![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/US-Street-Nationals-Day-3-149.jpg\")
Centrifugal supercharger-equipped entries won two of the three Winter Series races \u2013 Jason Harris ran the table at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, going 3.561 at 211.06 mph in the final round to beat Sidnei Frigo\u2019s screw-blown, KTR-tuned entry and claim the $50,000 Pro Mod victory in his Harts Charger-equipped \u201cParty Time\u201d Harold Denton tribute \u201969 Camaro, tuned by Brandon Stroud. Aaron Stanfield captured the $150,000 World Series of Pro Mod title, bookending the series with centrifugal victories. Steve Jackson\u2019s screw-blown KTR Shadow 3.0 \u201968 Camaro took the U.S. Street Nationals in between \u2013 going 3.566 at 210.80 in the final after his opponent, Derek Menholt, went red by six thousandths on a 3.570 \u2013 but the overall trend was clear in a category that has historically been dominated by screw blower cars: the competitive landscape is changing, and it\u2019s changing fast.<\/p>\n
What made the USSN field particularly staggering: all 32 qualifiers ran in the 3.50s \u2013 the quickest qualified field in Pro Mod history. And at the World Series, Stanfield\u2019s story was as unlikely as it was compelling \u2013 making his Pro Mod debut during the Winter Series in December, Stanfield drove a screw-blown Elite Motorsports Camaro at the first two races before switching to a Harts Charger centrifugal \u201969 Camaro out of the Scott Tidwell Racing camp for the WSOPM. He qualified eighth and beat Peter Norton \u2013 who won the 2025-26 DI Winter Series championship in the Harts Charger-equipped Hurricane Motorsports \u201969 Camaro, tuned by standout crew chief Rickie Jones \u2013 in the final by just .003 seconds. Norton, a tractor pulling veteran who bought his Pro Mod car from Jeff Rudolf last November, earned Rookie of the Year honors and came out of nowhere to establish himself as one of the class\u2019s most exciting new characters.<\/p>\n All eyes had been on drag racing\u2019s multiple Pro Mod sanctions and series following the conclusion of the Winter Series. The PDRA made headlines when they announced their 2026 rules package prior to the start of their season, generating considerable conversation online. But the temperature rose significantly in recent days after both the PDRA and IHRA made parity-driven weight adjustments following their first races of the 2026 season \u2013 both moving weight onto centrifugal cars and taking weight off screw blower entries.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that the conversation around parity was already well underway before either sanctioning body made its move. During the Winter Series, officials made a controversial mid-series adjustment ahead of the World Series of Pro Mod, adding weight to the centrifugal combination after Eric Gustafson\u2019s ProCharger-equipped Coast Packing Co. \u201cLard Machine\u201d \u201969 Camaro set a Winter Series record of 3.543 at 211.30 mph at the U.S. Street Nationals. Despite considerable online scrutiny, Gustafson and tuner Jason Lee still managed to qualify the car No. 1 at the World Series of Pro Mod with a 3.553 at 211.16 \u2013 and looked like a clear favorite to win based on the car\u2019s consistency and performance.<\/p>\n Now, as Pro Mod\u2019s best go their separate ways to compete in their various series across the country, a growing sample size of races is creating a tremendous amount of conversation around the parity question \u2013 and the racers themselves are doing the talking.<\/p>\n Bob Harris \u2013 a longtime drag racing figure, former track operator, original president of the PDRA, and father of Pro Mod superstar Jason Harris \u2013 posted a detailed breakdown on Facebook in reference to rumblings throughout the community that Pro Mod sanctions were considering rule changes to address a perceived performance advantage by centrifugal supercharger entries over screw-type superchargers. Harris cited historical performance data, including screw blower national records, and argued that the numbers didn\u2019t support the narrative that centrifugal cars were running away from the field. It\u2019s worth noting that his son Jason \u2013 who won the Winter Series-opening Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks, was the only driver eligible for the Elite Motorsports $1 million bonus for winning all three Winter Series races, and is a two-time PDRA Pro Boost champion \u2013 is firmly established as one of the centrifugal camp\u2019s biggest stars.