Ninety-four Pro Modified drivers earned points in the inaugural Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service, all looking to add or solidify their names in the Pro Mod history books. Over the course of three races – the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, the U.S. Street Nationals, and the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod (WSOPM) – Ken Quartuccio rose to the top of that list. With his second-round victory at the World Series on March 1, Quartuccio clinched the first-ever DI Winter Series championship, which came with a $25,000 bonus, a championship ring, and other prizes.
Quartuccio went into the Winter Series driving a new-to-him car, a screw-blown ’69 Camaro owned by Dustin Nesloney and housed in the Scott Tidwell Racing camp. With a brain trust that includes tuners Steve Petty, Brandon Stroud, and Chris Terry, Quartuccio immediately became a championship contender when he raced to a runner-up finish at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks in early December. He doubled down at the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission in late January, qualifying No. 2 and charging to victory. That sent Quartuccio into the World Series of Pro Mod on a clear path to the championship.
Quartuccio qualified fifth at the WSOPM before drawing 2023 WSOPM champion Spencer Hyde in the first-round chip draw. The Connecticut native won with a 3.583 to Hyde’s 3.609, then drew Australian newcomer John Ricca, who Quartuccio defeated in the Radial vs. the World final round at Lights Out 16 just a week prior. Both drivers left with .018-second reaction times, then Quartuccio won with a 3.616 to Ricca’s 3.667. With that, he was crowned the DI Winter Series champion. He was paraded back up the track to the starting line, where he was congratulated by promoter Wes Buck, interviewed by FloRacing’s Courtney Enders, presented his championship cup by Series Race Director Gavin Carter, and sized for his championship ring by Curt Bruns from Jostens.
“I knew we could run good, and the team I’ve got behind me, I knew that with the right support we could do good,” said Quartuccio, who also earned the $5,000 Pro Line Racing “Off the Trailer” Bonus for his No. 1 qualifying effort in the first session. “A whole different combination this year for me, a screw blower, which I’ve never drove in 35 years, but it’s because of Scott Tidwell, Dustin Nesloney, Steve Petty, Brandon Stroud, Chris Terry, Chris Johnson, Dennis Godbout. Through the ups and the downs, they had my back, and we fight together against anybody that came after us, and that alone makes this worth more than you can imagine. This is important, but the friendships and the families that I made, me and my wife, it’s unstoppable.”
Quartuccio received a true champion’s welcome on the starting line. He was surrounded by fellow drivers, crew members, tuners, media members, officials, and sponsors offering congratulatory handshakes, hugs, and pats on the back. He was also surrounded by his family, including his wife, two daughters, son-in-law, a grandson, and brother-in-law.
“For 30 years of racing, I’ve tried to treat everybody as best as I can as a person, and I’d hoped that would come back,” Quartuccio said. “But to be able to do this with Denise and Kelsey and Kaitlin, Jason, Dennis – my family is here.”
The inaugural DI Winter Series, with its record-setting 32-car fields, all-star lineups, and random chip draws to determine pairings in eliminations, brought out the best in drivers who’ve won everywhere else in the sport. Quartuccio, who’s won in outlaw Pro Mod, NHRA Pro Mod at the prestigious U.S. Nationals last year, PDRA Pro Boost, and Radial vs. the World, dealt with the pressure of facing the toughest drivers, tuners, and teams in the sport. But he also lined up against people he considers some of his closest friends.
“I said it and you could tell when I was upset with the chip draw, I meant it because Spencer Hyde and John Ricca and everybody here, when you have to draw them, it breaks my heart because that’s how much I care,” Quartuccio said. “Believe it or not, I’m rooting for them. Maybe it’s wrong, I don’t know. That’s why I like a ladder better because you have no choice. But it’s good for the fans, it’s good for the excitement.
“People don’t realize how hard this series is to race and how much heart and soul every team out here puts into it,” Quartuccio continued. “It could be really good or it could be really heartbreaking.”
Quartuccio ended up falling to two-time and reigning PDRA Pro Boost world champion Jason Harris in the third round, ending his hopes for a third consecutive race win following U.S. Street Nationals and Lights Out, but he still walked away with a historic championship.
“This is a dream come true for me,” Quartuccio said. “I know it sounds cliché, but this is what everyone aspires for.”
Steve King, who joined the exclusive WSOPM Champions Club when he defeated Stevie “Fast” Jackson in the $150,000 WSOPM final round by just .001 seconds, finished second in the Winter Series championship hunt with Gene Pilot’s screw-blown “Savage 3.0” Corvette. Points-and-a-half in WSOPM eliminations helped King bounce back from first-round exits at the first two races of the series.
“Absolutely crazy to look at this list and see guys and girls on this list who are the best in the world,” King said in a Facebook post. “This old guy with a twang has no words to even describe this deal!”
Jackson, a semifinalist at WSOPM last year just a week after winning Lights Out 15 in his screw-blown Motion Raceworks “Shadow 3.0” ’68 Camaro, locked up a third-place finish in points with his runner-up effort. Like King, he suffered first-round exits at the Snowbirds and U.S. Street Nationals.
“It’s pretty cool to finish third in points in this field of racers!” Jackson said on Facebook. “Hats off to everyone!”
Fourth place went to No Prep Kings star Kye Kelley, who turned heads with his victory at the Snowbirds. Wheeling his screw-blown Jordan Carriers “Can’t Get Right” ’85 Camaro, Kelley used a 3.594 in the Snowbirds final round to defeat Quartuccio for a $50,000 Winter Series-opening win. He drew Jackson in the first round of the U.S. Street Nationals, setting up a dream matchup for two vocal and opposing fan bases. Kelley got the win there, then lost a side-by-side, 3.610-to-3.617-second first-round match with No. 1 qualifier Mark Micke at the WSOPM.
“Well boyz and girlz, I’m not giving up!” Kelley said on Facebook. “I have what it takes. The best tuners, a badass car, and a great team! We will be back.”
Rounding out the top five is Micke, who qualified No. 1 at all three Winter Series races to extend his No. 1 qualifying streak to 13 races. The driver of the twin-turbocharged M&M Transmission ’69 Camaro notched a semifinal finish at the Snowbirds, then had to lift early in a second-round match with four-time and reigning NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown at the U.S. Street Nationals. He bowed out to No Prep Kings standout Scott Taylor in the second round at WSOPM.
“I think it brings a lot of legitimacy to what we’ve done our whole lives racing,” Micke said of the Winter Series on this week’s Wes Buck Show. “We’re not professional racers, but we race like professionals, but we don’t get the notoriety. I think that’s what this has done, it’s opened eyes for a lot of people. You have Antron Brown and Brian Corradi, all those guys over there, and they’re telling us how badass we are and how they look and watch us. It’s really showcased what we’ve all known, but it’s showing it to the world.”
The list of five other drivers in the top 10 reads like a who’s-who list of doorslammer drivers: 2023 WSOPM runner-up Kurt Steding in sixth, multi-time PDRA Pro Boost and big-money Pro Mod winner Melanie Salemi in seventh, six-time NHRA Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders in eighth, past NMCA Xtreme Pro Mod champion Ty Tutterow, and 2024 WSOPM Chicago-Style Second Chance Shootout winner Jeff Rudolf in tenth.
Find the complete 2024/2025 DI Winter Series presented by J&A Service final points standings here: https://thewinterseries.com/pro-mod-points-standings/
This story was originally published on March 7, 2025. 
