There has been plenty of talk about the small NHRA Pro Stock counts at national events during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

One racer who has put his name in the Pro Stock fray is Alan Prusiensky. He’s been at every national event since the Chicago race in July of 2016.

Prusiensky enters the Dodge Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa., this weekend, 11th in the point standings.

Prusiensky, who resides in Rockaway, N.J., campaigns his Dodge Dart with his company – ARCRACEENGINES.com as his primary sponsor.

“It just comes down to power,” Prusiensky said. “It has nothing to do with the changes (in the Pro Stock class). We’ve got to get better, we’ve got to make more power. I only race carburetors for one year so it wasn’t like I had a big history with carburetors and then I switched over (to fuel-injection). I like the fuel injection so we just need to make more power and better runs.”

Prusiensky failed to qualify at the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, but did bounce back last weekend at Charlotte, N.C., and qualified No. 15 before losing to Greg Anderson in round one.  His top highlight this season came when he beat reigning world champion Jason Line in the first round at Englishtown, N.J., in June.

“I do the engines myself at the engine shop in Rockaway, N.J.,” Prusiensky said. “I’ve raced my whole life so I always try to race one class higher than I should and just kept pushing myself. I figured I could go to four or five races in 2015 and I’ve been to about every race I can go to since 2015 so we’ll see how long we can keep doing it.”
Prusiensky then took a moment to discuss the state of Pro Stock.

“I don’t think it’s as bad as what everybody says,” Prusiensky said. “The five guys who are on the internet who say they hate it are still watching. I love Pro Stock. I can’t afford another change and a lot of the other small teams would be gone too if they think they can just say we’ve got to build a new car, we’re not going to be here. NHRA has to help a little bit. NHRA has to raise the entry fee to help us. The big teams probably don’t care if they get the $5,000 check but for me, Kenny Delco, John Gaydosh, we’re waiting for that check to come in the mail so we can go to the next race. Somehow or another they need to raise that to maybe $7,000 or $8,000, anything. Anything would be better than $5,000 qualifying check. If we could raise that up a little but I think two or three more cars would be here. As far as doing wheel stands and all that stuff, taking the wheelie bars off, none of that stuff is going to help. For two weeks people would be interested and then it would go back to the same thing.”

The make of Pro Stock cars competing also is something Prusiensky addressed.

“We need to definitely have more competitive Dodges and more competitive Fords would probably help,” Prusiensky said. “Me and Alan (Johnson) are trying our butts off. Alan is doing better. If we can get us Dodges running good and then someone’s going to come out with a Ford. I think that’s probably the biggest thing. I wouldn’t watch factory Super Stock cars. Racing in general is down so Pro Stock is going to take a bigger hit than any because it’s probably the toughest class to do it. It’s expensive and there’s not many guys that will do everything themselves. Me, my wife, my father, we do everything ourselves. There’s nobody else who helps us except when we get to the shop. We have two guys that help us. It’s a full-time job and not many people can do that. Then to come out here and just pay $50,000 for an engine, who’s going to do that for any length of time? Or $40,000 or $30,000, whatever these guys are paying. You can’t sustain that. Most people can’t sustain that. I don’t know all the answers but I don’t think making any changes to the cars (is the right answer) because the little guys can’t afford another change.”

Prusiensky already had to make plenty of changes just to compete in Pro Stock since 2016.

“I had to build a new car because my other car wouldn’t work with the new fuel injection,” he said. “I’m not complaining but I had to do it. That was a year ago. Now if they tell us next year they’re going to change it again, I can’t afford another car. I don’t know all the answers but if the qualifying check were a little bit better I think you’ll see a couple more cars. If that’s what people are looking for then that will help fix it. Larry Morgan coming back, that’s a huge help to Pro Stock. We need that kind of star power. No one is really going to be rooting for Alan Prusiensky in the stands so they want to see Larry Morgan do good and that’s fine with us.”

Prusiensky is optimistic he will be competing in Pro Stock next season.

“I’m hoping,” he said. “If nothing changes, which I don’t think anything will change because they would have had it already. Larry (Morgan) coming back is huge. That’ll fill the 16 or 17 cars at every race and that would be great. I would say 2018 is going to stay the same and then I guess we’ll just wait and see what happens but I can’t afford any kind of change.”