{"id":105220,"date":"2026-11-13T20:14:05","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T20:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/carl-stevens-jr-on-world-series-of-pro-mod-in-my-opinion-theres-nothing-bigger\/"},"modified":"2026-11-13T20:14:05","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T20:14:05","slug":"carl-stevens-jr-on-world-series-of-pro-mod-in-my-opinion-theres-nothing-bigger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/carl-stevens-jr-on-world-series-of-pro-mod-in-my-opinion-theres-nothing-bigger\/","title":{"rendered":"Carl Stevens Jr. on World Series of Pro Mod: \u201cIn My Opinion, There\u2019s Nothing Bigger\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

People slept on Carl Stevens Jr. prior to the 2018 Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod.<\/p>\n

Wes Buck was not one of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always respected his capabilities, and I knew when he accepted his invitation in 2018 that he\u2019d be a problem, that he\u2019d have a shot at winning it,\u201d Buck says. \u201cIf you paid attention to Pro Mod racing at all, you knew Carl was a hitter. Matter of fact, he was kind of known for being a long ball hitter. It reminds me a little bit of Jason Scruggs back in the day, a guy who just went to the track looking to set records as much as anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stevens had the receipts. Three years earlier, the New Jersey engine builder had driven a Camaro he built himself to the first 230-mph eighth-mile pass by a door car. He had watched the first Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod in 2017 from the outside and wanted in.<\/p>\n

What he walked into in August of 2018 was a race that had grown up in a hurry. The first one had been 16 cars and a dare. The second brought more than two dozen of the best legal Pro Mod teams in the country up Thunder Mountain, with Erica Enders in the field, Mike Bowman back to defend, five rounds of eliminations instead of four, and $100,000 waiting for one driver and nobody else. The scoreboards at Bandimere Speedway stayed dark again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the baddest race I\u2019d ever been to,\u201d Stevens said years later.<\/p>\n

It did not start well. He had never raced at altitude. \u201cI couldn\u2019t even get the engine to idle at first,\u201d he said. The converter came out of Jim Bell\u2019s \u201969 Camaro about a dozen times before they had it sorted. Then the car made a pass, and the mood in the pit changed.<\/p>\n

On race day he got quicker every single time he staged it. A 5.93 to beat Marc Caruso. A 5.897 to beat Enders. A 5.880 in the quarterfinals to beat Bowman, the defending champion, by seven thousandths of a second. A 5.863 in the semifinals when Michael Biehle went red.<\/p>\n

\"The
2018 | Stevens lights the tires in Jim Bell\u2019s \u201969 Camaro at Bandimere Speedway. He got quicker in all five rounds. Photo: Drag Illustrated Archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That left Danny Rowe and one more decision. Stevens already had the numbers to win. His crew told him to leave the car alone. Stevens, who built the engine, tuned it and drove it, opened the laptop.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the tuner, I was looking at the data and thought I could make it go a little better, so I had to try.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Crew
2018 | Dan Ferguson gets Stevens set on the starting line at Bandimere Speedway. Photo: Drag Illustrated Archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Buck was not surprised then and is not surprised now.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarl is a polarizing character in this space. He\u2019s hardcore. He\u2019s intense. He\u2019s confident. I like it,\u201d Buck says. \u201cHe\u2019s got a little more edge to him than a lot of people you encounter in drag racing, and I think it makes him more interesting. I\u2019m not at all surprised that he turned up the dial for that final round. I don\u2019t know that he knows any other way to do it. He knows one way to race \u2013 wide open, all out, no holds barred. He\u2019s got New Jersey native written all over him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowe left first. Stevens ran him down with a 5.856 at 246.26 mph. It was the quickest pass the World Series of Pro Mod had ever seen, and it remains the quickest Pro Mod run in the history of Bandimere Speedway.<\/p>\n

\"Danny
2018 | Danny Rowe congratulates Stevens after the $100,000 final round. Photo: Drag Illustrated Archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe people probably heard screaming inside the car as I was turning off the track,\u201d Stevens said.<\/p>\n

