The Drag Illustrated Pound-for-Pound Pro Mod Rankings dropped like an atom bomb, and the fallout’s been exactly what Wes Buck wanted: pure, unfiltered debate.
Unveiled after the Mid-West Drag Racing Series season opener, the AI-driven list—built on a 60/40 blend of cold math and subjective grit—has racers, fans, and even Buck’s own co-hosts arguing over who belongs where. On the latest episode of The Wes Buck Show, Buck leaned into the controversy with the energy of a man who’s been stoking drag-racing fires for two decades, defending the rankings’ purpose and daring the sport to keep the conversation roaring.
“We wanted to wait till the Mid-West season opener had concluded until we released our first set of rankings. But my goodness, it’s already got things stirred up, and that was exactly what we were going for,” Buck told co-hosts Mike Carpenter and JT Hudson. The goal wasn’t to crown an undisputed king but to spark chatter, and the numbers delivered. With Ken Quartuccio at No. 1, boasting a .037 average reaction time, and Shawn “Murder Nova” Ellington at No. 7—above legends like Stevie Jackson—the list has keyboard warriors and crew members alike picking sides. “JT called me, he’s like, ‘How in the hell is ‘Murder Nova’ ahead of Stevie Jackson?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, man, it’s just how the math works out.’”
The math is the backbone. Buck’s team leaned on a large language model trained for a month to parse drag racing’s nuances, factoring in round wins, reaction times, and a “hot hand bonus” for drivers stringing together three or four eliminations in a row.
“We weighted events by field size, bump spot – creating our own ‘strength of schedule’ factor,” Buck explained. Events like the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, U.S. Street Nationals, PDRA East Coast Nationals and NHRA’s Arizona Nationals and Gatornationals formed the initial data pool, with eighth-mile times normalized to quarter-mile using a factoring system courtesy of crew chief Jamie Miller’s midnight texts. “Shout out to Jamie Miller for taking some time earlier last week at like midnight,” Buck said, grinning. “Those are the magic hours for me, man. And he really came through with some solid numbers and insight.”
But the rankings aren’t just numbers—they’re a mirror to the sport’s data problem. “You’d be blown away by how many drag races that have no meaningful records,” Buck lamented. “It’s in the manila folder somewhere, right? Stuck in a file cabinet.” He’s calling out track operators and promoters to step up, praising outliers like PDRA, Mid-West Drag Racing Series, Chris Graves’ Nitro Chaos and a host of others who deliver results clearly and consistently, as well as DragRaceCentral.com for its archival gold. “We’ve got to hold ourselves to a higher standard when it comes to recording the happenings of these events,” he urged. “The racers want it, the fans need it, our sport needs it.”
The controversy—say, why Jason Harris sits at No. 8 or Stevie Jackson lags at No. 17—stems from the rankings’ focus on 2025’s early races, not career legacies. “We had to pick a starting point that was going to be manageable,” Buck said. “In my eyes, the season started with the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals.” That limited sample size explains why a hot streak like Mike Stavrinos’s eight straight round wins in two races vaults him to No. 2, while Jackson’s three-race showing lands lower.
“It’s not about who’s the quickest,” Buck stressed. “Round wins matter… I saw some comments like, ‘What about the RVW guys? They’re quicker.’ Honestly, I don’t give a shit. It’s about what you do on race day, and it’s the here-and-now. Legacy conversations come later.”
Buck’s not apologizing for the heat. “I knew it was going to spark debate. I knew there would be controversy, but that’s what we want,” he said. “I want people to pick a side. I want them to cheer on their favorite driver or bag on the guy they don’t like. Our sport needs more conversation.”
He sees the rankings as a springboard to bigger things: fantasy Pro Mod leagues, sports betting, and a return to the glory days of match racing. “Mainstream sports fans are trained to look for who’s No. 1—drag racing needs that,” he argued. “I want to go to the PDRA Mid-Atlantic Showdown and hear the announcer say, ‘Here comes Melanie Salemi, the No. 3 Pound-for-Pound Pro Mod driver in the world.’”
The vision is bold: a sport where Quartuccio’s .033 reaction average or Ellington’s breakout win fuels grudge races and pay-per-view posters. “This could inspire some off-weekend grudge races 100%,” Buck said, promising to factor those results into future rankings. But it starts with data, and Buck’s not letting promoters off the hook.
“I’m reaching out to the guys at Rockingham Dragway right now because their race deserves to be factored in, and I’m waiting on round results. That’s not a knock – it’s just acknowledging that this is a process,” he noted. “A year from now, we won’t have six races to reference. We’ll have 30.”
The debate’s only getting started, and Buck’s all in. “We’ve been down this road many, many times,” he said, nodding to Drag Illustrated’s 20-year run of bold calls and hot lists. “I know in my heart, this is important.” So, fans can keep squabbling over Melanie Salemi’s No. 3 spot or why Tim Paap cracked the top 10. Buck’s not slowing down, and the Pound-for-Pound Rankings are built to keep the sport talking—loudly.
This story was originally published on April 23, 2025. 
