{"id":104975,"date":"2026-10-06T19:44:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T19:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/chip-king-records-first-ever-5-50s-pass-in-nhra-pro-mod-during-historic-weekend-in-st-louis\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T19:44:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T19:44:06","slug":"chip-king-records-first-ever-5-50s-pass-in-nhra-pro-mod-during-historic-weekend-in-st-louis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/chip-king-records-first-ever-5-50s-pass-in-nhra-pro-mod-during-historic-weekend-in-st-louis\/","title":{"rendered":"Chip King Records First-Ever 5.50\u2019s Pass In NHRA Pro Mod During Historic Weekend in St. Louis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Presented with cool weather and incredible track conditions, the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by Elite Motorsports put on a historic show at the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois. New elapsed time world records were set in three consecutive qualifying sessions, but by Saturday night, it was Chip King who made history with the first-ever NHRA Pro Mod pass in the 5.50\u2019s \u2013 an incredible 5.596 at 257.24 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d King said when asked if he thought he\u2019d be the first driver to dip into the 3.50-range. \u201cWe were just hoping to get into the low .60\u2019s, but a .59 is unbelievable. I gotta credit my crew, my team, and the good Lord.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

King\u2019s tuner, Joe Oplawski with Hyperaktive Performance Solutions, seconded the notion that the team didn\u2019t initially go into the final qualifying session planning on making a record-setting run in King\u2019s screw-blown, DreamWorks Motorsports \u201970 Dodge Charger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t expecting that,\u201d said Oplawski. \u201cWe made a transmission change to get it to run down low, then once we got up there and saw the conditions said, \u2018Screw it. It\u2019ll either go or it won\u2019t.\u2019 It went.\u201d<\/p>\n

King\u2019s run capped off a wild weekend in the class that began on Friday night during Q2. Justin Bond got things started, ripping off a 5.619 elapsed time at 256.06 mph in his screw-blown, JBS Equipment \u201968 Camaro to set a new world record. Billy Banaka matched him exactly on e.t. shortly thereafter in his Procharger-equipped \u201968 Camaro, but Bond retained the record based on speed (256.06 to Banaka\u2019s 254.76).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Saturday kicked things into another gear, as the record dropped three times during the third qualifying session. Sitting near the bottom of the qualifying sheet after struggling on Friday, two-time NHRA Pro Mod world champion Stevie \u201cFast\u201d Jackson ran a 5.618 at 256.75 mph in Q3 in his screw-blown, Motion Raceworks \/ Killin\u2019 Time Racing \u201968 Camaro, grabbing the record by a mere one-thousandth of a second.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a similar scenario to Friday night, the record would once again be determined by speed, as Nick Januik posted an identical 5.618 in his screw-blown Red Line Oil Camaro, but his 256.94 mph blast gave him the record over Jackson. Championship contender Derek Menholt would make it a moot point near the end of the session, however, as he lowered the record even further with a 5.605-second pass at 253.80 mph in his Harts Charger-boosted, Menholt Auto Group 2019 Corvette.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With multiple delays in the nitro qualifying session earlier in the day, the final Pro Mod qualifier was pushed back to the early evening hours, building anticipation for even better performances. King wasted little time, making his groundbreaking 5.596 run in just the fourth pass of the session.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While no one would be able to take away his achievement of being the first to the .50\u2019s, logic dictated that it likely wouldn\u2019t hold with so many elite cars yet to run. But hold it did, as pair after pair failed to match his incredible performance. And while King would eventually lose in the quarterfinals on race day to reigning world champion J.R. Gray, it didn\u2019t diminish the monumental accomplishment for the veteran driver who competed in the very first NHRA Pro Mod event back in 2001.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has not sank in,\u201d King said regarding the magnitude of his run. \u201cSt. Louis has always been great to me, and I can\u2019t even believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on October 6, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Chip King Records First-Ever 5.50\u2019s Pass In NHRA Pro Mod During Historic Weekend in St. Louis<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Presented with cool weather and incredible track conditions, the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by Elite Motorsports put on a historic show at the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois. New elapsed time world records were set in three consecutive qualifying sessions, but by Saturday night, it was […]<\/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-104975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104975","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=104975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}