Mike Janis has won world championships and more national event titles than he can count on his hands but Saturday evening, the Pro Modified veteran enjoyed a new victory. He finally won an ADRL Pro Extreme national event title.

Janis stopped Cody Barklage to win the ADRL Independence Drags trophy in Topeka, Kan.

“It finally feels good to win a race after going winless last season,” Janis said. “I wondered if I was ever going to get another one.” Mike Janis has won world championships and more national event titles than he can count on his hands but Saturday evening, the Pro Modified veteran enjoyed a new victory. He finally won an ADRL Pro Extreme national event title.

Janis stopped Cody Barklage to win the ADRL Independence Drags trophy in Topeka, Kan.

“It finally feels good to win a race after going winless last season,” Janis said. “I wondered if I was ever going to get another one.”

Janis has been a master of Pro Modified racing in the quarter-mile but the 660-feet standard of ADRL provides a different challenge.

“We’ve been working hard on the clutch and Pat [Norcia] at RAM Clutches has been working with us,” Janis explained. “Getting the car down the race track is what this is all about.”

Janis used his decades of driving experience to pull out the first win as his car experienced tire shake just shy of the one-two shift.

“I pedaled it just a bit,” Janis explained. “I thought I was going to lift. They usually don’t respond [to the pedaling] but this time the car turned just a little but kept going. This is a good car.”

And for Janis, the car is a quick one too having run a 3.74 during the course of eliminations.

“That was my quickest eight-mile right there,” Janis said of his semi-final win over Josh Hernandez. “The previous best was a 3.77 in considerably better air. I shook the tires pretty hard on that one.

“This car is going to go and there is one part of the race track [200 feet] that is giving us problems.”

Heaven help the competition when Janis figures it out too.

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