Two-time and reigning Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association (NEOPMA) champion Mike Decker Jr. wrapped up the 2023 season with a $31,000 victory at the NEOPMA 31st anniversary race Sunday night at Maryland International Raceway. It was an all-Maryland final round, as Decker Jr. faced off against Chuck Ulsch for the season finale win held in conjunction with MIR\u2019s Superchargers Showdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to thank God for giving me the ability to get that win, and I\u2019m going to give Him the glory for my team to have the ability to recover to get that win,\u201d Decker Jr. said. \u201cWithout that, that wouldn\u2019t happen. To win that 31st anniversary race, it\u2019s not just another monthly race. It just shows the caliber of guys that I surround myself with on my crew. With the support I get from guys like the Tutterows and the relationships we\u2019ve built, we\u2019ve become a strong team and a contender that can win. I don\u2019t believe we had the best car. We didn\u2019t have the fastest car, obviously. But at the end of the day, we were gifted the win.\u201d<\/p>\n
In qualifying, \u201cTurbo\u201d Todd Moyer drove Carl Stevens Jr.\u2019s new twin-turbocharged Camaro to a 3.588-second pass at 227.08 MPH to qualify No. 1. That pass also set both ends of the NEOPMA eighth-mile record, as well as the track speed record for eighth-mile Pro Mod. Derek Ward posted a 3.599 at 211.83 in his screw-blown \u201969 Camaro to qualify second. Mike \u201cHollywood\u201d Decker III drove his screw-blown Decker\u2019s Salvage Camaro to a 3.613 at 208.68 to end up third. Decker Jr. qualified fourth with a 3.621 at 211.69. Jay Santos recorded a 3.623 at 206.42 in his screw-blown \u201969 Camaro to round out the top five. Thirteen of the 16 qualifiers ran in the 3.60s or quicker.<\/p>\n
Decker Jr. started race day with a 3.654 at 211.59 to defeat Bubba Greene and his 3.906. He lined up against fellow Maryland driver Fredy Scriba in the second round, winning with a 3.645 at 210.80 over Scriba\u2019s 3.687 at 204.82 in his nitrous-fed \u201cSorcerer\u201d \u201969 Camaro. Decker Jr. had to face Moyer and his record-setting turbo car in the semifinals. Neither driver wanted to stage, then Decker Jr. got a holeshot advantage and followed it up with a 3.647 at 211.43, while Moyer slowed to a 3.719 at 217.28.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Ulsch in his screw-blown \u201968 Camaro qualified No. 7 and picked up a first-round win over Andy Jensen, posting a 3.672 at 206.20. A consistent 3.678 at 205.79 followed in the second round to beat David DeMarco, who lifted to an 8.534. Ulsch was first off the line against Decker III in the semifinals and won with a 3.68 at 207.18 to Decker III\u2019s 4.358.<\/p>\n
Both drivers had extra work to do before the final round. Ulsch\u2019s team asked the Decker team if they\u2019d wait on them to change converters. The roles were reversed when Decker Jr.\u2019s car wouldn\u2019t stay running after the team replaced a lifter that was damaged in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe changed crank triggers, we changed boxes, that wasn\u2019t it,\u201d Decker Jr. said. \u201cWe had to diagnose the problem, so Hollywood was on the phone with Todd [Tutterow] trying to figure it out. It ended up being the flywheel. We put a flywheel in it in about 20 minutes. Pulled the transmission, pulled the flywheel, put another flywheel in, and had it running. Chuck would\u2019ve waited there all night, and we would\u2019ve waited for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
With both cars buttoned up, the two teams rolled to the staging lanes for a final-round battle for the $31,000 prize. Decker Jr. was away first, allowing him to win on a holeshot with a 3.672 to Ulsch\u2019s 3.65.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was ecstatic,\u201d Decker Jr. said. \u201cI looked up at the scoreboard and I\u2019m looking at the numbers \u2013 while I\u2019m still in the gas, mind you \u2013 and I see we went a .67 to a .65. I was like, \u2018Man, look at that.\u2019 Very thankful. Very grateful. I thank the Lord above for giving it to me. I\u2019m grateful for my guys. On Hollywood\u2019s car, we had the head off of that thing three times this weekend. It\u2019s not like it was a walk in the park. They definitely put the work in and got the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Decker Jr. praised John Mazzorana and the NEOPMA team, as well as Royce Miller and the MIR staff, for hosting the season finale.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thank Northeast for putting that race on and making that race what it was. We had some good cars there,\u201d Decker Jr. said.<\/p>\n
Decker Jr., who won the last two NEOPMA championships, will not wear the No. 1 next year. Derek Ward, who walked away from a high-speed crash in the opening round of eliminations, clinched the 2023 championship in the all-supercharged class. The series started the season with two classes \u2013 one featuring screw-type, roots, and centrifugal superchargers and another pairing nitrous and turbo cars. NEOPMA later merged the two classes back into one midway through the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to congratulate Derek Ward on winning that championship,\u201d Decker Jr. said. \u201cHe deserved it. Derek put the work in this year and he put a lot of testing in. Well-deserved for his team. I hope he has a speedy recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NEOPMA and its racers have battled rainouts all season, including the season opener at MIR, which was originally scheduled as the 31st anniversary celebration. The season finale wasn\u2019t without its rain delays, and the weather cooled off considerably, but the series was able to cap off the celebratory season as planned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had great racing \u2013 almost every race was door to door,\u201d said John Mazzorana, founder and president, NEOPMA. \u201cThe only depressing part was Derek Ward crashing. We wish him a quick recovery. Otherwise, it was a wonderful race. We were hoping for more cars, but the cars we had were all top-notch. We had a good fan turnout despite the weather. We handed out around 200 small American flags to the fans, over 20 bigger American flags and a handful of Canadian flags to the racers. We tossed 31 or so t-shirts into the stands. We gave out our $31,000 reward. Everybody was very happy. It was a good, fun race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mazzorana and NEOPMA officials are in the middle of planning the 2024 season. Once finalized, the schedule will be posted at www.NEOutlawProMods.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post Mike Decker Jr. Closes Out 2023 NEOPMA Season with $31,000 Win at 31st Anniversary Race<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two-time and reigning Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association (NEOPMA) champion Mike Decker Jr. wrapped up the 2023 season with a $31,000 victory at the NEOPMA 31st anniversary race Sunday night at Maryland International Raceway. It was an all-Maryland final round, as Decker Jr. faced off against Chuck Ulsch for the season finale win held in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89964","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"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}