Clear skies and cool temperatures greeted fans and racers Saturday morning at the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge presented by ProCare Rx at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals in Baytown, Texas, and all were treated to an earth-shattering day of thrilling Pro Mod action deep in the heart of the Lone Star state. Qualifying was polarized by an all-or-nothing result: drivers either rocketed to the stripe or struggled to get down the quarter-mile, and eliminations were highlighted by blistering times and side-by-side action. Clear skies and cool temperatures greeted fans and racers Saturday morning at the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge presented by ProCare Rx at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals in Baytown, Texas, and all were treated to an earth-shattering day of thrilling Pro Mod action deep in the heart of the Lone Star state. Qualifying was polarized by an all-or-nothing result: drivers either rocketed to the stripe or struggled to get down the quarter-mile, and eliminations were highlighted by blistering times and side-by-side action.
 
Raymond Commisso took best advantage of the near-perfect weather and delivered the quickest ET ever in a legal-trim Pro Modified car during qualifying. A blast of 5.884/246.57 in his '68 Camaro Z/28 earned the Toronto-racer top qualifying honors, just ahead of his R2B2 Racing teammate Roger Burgess, the only other racer to qualify in the five-second-zone at 5.900/246.44. Neither, however, was able to back up their runs and snatch the official record of 5.905 from Tony Pontieri, as both exited during the first round of eliminations.
 
At the end of qualifying, the field of 14 cars was evenly divided - half below 6.10, the other half above. Defending event winner Joe Baker took the No. 3 spot with a 6.031/242.10 in his Chuck Ford-tuned Matco Tools Camaro, and Cleveland, Texas-based Taylor Lastor coasted to the proverbial bump at 12.016 seconds.
 
By late afternoon, the racetrack at Houston Raceway Park had heated up and gained traction, and the racers each brought their best game to the first round of eliminations. All but one pair saw a car in the five-second zone, with Rick Stivers and his Trane '06 Stratus taking low for the round in his victory over Tim Tindle and his Tindle Enterprises '67 Mustang, 5.911/236.55 to 6.000/236.38.
 
Commisso faced off against Lastor in what on paper seemed to be a lop-sided race, but excitement got the best of the Canadian and Commisso left the line early and handed the win to Lastor who limped across the line with a 6.379/177.95 and earned a bye in round two.
 
"I don't know exactly what happened, other than I just really wanted to race and I got too excited at the tree," Commisso explained. "I'm beating myself up, because I knew that I had to focus on winning the race, not setting the record, but I just lost my concentration for a split second - and that was all it took."
 
The opening-round battle between Burgess and 2006 Pro Mod world champion Jay Payne was decided by less than five inches, with Payne squeaking past Burgess for the win, 5.972 to 5.984 and a margin of victory of .0011-seconds.
 
Burgess said, "I honestly didn't know who had won when we crossed the line because we were so close. My hat's off to Jay on that one: 'Great job.' This is the kind of excitement and close racing you can always expect from Pro Mods here at NHRA, and it shows just how awesome these cars and teams really are. These cars out here are the best of the best in Pro Mod."
 
Other first-round winners include Danny Rowe who will match up in quarterfinal action against Harold Laird, and defending event champ Joe Baker and Gainesville-winner Mike Castellana who will face off when eliminations continue Sunday afternoon.