For Danny Rowe and Steve Matusek, drivers of the popular Agave Underground Teqila Pro Mod Camaros, their annual trip to Royal Purple Raceway for the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals can never come soon enough. The fabled facility that sits nearly sea level outside of downtown Houston has been the site of much success for Danny Rowe Racing – including two victories in three final round appearances over the course of the last few seasons – and the second-year Pro Mod tag team is anticipating another deep run this year at the Spring Nationals.
In 2014, Rowe and Matusek took their supercharged, Jimmy Rector-tuned hot rods all the way to the semifinal round, but fell short of their ultimate goal.
Danny Rowe
“We’ve had a lot of good fortune in Houston over the years, and there’s no denying that you feel a little extra confident going into races at tracks you’ve had success at, but we’re not looking backward,” admits Rowe. “We’re looking forward, and we’re excited about the opportunity we have in Houston to do something special. We’re out here to win a championship, but we’d love nothing more than to put these two Agave Underground Tequila Camaros in the final round together and see what happens when the smoke clears.
“We came one round away from that last season, so we’re coming into this race with a chip on our shoulder,” continues Rowe, who spent time testing earlier this week at the legendary Texas Motorplex along with Matusek. “It’s been a little while since the season opener in Gainesville, so we wanted to take the opportunity to make some laps. Jimmy [Rector] and the whole team is fired up, Steve and I are fired up – we’re ready to go.”
Matusek, who continued the trend of resetting his career-best elapsed time at the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals with a 5.879-second blast, shared his teammates sentiment leading up to the second stop on the J&A Services NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series 10-race tour.
Steve Matusek
“As far as the level of competition is concerned, Pro Mod is at an all-time high,” says Matusek. “So the more you can get behind the wheel – stage the car and let the clutch out – the better. There was a time, not too terribly long ago, when simply making it to the finish line under power would win a round in Pro Mod, but at this point most of the races are won and lost on the starting line. Like I said, for that reason alone it’s good to get behind the wheel every chance you get, but getting in a car tuned by Jimmy Rector and making some killer runs in testing the week of your next race? That takes it to a whole new level. If the weather cooperates this weekend, I think these Houston race fans are in for a show.”
Danny Rowe and Steve Matusek, drivers of the Agave Underground Tequila Pro Mods, will take to Royal Purple Raceway for the 28th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals Friday, April 24, 2015 at 3:30PM CST for the opening round of qualifying. The second round of qualifying will begin at 6:00PM CST. Qualifying will continue on Saturday, April 25, 2015, with a third and final session of qualifying at 2:00PM CST with the opening round of eliminations slated for 5:00PM CST. Final eliminations will continue on Sunday, April 26, 2015 at 12:45PM CST.
This story was originally published on April 24, 2015. 
