Ken Quartuccio is in the middle of the most impressive stretch of his illustrious racing career, and also one of the most impressive runs in doorslammer drag racing history. The Connecticut native won the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals in Pro Mod last Labor Day weekend, runnered up at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals to kick off the inaugural Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service, won the next race of the series, the $75,000-to-win U.S. Street Nationals, and just last weekend won Duck X Productions’ Lights Out 16 in Radial vs. the World. This week, he rolls into the Winter Series finale, the $150,000-to-win Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod, as the points leader.
Quartuccio’s weekend at Lights Out 16 started with a record-setting qualifying performance. After Canadian Paolo Giust set a new Radial vs. the World E.T. record with his 3.479-second pass on Thursday night, Quartuccio threw down a 3.473 at 212.29 mph in his ProCharged ’69 Camaro to take the record and the No. 1 qualifying spot. He started eliminations with a first-round bye, then took out multi-time Lights Out winner Stevie “Fast” Jackson with a 3.543 to a 3.588. Quartuccio dipped back into the 3.40s with a 3.495 to knock out Ned Dunphy and his 3.657 in the semifinals. A side-by-side final round followed, with Quartuccio leaving .010 seconds ahead of Australian John Ricca and finishing with a 3.498 to Ricca’s 3.507.
“This one was like magic right from the start,” said Quartuccio, who also won Lights Out 13 in 2022. “We unloaded fast, and obviously this is the first Lights Out win that I’ve had in RVW with Scott [Tidwell] and his group. The car we race is my same car that I’ve always had. I just base it out of Scott’s trailer and Scott maintains it at his shop and everything, and Steve Petty now tunes it. Mine and Scott’s relationship’s been great. There was a ton of excitement on our team all week long, which was great. This was a good win for us.”
Following an NHRA Pro Mod debut in 2023, Quartuccio partnered up with Tidwell for the full 2024 season, a pairing that resulted in Quartuccio’s win at the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis last September, as well as a fourth-place finish in an incredibly close championship battle. So while Quartuccio has been making headlines with his recent performances, he sees The Big Go as the start of the roll he’s on with Scott Tidwell Racing.
“We went in there, we won that race, and it’s the same group of people all season, but we really peaked then, and then we had some issues with the car,” Quartuccio said. “Not crew problems, not tuning. Mostly my driving was fine. We were still on a roll, but we didn’t have the results because the car was giving us trouble.
“Then at the end of the season, we went right to World Street Nationals in Orlando and we won the shootout race for Pro Mod vs. RVW, then we went to Snowbirds and runnered up there,” Quartuccio continued. “I feel as though our team has been on a roll since midseason last year.”
For the inaugural DI Winter Series, Quartuccio was tapped to drive a new screw-blown ’69 Camaro commissioned by Dustin Nesloney and Tidwell. Tuned by Steve Petty with input from Brandon Stroud and Chris Terry, the new car was successful right of the gate.
Quartuccio qualified No. 4 with a 3.601 at the Snowbirds, which had the quickest 32-car field in Pro Mod history with Mark Micke on top with a 3.591 at Bob Glenn in the No. 32 spot with his 3.647. He charged to the final round, where he lost a close race to No Prep Kings driver Kye Kelley.
In late January, Quartuccio returned to Bradenton for the U.S. Street Nationals, where he qualified No. 2 and ran a string of 3.50s to meet Lyle Barnett in the final round. Quartuccio cut a .001 reaction time and ran a 3.586 to earn the $75,000 victory over Barnett and his 3.608. Earlier in the day, he also took over the points lead from Kelley, putting him just over two rounds ahead going into the World Series.
The Lights Out win last weekend added fuel to the fire, but it’s the fact that he gets to hop back into the seat of the screw-blown entry that has Quartuccio charged up for the Winter Series finale.
“I feel as though my driving in that car is better than in my personal car,” Quartuccio said. “This past weekend, it was actually a little bit hard for me to get up to speed right away and get comfortable because the other cars that Scott has are so different. Going into this weekend, I feel great about it because I’m excited to get back in that car. I think the World Series of Pro Mod car is the best car we have, so I’m pretty excited about that.”
The humble Quartuccio deflects credit for his string of success to the Scott Tidwell Racing team, which includes Tidwell, Nesloney, Petty, Stroud, Terry, Chris Johnson, Denny Godbout, Franny McCarty, and Ashlei Lemmond.
“It’s a total team effort,” Quartuccio said. “I’m working with everybody right now. It’s been a fabulous experience. These guys are the best.”
Quartuccio can lock up the Winter Series championship – which comes with a $25,000 bonus and a championship ring – as early as the quarterfinals, and he’s certainly a contender to join Mike Bowman, Carl Stevens Jr., the late Scott Oksas, Spencer Hyde, and Derek Ward as a WSOPM champion. But none of that is on Quartuccio’s mind as he goes into Thursday’s two qualifying sessions.
“I’m not going to lie to you, I’m not going to focus on anything. I’m going to go there for Q1 and I want to try to win that five grand that Pro Line is putting up for the No. 1 qualifier after Q1,” Quartuccio said, referencing the Pro Line Racing “Off The Trailer” bonus, “and I’m going to race this race and not think about points. I’m not going to think about anything because for some reason, if I don’t think about anything when I’m driving other than driving, I just do better. Mentally, I’m in a good spot where I could actually just concentrate on driving, and wherever the points land afterwards, then I’ll accept whatever happens. I’m just grateful for the opportunity that I have with these guys.”
WSOPM tickets are now on sale at www.WorldSeriesOfProMod.com. Fans watching from home can catch all the action live on www.FloRacing.com.
This story was originally published on February 26, 2025. 