<\/p>\n The response was immediate \u2013 and pointed.<\/p>\n Kurt Steding, the P2 Contracting \u201969 Camaro driver and 2024 PDRA Pro Boost championship runner-up, fired back directly at Harris: \u201cI love your son, but stop please. You guys run 65 pounds of boost and we run 45-46.\u201d Steding went on to detail the physical toll the screw blower combination takes on hardware, noting that his team went through four motors during the Winter Series alone, and drew a sharp contrast with what he sees as a far less demanding maintenance schedule for centrifugal teams.<\/p>\n Billy Stocklin, a veteran tuner with decades of experience across multiple power adder combinations, offered perhaps the most widely shared line of the entire debate: \u201cScrews haven\u2019t changed since 1983. Run a 1983 centrifugal and then we can talk.\u201d The comment drew over 60 reactions \u2013 the most engagement of any single comment in the thread.<\/p>\n Reigning PDRA Pro Boost world champion Ty Tutterow weighed in publicly as well, and PDRA Pro Boost front-runner Randy Weatherford responded by telling screw blower teams to \u201cget your ass to work.\u201d The exchange between two of the PDRA\u2019s biggest stars fueled days of back-and-forth online.<\/p>\n Mark Savage \u2013 a protege of legendary Pro Mod racer, tuner, and supercharger specialist Al Billes, a DI 30 Under 30 alum, and one of the most renowned independent tuners for hire in the country \u2013 took to his own Facebook page to post about what he sarcastically dubbed \u201cFlat Hoods R Us\u201d and \u201cElite Promod\u201d \u2013 references to the centrifugal cars\u2019 flat-hood appearance compared to the visually iconic blower hat of a screw car. Savage, who is part of the Al-Anabi Racing camp and worked alongside Todd Tutterow in 2025 to lead driver J.R. Gray to the NHRA Pro Mod world championship, challenged the centrifugal camp directly on boost numbers, writing, \u201cHow many pounds of boost have the Harts\/ProCharger picked up since these days you speak of? I already know the answer \u2013 just want to see if you\u2019ll publicly admit it.\u201d<\/p>\n Several of these figures \u2013 including Dewayne Mills, father and crew chief on rising screw blower star Kallee Mills\u2019 \u201968 Camaro, which is tuned by standout Pro Mod tuner Lee White \u2013 have historically maintained a relatively quiet social media presence but have entered the conversation as the stakes have risen. White, too, has weighed in on the debate publicly.<\/p>\n For those who have followed Pro Mod since its inception, the parity debate is nothing new. Rule controversy has been part of the class\u2019s DNA since the first time a second power adder combination showed up to race against the first one. The early days featured nitrous versus supercharger arguments. Then it was roots blowers versus screw blowers. Then came turbos. And now, the conversation has evolved to supercharger versus supercharger \u2013 specifically, screw-type blowers versus the centrifugal units produced by ProCharger and the newer Harts Charger platform.<\/p>\n \u201cPro Mod thrives on this kind of controversy, and it\u2019s what has always made the class so unique,\u201d DI co-host Mike Carpenter said on this week\u2019s edition of The Wes Buck Show<\/em>. \u201cThis is maybe one of the first times we\u2019re seeing a combination that can compete with the screw blower. And now those guys find themselves in a different position than they\u2019ve probably ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n The mechanics of the debate center on a fundamental regulatory asymmetry: screw blower cars are limited to a 92% maximum overdrive in most eighth-mile series, which directly caps how fast the blower can spin relative to the engine. Centrifugal cars, by contrast, are regulated primarily by head unit size \u2013 the physical dimensions of the compressor \u2013 and by minimum weight. The screw camp\u2019s central complaint is that while their primary performance lever is hard-capped by overdrive, the centrifugal camp has significantly more room to tune within the rules.<\/p>\n The result, according to screw blower advocates, is a significant gap in available power \u2013 one that weight adjustments alone may not be able to close. Multiple well-placed sources from both sides of the debate confirm that the boost numbers between the two combinations are not close, with screw blowers producing roughly 45-46 psi and centrifugal units making substantially more. Centrifugal critics argue the gap has only widened in recent months as competition between ProCharger and the newer Harts Charger platform has accelerated development on both sides. Meanwhile, screw blowers \u2013 which are SFI-certified, sealed units that cannot be modified \u2013 have seen no corresponding leap in available technology.