Just a few weeks after the inaugural Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod presented by One Cure and J&A Service, race founder Wes Buck revealed to Pro Mod teams at the NHRA U.S. Nationals that the race will return in 2018. The second annual Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod will be held at Bandimere Speedway, Aug. 10-11, 2018.
“We wanted to waste no time in announcing our plans for the second annual Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod,” Buck said. “We will return to ‘The Mountain’, Bandimere Speedway in Denver, Colo., August 10th and 11th, 2018. We wish it was next week. We could not be more excited about this deal.”
After the successful first event, where California Pro Mod hitter Mike Bowman was awarded the $100,000 winner-take-all prize, Buck worked with John “Sporty” Bandimere III to lock in the date for the second running of the “biggest, richest Pro Mod race in the history of the known universe”. The event has been moved back one week to avoid conflicting race schedules. One aspect that has not changed and will not change is the location of the World Series of Pro Mod.
“We had a lot of questions about whether the event would move or bounce around to other venues. Well, the answer is no. The home of the World Series of Pro Mod is Bandimere Speedway in Denver, Colo. We couldn’t be more excited to continue working with the team at Bandimere Speedway. They share our vision for the future of Pro Mod drag racing. We will continue to move towards expanding this deal with Bandimere Speedway,” Buck said.
“We’re just excited,” said John “Sporty” Bandimere III, Bandimere Speedway general manager. “We’re so excited and happy with the inaugural World Series of Pro Mod that we wanted to act swiftly, get it on our schedule for 2018, and demonstrate our commitment to the future of this event. We’re really excited to see where this thing goes. We’re super-happy with how this race went on the first weekend of August and we’re excited to grow and build this new drag racing entertainment property.”
The inaugural Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod presented by One Cure and J&A Service was met with enthusiasm from attending race fans and race teams from across the world. In addition to the invitation-only World Series of Pro Mod Main Event, the “Mayhem on the Mountain” weekend featured the $10,000-to-win Aeromotive Wild Card Shootout for local Pro Mod competitors to earn a spot in the Main Event, as well as the $4,000-to-win MagnaFuel Pro Star 16 and Quick Star 16 Shootouts for Top Dragster and Top Sportsman racers, and the JR Race Car 7.90 Shootout for Jr. Dragster drivers.
“We’d like to reiterate how much it meant to us and how validating it was to have the support we had from racers, fans, sponsors, and just their overwhelming belief in our vision for Pro Mod drag racing. We’re excited about the future. We wanted to make sure that we moved quick and made sure that people know not only are we excited and happy with what we were able to accomplish together this year, but we’re so confident that we’re ready for next year,” Buck said.
Many of the race’s unique aspects will return for the 2018 event, but Buck noted that some changes will be made to help increase participation.
“There are a lot of things that I’m sticking to my guns on,” Buck said. “There are several aspects of the race that we knew were different, unique, outside the box, and that defied tradition that threw everyone for a loop – many of those things will remain. We’re open to tweaking, but our primary focus right now is expanding and getting more cars involved.
“We have our eyes on Pro Mod, but also most assuredly, Top Dragster, Top Sportsman and Jr. Dragster. We feel like these are some of the strongest classes in drag racing, and we want to embrace our friends in these categories.”
For more information on the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod, please visit www.WorldSeriesOfProMod.com.
This story was originally published on September 6, 2017. 
