Derek Ward, who solidified his name in the Pro Modified history book when he won the 2024 Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod in March, will be one of the dozens of Pro Mod drivers competing in the inaugural Drag Illustrated Winter Series, race officials announced today. Ward and his screw-blown \u201968 Firebird will attempt to defend his World Series of Pro Mod victory in March 2025 after competing in the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals in December and the U.S. Street Nationals in January 2025, all at Bradenton Motorsports Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ward, the 2023 Northeast Outlaw Pro Modified Association (NEOPMA) season champion, raced through four rounds of eliminations at the World Series of Pro Mod in early March to meet four-time PDRA Pro Nitrous world champion Jim Halsey in the $100,000-to-win final round. Ward pulled off the win in the blower versus nitrous oxide match, earning the cash, the bragging rights, and a spot on the cover of Drag Illustrated\u2019s WSOPM Issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the reigning WSOPM champion, Ward was one of the first drivers invited to compete in the DI Winter Series, which includes the historic Snowbird Outlaw Nationals on Dec. 6-8, 2024; the U.S. Street Nationals on Jan. 24-26, 2025; and the World Series of Pro Mod Feb. 27 to March 1, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe couldn\u2019t have the DI Winter Series without our reigning World Series of Pro Mod champion, Derek Ward,\u201d said Wes Buck, DI founder and Winter Series promoter. \u201cDerek and his team proved that they\u2019re among the most competitive drivers and teams in Pro Mod racing when they outlasted 60-plus other drivers to win the World Series in March. We want the quickest, fastest, most competitive drivers taking part in the inaugural Winter Series, but we\u2019re also looking for people who share our vision for Pro Mod racing and the sport in general. Derek is one of those guys, and we\u2019re thrilled he accepted his invitation.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to big-money payouts at all three races, the Winter Series will also crown an overall series champion, a factor that appeals to Ward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just looking to repeat what we did in March,\u201d said Ward, who also holds the PDRA Pro Boost E.T. national record. \u201cWe had a good car and a consistent car, so hopefully we can keep that momentum going into the Winter Series. We\u2019re looking forward to these races as a group. The points series is exciting. It\u2019s something to look forward to during the winter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before winning the World Series, Ward ran well at Bradenton\u2019s Snowbirds and U.S. Street Nationals. He\u2019s hoping to add victories at those two races to his r\u00e9sum\u00e9, with his eye on the overall championship as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTruthfully, I\u2019d love to win all three,\u201d Ward said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we go down there to try to do. It just has to be your day. Everything has to come together on race day. It\u2019s not easy.\u00a0If you keep doing good at all three, you win the points championship, which I think we have a good chance to do that. We have a pretty consistent car right now. We ran good at all three races and won the World Series.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, U.S. Street Nationals, and World Series of Pro Mod will all also feature a wide range of classes in addition to Pro Mod.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on October 15, 2024. <\/p>\n
The post Reigning World Series of Pro Mod Champion Derek Ward Accepts DI Winter Series Invitation<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Derek Ward, who solidified his name in the Pro Modified history book when he won the 2024 Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod in March, will be one of the dozens of Pro Mod drivers competing in the inaugural Drag Illustrated Winter Series, race officials announced today. Ward and his screw-blown \u201968 Firebird will […]<\/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-96484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96484","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=96484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}