It’s a dark, rainy spring late afternoon in Franklin, Indiana, where Peter Norton and his family grow corn, soybeans, and wheat across around 7,500 acres. The Norton family has worked this ground since 1834, making Peter the seventh generation to farm in this area just south of Indianapolis. Additionally, he owns and operates a trucking and logistics business, Hurricane Specialized Logistics, with about 65 trucks on the road hauling everything from military planes to wind turbine components. His wife, Christy, also owns a number of business ventures around town, and they have two young daughters. “We stay pretty busy,” Norton says nonchalantly as rain beats down on his truck cab.
Tractor pulling is a big deal in this part of the country. It’s where Norton got his start in motorsports and how he was inadvertently introduced to Pro Modified drag racing, sending him down a yearlong rabbit hole that started with him watching his first Pro Mod race in the grandstands at the 2025 Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod and culminated with him winning the 2025/2026 Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service Pro Mod championship at the 2026 WSOPM presented by Red Line Oil.
[Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #200, the World Series of Pro Mod issue, in May / June of 2026.]
Norton started pulling antique tractors when he was 16. He quickly moved into Farm Stock aboard a tractor off the farm before graduating to Super Farm with its stock-appearing but high-powered tractors. From 2018 to 2025, Norton competed in Pro Stock, the black-smoke-billowing tractors many people imagine when they think of tractor pulling. Most recently, he’s also added a Mini Rod to the stable.
Pulling and drag racing, despite their differences, also bear some similarities, leading to numerous crossovers over the years. When Hall of Fame Funny Car driver, crew chief, and engine builder Ken Veney retired from driving, he got into tractor pulling, where he’s now a veritable legend as well.
Conversely, diehard pulling enthusiast and team owner Earl Wells added a dragstrip and multi-car Pro Mod program to his GALOT Motorsports tractor pulling empire, racking up several PDRA Pro Boost world championships and turning what is now known as Darana Motorsports Park – Benson, NC into a world-class eighth-mile dragstrip.
Puller Stan Shelton is the latest convert, as his Team Shelton Motorsports team now fields a pair of cars in both NHRA Pro Mod and eighth-mile Pro Mod competition with former GALOT driver Kevin Rivenbark wheeling the second team car.
Norton recently joined that list after experiencing Pro Mod racing up close and personal at the 2025 WSOPM. The Norton family was vacationing in Florida for Peter’s birthday when he decided to head over to Bradenton Motorsports Park to check out the race.
“I knew about Pro Mod from the Sheltons being in the pulling world and watching Pro Mod on TV and YouTube, but I hadn’t been to a Pro Mod race – I really hadn’t seen a Pro Mod in person,” Norton says. “I got a feel for how everything worked and how exciting it was. I knew some of the names and the big players in the Pro Mod world, so it was cool to walk around and see some of those in the pits. I was like, ‘Man, it would be awesome to be able to do this someday.’ It was my goal to get a car together in time to maybe try and make it down to the Snowbirds.”
Norton bought a screw-blown ’68 Firebird from the Salemi family and debuted it at a Mid-West Drag Racing Series race over the summer and ran it enough to get his license. He then bought Jeff Rudolf’s centrifugally supercharged “Ghetto Sleigh” ’69 Camaro in November and picked it up from Pro Line Racing in Ball Ground, Georgia, on his way to Bradenton for the first race of the 2025/2026 DI Winter Series, the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks, in early December. When he arrived at Bradenton, he sat in the car for the first time and hoped to merely qualify.
The Snowbirds ended up being the largest ever gathering of Pro Mods, with 80 cars on the final qualifying sheet, including Norton in No. 27 with his 3.611-second best. “I was like, ‘This is a dream come true to do it in the first race,’” Norton remembers. “I did lose first round, but it was cool just to be there.”
Determined to more than just “be there” at late January’s U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission, Norton and his team led by crew chiefs Rickie and Rick Jones went to work. Norton got a practice tree and worked on refining his reaction times, while the Joneses used their expertise from years of running RJ Race Cars to make adjustments to the chassis.
Their efforts were handsomely rewarded. Norton laid down a career-best 3.577 at 211.79 mph to qualify No. 16 in the sport’s first-ever all-3.50-second, 32-car Pro Mod field. He took out No. 5 qualifier Justin Bond in a first-round pedalfest, edged out Lyle Barnett in a side-by-side, 3.592-to-3.609 second-round match, and got past Kallee Mills in a third-round race that saw both drivers have to work the throttle. In the semifinals, Norton matched Derek Menholt’s .017 light with his .018 and came up just short on the other end, losing with a 3.604 to Menholt’s 3.588.
All of a sudden, Norton found himself ranked No. 10 in the DIWS points standings going into the World Series of Pro Mod presented by Red Line Oil, which was worth points and a half.
Norton had his best qualifying position of the Winter Series at WSOPM, qualifying No. 12 with a 3.580 at 208.94. At the first-round chip draw on Friday night following the final qualifying session, DIWS officials named Norton the Rookie of the Year, recognizing all that he’d accomplished in a short time and his true rookie status.
Norton then drew Barnett in the opening round, where Norton drove around Barnett’s .001 light and won with a 3.654 to Barnett’s 4.071. At the same time, title contenders started dropping.
