The PDRA is proud to announce that Pro Line Racing will once again be supporting the sport of drag racing’s top-rated eighth-mile sanctioning body as a performance partner.
Located in Ball Ground, Georgia, Pro Line Racing has, since its inception in 2005, earned a worldwide reputation for building the most potent twin-turbo powerplants in all of drag racing. With PLR power under the hood numerous racers have shattered long-standing performance records and earned prestigious wins and championships.
Just a decade ago PLR was started by Eric Dillard and Doug Patton, and with the help of turbo guru Steve Petty, the company has come a long way in a relatively short time.
“Doug and I own the company, and Steve is a major part of the operation, even though he is not an owner,” said Dillard. “He’s not so much involved in the day-to-day business but he tunes the cars that we support when it comes to the motors, and we’ve had a really tight relationship for the last ten years. It’s a real team effort.
“We are happy to be supporting the PDRA again this season at a level that will allow us to come to five events with our parts and apparel trailer,” Dillard said. “The PDRA is on the move and we’re proud to be a part of it.”
In addition to providing support for the PDRA from a financial standpoint, PLR will be adding considerably to the competitive side of the program as well.
“One of the big pushes for us in the last few years has been Pro Mod,” Dillard said. “We actually got into it in 2011 with Roger Burgess and his R2B2 team, and we had a really successful season that year. We kind of carried it on from there, and it has been good to us ever since. We found some success and we figured out how to hang onto it.
“We’re always moving forward with new things, and the PDRA Pro Extreme class is extremely appealing to us,” Dillard said. “We’ve had some really good customers, including Sheikh Duaij Fahad Al-Sabah from Q80 Racing in Kuwait, who have supported us and pushed us to a level that we would never have imagined possible as far as the Pro Extreme turbo deal is concerned. Fortunately, in return, we have been able to give them some success.
“They have invested a lot into it and we have been able to give them a good return on that investment, but our ultimate goal is to keep running with the PDRA and figure out how to make a turbo car competitive in Pro Extreme every time we pull to the starting line. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re 100 percent committed to the program and plan to push it forward. Our customers feel exactly the same way.”
And what an international group those customers are! Running in Pro Extreme this season will be Jose Gonzalez of the Dominican Republic and Turky al Zafiri of Kuwait. Pro Boost will see Brazil’s Sidnei Frigo, Canadian Jim Bell, Australian Paul Mouhayet, and Americans Michael Biehle and Kevin Fiscus.
These names will be immediately recognized by drag racing fans around the world as among them are some of the absolute top performers in the doorslammer world, with an impressive list of victories, championships and performance records.
On an interesting note, the only driver in the group not an experienced Pro Mod competitor is Frigo, who is making the move from Top Fuel for 2015, and is sure to be a great addition to the PDRA’s lineup.
Gonzalez, known in the sport as “El General,” will not be able to attend every race on the PDRA schedule, but his car will be in very good hands.
“Jose is not able to travel to the U.S. for every event this season, so I will take his place behind the wheel,” said Dillard. “In addition to the fact that I get to drive, I think we’re very fortunate to have the opportunity to keep pushing ahead with our Pro Extreme turbo deal by having two cars on the track at every race. All in all, it looks like we’ll be bringing seven or eight cars to every event.
“If we can get the Pro Extreme turbo deal going the way we feel it can go it opens things up to a lot of racers who can purchase motors from us and go out and race with the PDRA. It’s a win-win situation for all of us.”
“We’re thrilled to have Pro Line Racing back for 2015,” said PDRA Race Director Bob Harris. “They are among the best at what they do in the turbo world, and the fact they are supporting so many top PDRA racers is just icing on the cake. We should see some fantastic on-track performances this year.”
This story was originally published on February 12, 2015. 
