![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_8331.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBEST: Cole Pesz, \u201cThe Comeback Kid\u201d<\/h2>\n
If you want a snapshot of what makes this place different, start with Cole Pesz.<\/p>\n
Because on Wednesday \u2013 during a True 10.5 shakedown run \u2013 his weekend basically ended. Lockup converter comes on. Nitrous comes on. The tires leave the chat. His screw-blown C7 Corvette gets sideways and tags the wall on the passenger side. The kind of hit that makes everybody\u2019s stomach drop.<\/p>\n
Pesz gets checked by on-site EMS, gets released\u2026 and instead of packing up, he goes back to the pits and starts a thrash that turned into a near 24-hour, all-hands-on-deck rescue mission. Not just his guys \u2013 competitors, too. Bill Lutz\u2019s camp pitched in. Wrenches, parts, brains, and grit, all thrown into one common goal: get the kid back in the fight.<\/p>\n
Then he goes out and wins the thing.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not just a comeback story \u2013 that\u2019s a statement about the culture of this event. A wreck that should\u2019ve ended the weekend becomes the opening chapter of a $40,000 victory. He wasn\u2019t supposed to be in eliminations. He was supposed to be loading the trailer.<\/p>\n
Instead: holeshot over Scott Taylor, a solid win over Ryan Hendrickson, then he drags the 2024 Snowbirds Pro Mod winner Kye Kelley, throws down a 3.969 at 204.70 to stop Ryan Martin in the semis, and watches Brandon Sandlian go red in the final while he stamps a 3.980 at 204.76.<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t script that. But you can earn it.<\/p>\n True 10.5 arriving at U.S. Street Nationals with the boards lit wasn\u2019t just a rules tweak. It was a line in the sand.<\/p>\n At Snowbirds, True 10.5 was introduced as a no-time eliminator. It worked. It popped. It built buzz. Fans were leaning in hard because these small-tire hot rods were doing things that didn\u2019t look possible. After that opening-weekend energy, Drag Illustrated made the call: turn on the clocks and keep them on.<\/p>\n That move had everything: excitement, controversy, conversation. Some people loved it immediately. Some people worried it could spook participation. But here\u2019s the truth \u2013 the minute you \u201clight the boards,\u201d you stop arguing in theory and start arguing in facts. And those facts became very loud, very fast.<\/p>\n Because once those boards were lit, True 10.5 didn\u2019t just entertain \u2013 it validated itself.<\/p>\n Ohio\u2019s Bill Lutz has always been a problem. But this stretch? This is different.<\/p>\n Coming off a Snowbirds win, Lutz rolled into Bradenton and promptly reset everyone\u2019s expectations by firing off a 3.915-second pass \u2013 the quickest run ever made on 28-inch tall, 10.5-inch wide slicks.<\/p>\n That matters for a bunch of reasons.<\/p>\n One: it\u2019s a legitimate performance landmark.<\/p>\n Two: it arrived right as True 10.5 was stepping into the spotlight with the clocks on.<\/p>\n Three: it poured jet fuel on a narrative that was already brewing after Ryan Martin\u2019s private Bradenton test session a few weeks earlier, when he became the first to rip a 3-second pass on 28\u00d710.5s (3.94).<\/p>\n The sport has been begging for a small-tire class that feels like a main event, not a side show. Lutz and this True 10.5 wave are giving it to them.<\/p>\n The Pro Mod numbers from this weekend are the kind that sound fake if you haven\u2019t lived it.<\/p>\n The top 32 cars were separated by four-hundredths of a second after four rounds of qualifying.<\/p>\n The top 64 cars were spread within a tenth.<\/p>\n That isn\u2019t \u201ctight.\u201d That\u2019s insane. That\u2019s a field so dense it feels like one long car.<\/p>\n Then eliminations hit and the insanity didn\u2019t cool off \u2013 it escalated. There were 24 3.5-second passes in the opening round. There were 37 3.5-second passes across five rounds of eliminations. That\u2019s roughly 60% of race-day runs going sub-3.60.<\/p>\n This is not a nostalgia class. Not a \u201cbig name\u201d class. Not a \u201cshow up and figure it out\u201d class.<\/p>\n This is the most competitive knife fight in drag racing.<\/p>\n This one had everything: anticipation, money, ego, and then\u2026 total confusion.<\/p>\n During the highly anticipated grudge race between Stevie \u201cFast\u201d Jackson and Bradenton Motorsports Park owner Victor Alvarez, the timing system malfunctioned. The win light came on in Jackson\u2019s lane\u2026 but multiple video angles had Alvarez looking like he got there first at the eighth.<\/p>\n With $20,000 on the line, this could\u2019ve turned into a full-blown civil war.<\/p>\n Instead, both drivers made the smart call: let it go, race another day.<\/p>\n Of course, that didn\u2019t stop the internet from doing what the internet does. Social media went full CSI on it, and the back-and-forth only poured more attention onto the event. In a weird way, it became a reminder: U.S. Street Nationals isn\u2019t just racing anymore. It\u2019s a content machine. A conversation driver. A spectacle.