Points leader and Snowbirds winner Jason Harris, Snowbirds runner-up Sidnei Frigo, and U.S. Street Nationals runner-up Menholt all lost the round. In round two, U.S. Streets winner Stevie “Fast” Jackson went red by .001 and No. 8 ranked Kye Kelley lost on a holeshot to No. 5 ranked Randy Weatherford, while Norton ran a 3.665 to win on a holeshot over multi-time NEOPMA champion Mike Decker Jr.’s 3.655. Low qualifier Eric Gustafson, who’d moved into the points lead, went red in the third round, leaving just Weatherford and Norton to fight for the title after they won their matchups over Kenny Lang and Jason Lee, respectively.
The champion would be decided in the semifinals, as Norton and Weatherford drew each other in the random chip draw. Norton didn’t show any rookie jitters when he lined up against the veteran eighth-mile Pro Mod standout. He cut a .011 reaction time to Weatherford’s .028 and charged to a 3.608 at 210.28 to turn on the win light and secure the championship. Weatherford pedaled to a 4.877 at 101.46.
“You wheel around the corner out of the staging lanes and you have all these people and you’re going to burn out, your heart’s beating through your ears, and you know you’ve got to be good,” Norton says. “I knew going into that Randy probably had a faster car, numbers-wise. The only way I’m going to get him is either he’s going to make a mistake or I’m just going to have to kill him on the tree. And he’s good on the tree generally, anyways. We took all the delay out and I went an .011 against him and then he shook, so it was kind of a no contest after that.”
Norton and his crew celebrated at the top end, then DI’s J.T. Hudson paraded him back up the track in the bed of his pickup truck, complete with a police escort to the starting line, where FloRacing’s Courtney Enders introduced him as the DIWS champion and interviewed him.
“You almost feel like you shouldn’t be there,” Norton admits. “I’m new to this and it should probably be somebody else standing in the back of a pickup truck and in front of a bunch of people. But we took advantage of the moment. My wife rode with me and I got to talk to Courtney in front of a whole crowd. It was cool to tell my story.
“I know it’s something that’s never been accomplished, somebody that’s never really been around drag racing at all to jump right into a Pro Mod and have the success we’ve had,” Norton continues. “I know we’ve had some luck on our side, but we’ve got a really good team as well. We’ve worked hard and I don’t feel like there’s been any gimmies either. Wes [Buck] does such an awesome job of making you feel like you’re a superstar, and I guess in his eyes, maybe we are. It was a once-in-a-lifetime feeling. I’ll never forget it.”
Norton then had to shift his focus back to the final round, where he’d meet NHRA Pro Stock standout and three-time NHRA Factory Stock Showdown world champion Aaron Stanfield. Norton moved first, his .049 light to Stanfield’s .055, and while he powered to a race day best of 3.585 at 210.57, Stanfield got to the finish line first with a 3.576 at 210.83.
The WSOPM magic that has produced career-defining victories struck again. Two Pro Mod rookies squared off in the $150,000 final round, with a true drag racing beginner holding his own against one of the most naturally talented drivers of our time.
“It’s cool for [Stanfield] to have the success he did as well,” Norton says. “Aaron’s a world-class Pro Stock driver, and it’s just cool lining up against some of these people that you get to watch on TV every weekend. Just to be there is an awesome feeling.”
A few weeks later, Norton and the Hurricane Motorsports team proved their WSOPM success wasn’t a fluke when Norton raced to victory at the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series season opener at Darana Motorsports Park – Benson, NC. His march to the winner’s circle included round wins over Weatherford and fellow DIWS title contenders like John Doc and Jason Harris. It was Harris who Norton defeated on a holeshot in the $50,000 final round.
“It doesn’t get any more validating than that,” says Norton, who thanked his wife, his team, his employees, and brands like Pro Line, M&M Transmission, Harts Charger, Larry Jeffers Race Cars, VP Racing Fuels, LAT Oils, and Stroud Safety. “We went through some tough competition there as well. Going up against Jason, I knew I had to go up there and just crush the tree – that’s the only way I’m going to beat him. And that’s what happened. He was later than normal and I was good. My team did their job, I did my job, and it all came together to create another win.”
With the rain still coming down, watering the fields Norton and his crew just planted, he reflects on it all. He went from the grandstands to the championship winner’s circle in one calendar year. He proved he belongs in the deep, shark-infest Pro Mod waters. He got not just a taste of success, but a gracious plenty, though his WSOPM runner-up finish left him wanting more.
Norton’s Hurricane Motorsports team recently completed a new car, a very lightly used RJ-built ’24 Camaro, and he plans to hit a variety of races this season, including possible appearances in PDRA Pro Boost and even NHRA Pro Mod. But after that, it’s back to the Winter Series for another shot at WSOPM glory.
“I don’t know, I guess a guy can only win so many things in one race,” Norton laughs. “Maybe it was just meant to be to not win the World Series. Gives you something to come back next year and try harder for.”
This story was originally published on July 27, 2026. 
The post WSOPM Lookback: Rookie of the Year Peter Norton wins Drag Illustrated Winter Series Pro Mod championship first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