In the winner\u2019s circle he was about to ask somebody to pinch him. A champagne cork caught him in the nose first.<\/p>\n

His father was standing right there. Carl Stevens Sr. put his son in a race car, does the chassis work on everything his son tunes, and is, in Junior\u2019s words, \u201cmy best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Carl
2018 | Stevens climbs out a $100,000 winner. Photo: Drag Illustrated Archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always known Carl and his dad as a unit. You never saw one without the other,\u201d Buck says. \u201cAnd his dad is just an awesome guy. Not the kind of guy you\u2019d want to tangle with, either. He\u2019s got bear claws for hands. When you shake his hand, he makes you feel like a child. And they\u2019re grinders. They\u2019ll work all day, all night, whatever it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

That night the grinding was over.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe winner\u2019s circle was surreal,\u201d Buck says. \u201cThose guys had really worked their asses off that week. It didn\u2019t come easy, and you\u2019re racing against the best in the world. No easy shots. So I think it was joy and relief, simultaneously. The work was done, and the work paid off. Carl\u2019s dad, despite being a bear of a man, he was emotional. Carl was torn up. Jim Bell was beside himself. It was a legit drag racing moment, and I think we all, collectively, knew that we were part of something bigger than us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wes
2018 | From left: Wes Buck, Carl Stevens Sr., Carl Stevens Jr., Jim Bell, Dan Ferguson and John Bandimere Jr. in the winner\u2019s circle at Bandimere Speedway. Photo: Drag Illustrated Archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stevens said it his own way. \u201cThe biggest thing is all the racing I do with my dad. Having him here and being able to win this huge event, the biggest event of our lives, together is something I\u2019ll never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell, who had won big races of his own, called it the biggest win ever. Stevens went further.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing on the biggest stage for Pro Mod and getting the win, it\u2019s just incredible. The money certainly doesn\u2019t hurt, but on this grand stage that we\u2019ve been given, in my opinion there\u2019s nothing bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is what the win did for Carl Stevens Jr. It settled the question. He builds engines and tunes race cars for a living, and he had just beaten the deepest Pro Mod field anybody had assembled with his own engine, his own tune-up and his own hands on the wheel. A year later he said the win \u201csolidified\u201d what his program could do.<\/p>\n

Then he mostly got out of the seat and went back to making other people fast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be lying to you if I told you I didn\u2019t enjoy driving them,\u201d he said in 2025. \u201cI enjoy just the tuning aspect now and just being behind it and making it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has made plenty happen. In January of 2024 at Bradenton Motorsports Park, Todd Moyer went 5.144 in a Camaro that Stevens built and tuned, the quickest quarter-mile pass a door car had ever made. In November of 2025, Jimmy Taylor went 5.114 at Maryland International Raceway in another Stevens car, the quickest full-bodied doorslammer pass ever recorded, after going 3.387 at 240 mph in the eighth mile. Stevens was on the radio for all of it. His dad did the chassis.<\/p>\n

Seven drivers have won the World Series of Pro Mod. Only one of them has spent the years since rewriting the record book from the other side of the laptop.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarl is such a fantastic representation of Pro Mod \u2013 a do-it-yourselfer extraordinaire,\u201d Buck says. \u201cThat\u2019s relatable. The car community and the racing industry are full of people who take pride in doing the work themselves, getting their hands dirty, building things, making things, tuning things. Carl should be a hero to our entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod returns March 5-7, 2027, at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas.<\/p>\n

See all seven champions.<\/a> Get on the ticket list.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The post Carl Stevens Jr. on World Series of Pro Mod: \u201cIn My Opinion, There\u2019s Nothing Bigger\u201d<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People slept on Carl Stevens Jr. prior to the 2018 Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod. Wes Buck was not one of them. \u201cI\u2019ve always respected his capabilities, and I knew when he accepted his invitation in 2018 that he\u2019d be a problem, that he\u2019d have a shot at winning it,\u201d Buck says. \u201cIf […]<\/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-105220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105220","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=105220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}