Pro Modified veterans-turned-teammates Stan Shelton and Kevin Rivenbark will both be looking for redemption at this year\u2019s Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod (WSOPM) presented by Johnson\u2019s Horsepowered Garage and J&A Service, taking place March 1-3 at Bradenton Motorsports Park. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Both drivers narrowly missed the field in 2023 \u2013 Shelton qualified 34th, with Rivenbark one spot back in 35th \u2013 after getting bumped out in the final qualifying session by Spencer Hyde. Hyde then went on to win the $100,000 prize. That setback is only motivating the pair even more this year. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really excited, because we didn\u2019t make the show last year,\u201d said Shelton. \u201cWe came in, we tested, but we just wasn\u2019t good enough. But that\u2019s what is so impressive about the show \u2013 everybody\u2019s got a chance to win it. We\u2019re excited about running two cars. It\u2019s a little tougher for us, but we like what we\u2019re learning from it. We\u2019ve got a great combination.\u201d<\/p>\n
That combination is a pair of Culp Lumber Company screw-blown Mustangs \u2013 Shelton in a classic 1967 body style and Rivenbark in a newer 2019 model. The ability to share data between the two cars should help in the battle just to qualify against more than 60 of the top drivers in the country. Last year saw the ultra-tight field separated by just .056 seconds.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the WSOPM, the cars just get faster and there\u2019s a tighter field,\u201d Rivenbark said. \u201cI mean, there\u2019s not much separation from a .62 to a .68. We were all right there together. That just tells you how close the competition is. You feel like you\u2019re running Pro Stock.\u201d<\/p>\n
But just running a big number in qualifying won\u2019t be enough to leave with the big check Sunday night. Both drivers know that the real test will be their ability to make good runs in the heat of the day during eliminations. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing through rounds, you have to be consistent, because out of all these guys, there ain\u2019t no bad drivers,\u201d said Shelton. \u201cEverybody\u2019s great and everybody\u2019s got great equipment. It\u2019s just gonna be who brings that total combination. I like to look at it as you\u2019ve got 10 variables \u2013 somebody\u2019s gonna get them all right. But you\u2019re going to have to get seven of them right just to make the show.\u201d<\/p>\n
And if they do make the show, there\u2019s the obvious $100,000 carrot dangling at the end of the proverbial stick. While prestige and bragging rights are the ultimate goal, Rivenbark admits that running for huge money has an effect on how teams prepare. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely makes you more aggressive,\u201d Rivenbark said. \u201cYou try to block it out that that\u2019s what you\u2019re running for. I mean, you already got enough pressure on you. The money afterwards is great. But the actual winning of it hypes me up more than anything. But you also can\u2019t be disappointed if you\u2019re runner-up, or even in the semis, because there\u2019s such good competition. You\u2019re lucky just to be there at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tickets for the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod presented by JHG and J&A Service are on sale now and can be purchased at https:\/\/bit.ly\/wsopm2024<\/a>. Fans watching from home can tune in to the official event livestream on FloRacing at https:\/\/flosports.link\/3uYLot3<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The post Shelton, Rivenbark Bringing One-Two Punch to World Series of Pro Mod<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pro Modified veterans-turned-teammates Stan Shelton and Kevin Rivenbark will both be looking for redemption at this year\u2019s Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod (WSOPM) presented by Johnson\u2019s Horsepowered Garage and J&A Service, taking place March 1-3 at Bradenton Motorsports Park. \u00a0 Both drivers narrowly missed the field in 2023 \u2013 Shelton qualified 34th, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91677","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=91677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}