Two-time PDRA Pro Boost world champion Jason Harris overcame a 50-pound weight penalty on the centrifugal supercharger combination after the season-opening Carolina Nationals to win in front of his home crowd Saturday night at the Summit Racing Equipment East Coast Nationals presented by FuelTech at Darana Motorsports Park, formerly known as GALOT Motorsports Park.
Driving the Harts Charger-boosted Southern Diamond Company “Party Time” ’69 Camaro, Harris moved first in the final round ahead of No. 1 qualifier Melanie Salemi and held the lead despite a dropped cylinder, winning with a 3.643 at 200.47. Salemi also ran into issues and slowed to a 3.723 at 168.53.
“I’ve raced here a lot. I really haven’t won a lot here, but it’s special when you can win at home and you’ve got all your fans – I mean I have tons of fans here – and we’re selling t-shirts and everything we can,” said Harris, who thanked Southern Diamond Company, Harts Charger, Pro Line Racing, TKM Performance, Hoosier Tire, and LAT Oil. “It’s amazing to win when you have the support that we have in the sport. It’s just amazing to do what we’ve done. I think this is my 19th PDRA victory. I’ve won some championships over here. My heart’s over here, but right now, I’m just so happy to be in the winner’s circle, and finally not screw up.”
Harris qualified second and raced to a 3.637 at 210.37 over Joel Wensley Sr., who slowed to a 6.068, in the first round. He then won a side-by-side race over two-time and reigning Pro Street world champion Ethan Steding, with Harris posting a 3.639 at 209.62 to Steding’s 3.647. The notoriously quick-leaving Harris left on his opponents in the first two rounds, but he saved his best reaction time – a .004 – for the semifinals against Darlington winner Johnny Camp. He paired that with a 3.612 at 209.20 to defeat Camp and his 3.627 at 208.88.
Harris and his Party Time Racing team were some of the more vocal critics of the 50-pound weight penalty added to the centrifugally supercharged combinations between races. The rule changes were still very much on his mind in the winner’s circle, though he joked in his top-end interview with FloRacing’s Kayla Morton, “I can’t really bitch about the weight anymore.”
“I really wasn’t happy about the rule change,” Harris said. “I definitely think something needed to be done. I didn’t want to run away with it. Nobody wants to win like that. I feel like as a whole, as a group, we’re all friends here, and we want to make it as fair as possible, and I think we’re getting closer. I think maybe these knee-jerk reactions need to be talked about before they’re done, but obviously they had to do something for this race.”
The East Coast Nationals marked the end of a grueling stretch for the 2025 Snowbird Outlaw Nationals winner and his Party Time team. It started in mid-March at the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series season opener at Darana Motorsports Park – Benson, NC and continued a week later at the PDRA season opener, the Carolina Nationals, at Darlington Dragway. After a weekend off for Easter, Harris went to the final round at the next IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series stop at Virginia Motorsports Park, losing to Tony Wilson. Harris didn’t think this final was going to go his way either, but it did, rewarding him and his team at just the right time.
“We just work hard. We’re a hardworking team,” Harris said. “My car is awesome. I think my car is probably one of the best cars on the planet right now. We’ve had some bad luck. I’ve had TPSs go bad in the other final. I went brain dead here and then I had a hole out then. [Salemi] should have beat me. She really should have. I’d already accepted the racing gods’ fates about half track and then she just went away. But Mel’s a hell of a competitor. Everybody in this class is awesome.
“We had our struggles,” Harris continued. “We put motors together. We did everything we could to not be in the finals. It just worked out.”
This story was originally published on April 20, 2026. 