<\/p>\n Run it back soon, please.<\/p>\n Some wins hit different. Jerry Morgano\u2019s did.<\/p>\n For the first time since 2019, the longtime Outlaw 10.5 hammer put \u201cCopperhead\u201d in the winner\u2019s circle again \u2013 and he did it the hard way, with the chip draw format forcing him to stare down killers immediately.<\/p>\n He holeshotted No. 1 qualifier Carson Baker in round one, got the bye, then holeshotted Tim Partin, then beat Nick Agostino in the final with another solid leave and a 3.905 at 195.65 for the $10,000 win.<\/p>\n That\u2019s vintage Pro 10.5. Reaction-time warfare. Small-block turbo violence. And one of the OGs reminding everybody he didn\u2019t forget how to do it.<\/p>\n Fletcher Cox showing up and qualifying third in Pro 10.5 with a 3.895 at 189.36 wasn\u2019t a novelty \u2013 it was a warning shot.<\/p>\n The \u201cTraining Day\u201d nitrous \u201969 Camaro was a threat. Full stop.<\/p>\n But in round two, drag racing did what drag racing does: it humbled the narrative in one blink. Cox posts an uncharacteristically late .441 light and can\u2019t run down Nick Agostino, who goes 3.931 at 200.65 to Cox\u2019s quicker-but-losing 3.904 at 184.83.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the brutality of this event. It\u2019s not enough to be fast. It\u2019s not enough to be famous. It\u2019s not enough to have momentum.<\/p>\n You have to be perfect.<\/p>\n Jason Harris missed out on the No. 1 qualifying position by .002 seconds to turbo monster Jimmy Taylor, and that tiny number did something huge: it ended Harris\u2019 shot at the inaugural Jerry Bickel Clean Sweep Challenge \u2013 the three-race No. 1 qualifier sweep that pays out with a brand-new Pro Mod rolling chassis valued north of $250,000.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not \u201cclose.\u201d That\u2019s drag racing\u2019s version of losing a championship on a tiebreaker you didn\u2019t know existed until the moment it breaks your heart.<\/p>\n Some cars have polish. Some have budgets. Some have a vibe.<\/p>\n Brandon Sandlian\u2019s Studebaker has a soul.<\/p>\n After a mess of race-rig issues that almost kept them from making the event at all, Sandlian and his crew show up, strap in, and start going rounds in True 10.5 like they belong there \u2013 because they do.<\/p>\n Four rounds deep. Fan-favorite chaos. Screw-blown Studebaker energy that feels like it crawled out of the pits and into legend. He ultimately comes up short against Cole Pesz, but the message was clear:<\/p>\n That low-budget, do-it-yourself crew is going to be a nightmare draw for anybody on a small tire.<\/p>\n Saturday morning. Heat in the air. Last-chance qualifying. The kind of moment where the track is honest and the pressure is louder than the blower.<\/p>\n And three heavy hitters \u2013 2017 WSOPM champ Mike Bowman, six-time NHRA Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders, and 2024 No Prep Kings champion Shawn \u201cMurder Nova\u201d Ellington \u2013 stepped up and threw down. Ellington recorded a 3.588, while Bowman and Enders made 3.59-second blasts to make the field.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not just \u201cthey qualified.\u201d That\u2019s a reminder: when the window is small and the stakes are high, champions find the door.<\/p>\n Enders is already carrying the headline weight of being named to NHRA\u2019s Top 75 drivers of all time. Bowman is a proven Winter Series\/WSOPM monster. Watching both of them muscle into the quickest Pro Mod field ever assembled in the most intense conditions of the weekend was one of those \u201cremember this moment\u201d snapshots.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been around Drag Illustrated events since the beginning, you know one thing: Stevie Jackson has been there. He\u2019s hauled. He\u2019s supported. He\u2019s been close. He\u2019s been in the mix.<\/p>\n At U.S. Street Nationals, he finally got to stand on top of it.<\/p>\n Jackson wins the Pro Mod title with a 3.566 at 210.80 to beat Derek Menholt, who went red by .006 and still posted a 3.570 at 211.36. That final round wasn\u2019t a victory lap \u2013 it was a gunfight.<\/p>\n And here\u2019s the part that makes it even nastier: Jackson didn\u2019t just win. He controlled the race with the starting line.<\/p>\n Reaction times by round:<\/p>\n .011 \/ .023 \/ .009 \/ .026 \/ .011<\/p>\n Average: .016<\/p>\n Five straight rounds in the teens. Two .011s. A killer .009. In a field where people flinch, chase, and crack, Jackson stayed exactly who he was \u2013 and the moment never got bigger than him.<\/p>\n That\u2019s veteran energy. That\u2019s weaponized predictability.<\/p>\n A quiet truth about this race: a bunch of star power didn\u2019t survive\u2026 and it wasn\u2019t because anybody was \u201coff.\u201d<\/p>\n Erica Enders. Kye Kelley. Shawn Ellington. Jason Harris. Victor Alvarez. Mike Decker III.