Don Walsh raced to the qualifying lead Friday in the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals. This weekend’s Pro Mod competition, presented by the Real Pro Mod Association, is the second of 10 events in the season.
 
Walsh drove his Walsh Motorsports Camaro to a performance of 5.860 seconds at 247.25 mph to lead the category at Royal Purple Raceway, just outside of Houston.
 
“First run, we tried to put together the most conservative run because with the weather we were concerned with how many runs we were going to get,” Walsh said. “Second round, we put together a really nice run.”
 
Mike Castellana sits second with a 5.880 at 244.69 in his 1969 Al-Anabi Racing Camaro and Danny Rowe is third with a 5.885 at 249.30 in his Agave Underground Tequila 1968 Camaro.
 
Reigning world champ Rickie Smith is fourth with a 5.886 at 246.30 in his IDG Camaro. Khalid alBalooshi, the 2011 champ, sits 11th with a 5.965 at 244.07 in his 1968 Camaro. Current points leader Bob Rahaim, who won the season-opening Gatornationals, is 12th with a 5.965 at 241.67 in his Corvette.
 
The final Pro Mod qualifying session is Saturday at 2 p.m., and will be followed by the first round of eliminations at 5:30 p.m. Pro Mod eliminations will continue on Sunday at 12:15 p.m.

Friday's results after the first two of three rounds of qualifying for the 28th annual O'Reilly NHRA SpringNationals presented by Super Start Batteries at Royal Purple Raceway, the second of 10 events in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series.  Qualifying will continue Saturday for Saturday's first round of eliminations.
 
Pro Modified -- 1. Don Walsh, Chevy Camaro, 5.860, 247.25; 2. Mike Castellana, Camaro, 5.880, 244.69; 3. Danny Rowe, Camaro, 5.885, 249.30; 4. Rickie Smith, Camaro, 5.886, 246.89; 5. Pete Farber, Dodge Daytona, 5.895, 246.53; 6. Jeff Naiser, Camaro, 5.904, 243.06; 7. Bill Glidden, Ford Mustang, 5.914, 243.55; 8. Troy Coughlin, Chevy Corvette, 5.915, 250.92; 9. Troy Coughlin Jr., Corvette, 5.954, 248.20; 10. Eric Latino, Camaro, 5.956, 245.54; 11. Khalid alBalooshi, Camaro, 5.965, 244.07; 12. Bob Rahaim, Corvette, 5.965, 241.67; 13. Steve Matusek, Camaro, 5.970, 237.80; 14. Mike Knowles, Mustang, 5.977, 242.54; 15. Kevin Fiscus, Mustang, 5.982, 246.62; 16. Jeffrey Cummins Jr., Mustang, 6.029, 233.88.  Not Qualified: 17. Jay Payne, 6.034, 241.67; 18. Kenny Lang, 6.049, 238.34; 19. Mike Janis, 6.054, 240.29; 20. Shane Molinari, 6.099, 242.63; 21. Chris Juliano, 6.129, 236.09; 22. Willard Kinzer, 6.235, 243.68; 23. Doug Winters, 6.251, 227.19; 24. Chip King, 6.270, 236.09; 25. Jim Bell, 6.563, 189.44; 26. Clint Satterfield, 6.851, 213.98; 27. Jim Whiteley, 7.969, 122.76; 28. Steven Whiteley, 8.507, 117.31.