to Phil a lot on a personal level. The deal is, if you entertain the clowns, you become part of the circus,” says Cox, who entered WSOPM third in points. “So you don’t entertain nothing that’s going on on the internet. You block it out and you move on. The team, they already know that we win together, we lose together; whether it’s the driver’s fault, or as a crew member or a crew chief, that we made a mistake, we made the wrong call. But there’s nobody to blame, and that’s how we do it. We have fun with it. We take our blows under the chin every time, and that’s why I have the team that I’ve got.”
In WSOPM qualifying, Cox saved his best pass for last, throwing down a 3.876 at 190.27 in Q3 to qualify No. 2 behind Jerry Morgano. It was also his best qualifying effort of the Winter Series after qualifying No. 4 at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals – where he raced to a runner-up finish – and No. 3 at the U.S. Street Nationals.
When eliminations rolled around, it was obvious Cox wasn’t going to let anything or anyone get in his way. He posted low E.T. of the first round, a 3.906 at 190.14, to defeat J.R. Webb, then followed that with a 4.038 at 190.46 to knock out 2025 WSOPM runner-up Chris Tuten in the second round. Cox ended up with the bye run in the third round, where he lifted to a 5.500.
Cox’s championship destiny was in his own hands going into the semifinals, as Agostino, the points leader, went out in the second round and Morgano, No. 2 going into the weekend, lost in the first round. Cox left on Tim Partin and finished first with a 3.910 at 187.86 to Partin’s 3.917 at 194.21. That locked up the championship, but the job wasn’t finished. The WSOPM win was still on the line, and young gun Joel Wensley Jr. was waiting in the final round.
“After I found out we won the championship, I celebrated at the top end – just for a second,” Cox says. “A bunch of the team came down there and celebrated, Kaycee [Marchetti, Cox’s girlfriend] came down and celebrated. After that, my deal was to just focus and refocus. That’s what a lot of people struggle with. Focus on right now, on the task at hand. But now I know I’ve still got another round to go win and a chance to do it. I did my normal routine after every pass – I went into the motor home, relaxed my mind, and was ready to go for the finals.”
Cox left the line first every time he lined up against someone in eliminations, and that continued in the final round against Wensley. He capped off the weekend with a 3.928 at 190.78 to finish ahead of Wensley and his 3.973 at 192.85, earning the $25,000 WSOPM prize. Cox also earned a $5,000 championship bonus and a massive custom baseball bat from Victus Sports.
“I think the biggest thing about the Winter Series is they bring the best out in you,” says Cox, who thanked partners like LAT Racing Oils, VP Racing Fuel, Mac Fab Beadlocks, Diamond Pistons, and Menscer Motorsports. “I look at it as, the first race we came here and went rounds. Second race, I don’t know what happened or what I was thinking. I went .400 on the tree and was the joke of the weekend. But the focus was to come here and win, knowing that we had a chance to win a championship. When ‘Training Day’ shows up, and this team that Phil Shuler and myself put together, we’ve got a chance to win. That was the most important part.”
The post WSOPM Lookback: Fletcher Cox Bounces Back to Sweep Pro 10.5 Title and Event Win first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