<\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t a celebrity invitational. This wasn\u2019t reputation racing.<\/p>\n This was a fight where the margins are microscopic and the field is so violent that one hiccup \u2013 one shake, one slip, one light, one problem \u2013 sends you home. That\u2019s not an insult to the people who got bounced. It\u2019s a compliment to the event itself.<\/p>\n This format demands perfection. Most people can\u2019t live there for five rounds.<\/p>\n Menholt\u2019s final-round redlight hits harder the more you think about it.<\/p>\n He was solid all day. Competitive on the tree. Competitive on E.T. He didn\u2019t look rattled. He looked like a guy who belonged in that moment.<\/p>\n Then: final round. -.006.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not a choke \u2013 that\u2019s the tax you pay for being in the final at this race. The difference between winning the U.S. Street Nationals and finishing second was six thousandths of a second.<\/p>\n And the twist of the knife? Menholt also took out Snowbirds winner Jason Harris earlier, ending Harris\u2019 shot at the Elite Motorsports Million \u2013 the $1,000,000 clean sweep bonus that had the entire event humming with extra tension.<\/p>\n In a weekend built on dreams, Menholt was both the guy who crushed one\u2026 and the guy who watched his own slip away by six.<\/p>\n For years, U.S. Street Nationals had a reputation as a racer\u2019s race \u2013 an event that catered more to competitors than fans.<\/p>\n Not anymore.<\/p>\n As the second stop in the Drag Illustrated Winter Series, the event has grown teeth and electricity. Fans were everywhere: pits packed, grandstands full, energy humming for four straight days. That atmosphere made everything sharper \u2013 especially the cutthroat final round of Pro Mod qualifying, which felt like a heavyweight title fight disguised as \u201cone more session.\u201d<\/p>\n This is what happens when you blend star power, consequence, and a format that doesn\u2019t care who you are.<\/p>\n U.S. Street Nationals didn\u2019t just feel bigger.<\/p>\n It felt like it mattered.<\/p>\n Reigning, defending NHRA Pro Stock world champion Dallas Glenn made his Pro Mod debut at the U.S. Street Nationals, climbing into the iconic J&A Service \u201963 Corvette and immediately validating the moment. Glenn ripped off several killer runs in testing and was every bit as sharp on the starting line as expected once qualifying began.\u00a0<\/p>\n Evolving track conditions \u2013 especially during the heat of the day \u2013 made life difficult for everyone on the property, and Glenn ultimately fell just short of the qualified field with a stout 3.605-second pass at 206.99 mph. Still, seeing the sport\u2019s reigning Pro Stock champion make a legitimate swing at Pro Mod was a powerful moment, and one the Pro Mod fanbase hopes is just the beginning.<\/p>\n Eric Gustafson reset the bar Saturday night under the lights at Bradenton Motorsports Park, ripping off a 3.543-secondblast in his ProCharged \u201969 Camaro to defeat No. 1 qualifier Jimmy Taylor in the opening stanza of eliminations. The pass \u2013 made with a 5-speed transmission and lock-up torque converter \u2013 now stands as the quickest E.T. in Drag Illustrated Winter Series history, giving Gustafson sole possession of the Winter Series E.T. record. It was a jaw-dropping moment that immediately reignited conversations around innovation, parity, and just how fast this series is willing to go.<\/p>\n Tom Gunner, better known as Jimmy Dale, made his Limited Drag Radial debut at the U.S. Street Nationals, climbing into Rob Kohler\u2019s screw-blown small-block-powered \u201cStick Weld\u201d fourth-generation Camaro. Gunner earned his license during private testing in the days leading up to the event, qualified for the field, and showed poise well beyond his experience level before exiting in the first round after banging the blower. The result mattered less than the message: Gunner gained valuable seat time and proved he has what it takes to become a legitimate threat in high-level doorslammer drag racing.<\/p>\n After years of grinding, Tommy Youmans scored his first-ever drag race victory, parking his car in the winner\u2019s circle in Pro 275 competition. A diehard Pontiac loyalist and one of the most universally respected figures in the pits, Youmans\u2019 win was a feel-good moment that resonated far beyond the scoreboard.<\/p>\n That loyalty mattered. Youmans has remained committed to a small-block Pontiac combination through the highs, the lows, and more than a few DNQs \u2013 never once wavering or chasing an easier path. According to crew chief and tuner Lee White, the breakthrough was years in the making.<\/p>\n \u201cThe big part for him is we have worked and worked on that Pontiac engine combo to get it to be competitive because he is one million percent a Pontiac guy,\u201d White said. \u201cWe struggled with DNQs and the whole time he never complained or gave up faith in me or the combo \u2013 we just kept working on it, whatever it took.