<\/p>\n Perhaps what\u2019s most notable about this moment in Pro Mod isn\u2019t the disagreement itself \u2013 it\u2019s the volume, the visibility, and the passion behind it. For years, rules conversations in Pro Mod happened behind closed doors: late-night phone calls between racers and series officials, PRI Show hallway debates, private group texts. What\u2019s happening now is fundamentally different. The conversation has moved to the public square, and fans are watching, engaging, and choosing sides in real time.<\/p>\n That matters.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past, I would have argued that maybe we should shy away from openly discussing rule controversy,\u201d DI Founder and Editorial Director Wes Buck said on The Wes Buck Show<\/em> this week. \u201cBut the more I\u2019ve watched this develop, it\u2019s like \u2013 no. This is something we have to lean into. This drives conversation. This drives engagement. It gets people talking and gives them an opportunity to choose sides.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s also worth noting that despite the conversation being framed as \u201cscrew vs. centrifugal,\u201d the Winter Series told a more complicated story than a simple runaway. Jackson\u2019s USSN win was dominant \u2013 he beat Gustafson on a holeshot in the semifinals, going 3.602 to Gustafson\u2019s 3.591. The KTR camp had a car in the final at three consecutive Winter Series races. Harris\u2019s Million bid ended in Round 2 at USSN when he suffered a mechanical failure against Menholt. And the screw camp\u2019s best cars \u2013 when the combination is treated right \u2013 are clearly still capable of winning any given weekend.<\/p>\n Nobody\u2019s going this crazy on social media about the rules in hardly any other class of drag racing. That says something about Pro Mod\u2019s place in the sport \u2013 and its future. The fact that eighth-mile Pro Mod rules are making headlines and driving drag racing conversation on social media is, when viewed through the lens of what it means for the class, undoubtedly a positive thing.<\/p>\n The next PDRA race will carry infinitely more juice because of this. So will the next IHRA event. Every qualifying sheet will be scrutinized. Every head-to-head matchup between a centrifugal car and a screw car will carry added weight. And every rules decision \u2013 or non-decision \u2013 by every sanctioning body will be dissected by a fan base that is more engaged in this conversation than it has ever been.<\/p>\n The stakes in Pro Mod are rising. The conversation has never been louder. And the racing has never been closer.<\/p>\n Stay tuned. This is far from over.<\/p>\n This story was originally published on April 4, 2026. The post Pro Mod Team Owners, Crew Chiefs & Drivers Spar on Social Media Over Parity, Rule Changes<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Only a month removed from the conclusion of the Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service \u2013 which produced arguably the most competitive Pro Mod drag racing in the history of the sport \u2013 the class finds itself in the middle of a heated, public, and deeply personal debate over parity between its dueling […]<\/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-103326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103326","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=103326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/US-Street-Nationals-Day-3-144.jpg\")
All Eyes on the Rulemakers<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Snowdbird-Nationals-2025-Luke-Nieuwhof-444.jpg\")
The Conversation Goes Public<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/2-27.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Tutterow_Todd_Savage_Mark_Snowbird-Outlaw-Nationals-Luke-Nieuwhof-192.jpg\")
A Debate as Old as the Class Itself<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Fred-Hahn.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WSOPM-Luke-Nieuwhof-668.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nThe Stakes Have Never Been Higher<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WSOPM-Luke-Nieuwhof-678.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Drag](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/DI_flat_red-e1711481551475.png\")
<\/p>\n