\u201d<\/p>\n Racing alongside his wife Cheryl, and finally seeing that persistence pay off, Youmans\u2019 victory was the kind of win that reminds everyone why drag racing still hits different.<\/p>\n One of the most feared Pro Mod racers on the planet, Mark Micke, failed to qualify at the U.S. Street Nationals \u2013 a sentence that almost doesn\u2019t compute. Micke had qualified No. 1 at all three Drag Illustrated Winter Series races in 2024\u201325, swept low qualifier bonuses, and owned the Winter Series E.T. record. Post-race, the Jefferson City, Missouri-based team discovered a fracture in the chassis of Micke\u2019s twin-turbo \u201969 Camaro, finally explaining what had been a wildly out-of-character weekend. Repairs are already underway, and Micke now turns his focus to the World Series of Pro Mod, where few doubt a statement-making return is coming.<\/p>\n This story was originally published on January 31, 2026. The post Best, Boldest & Most WTF Moments of the DI Winter Series\u2019 U.S. Street Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Because when you invite the baddest door cars on earth to Bradenton\u2026you don\u2019t get a \u201crace.\u201d You get a knife fight. There are drag races\u2026and then there are Drag Illustrated Winter Series races. The 2026 U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission didn\u2019t feel like a stop on the schedule as much as it felt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Street-Nationals-Day-3-117.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBOLDEST (AND BEST): \u201cLight the Boards\u201d \u2013 True 10.5 Turns the Clocks On<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Street-Nationals-Day-3-115.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBEST: Bill Lutz Is Flying<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DIFeatureImage-BestWorst-USSN-2026-2.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nWTF: Pro Mod Is Officially in Another Universe<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DIFeatureImage-BestWorst-USSN-2026-3.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nWTF: Bad Timing (Literally) \u2013 The Jackson vs. Alvarez Grudge Race Chaos<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProTenFive_JerryMorgano.jpg\")
BEST: Jerry Morgano Ends the Drought<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Street-Nationals-Day-3-103.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBRUTAL: Fletcher Cox Looks Like a Contender\u2026Then the Tree Bites<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Street-Nationals-Day-3-149.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nWTF: The Jerry Bickel Clean Sweep Challenge Ends on\u2026 Two Thousandths<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Street-Nationals-Day-2-176.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBEST: The Junkyard Stude Shows Up and Shows Out<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DIFeatureImage-BestWorst-USSN-2026-4.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBEST: Bowman, Enders, and Ellington Make the Move When It Matters<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1dfdc91419289ff5848d17c452f21e08-1-2000x1333.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBEST: Stevie \u201cFast\u201d Seals the Deal<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DIFeatureImage-BestWorst-USSN-2026-5.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nWTF: Big Names Bounced Early \u2013 and It Proved the Point<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Street-Nationals-Day-3-27.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBRUTAL: Derek Menholt\u2019s -.006<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DIFeatureImage-BestWorst-USSN-2026-6.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBEST: Fan Fare Went From \u201cRacer\u2019s Race\u201d to Full-Blown Spectacle<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Street-Nationals-Day-1-19.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBOLDEST: Double-O Dallas Takes His First Swing<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Street-Nationals-Day-1-274.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nWTF: Gustafson Breaks the Clock \u2013 and the Internet<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Street-Nationals-Day-3-49.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBOLDEST: Tom Gunner Steps Into the Deep End<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LDR_TommyYoumansA.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBEST: Tommy Youmans Finally Breaks Through<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Street-Nationals-Day-2-128.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nWTF: Mark Micke Doesn\u2019t Qualify \u2013 And There Was a Reason<\/h2>\n
![\"Drag](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/DI_flat_red-e1711481551475.png\")
<\/p>\n