True to his word, Mike Knowles stepped up his game behind the wheel of his Knowles Enterprises/B&J
Transmissions '63 Corvette Pro Mod and joined five other drivers in the five-second zone during
qualifying for the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge at the Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals. He
ended the day at No. 6 with a 5.977 at 240.64 mph.
"The competition is really stout out here, and we knew we were going to have to run some good
numbers to stay in the top half of the field," Knowles said.
"We made some changes from our set-up yesterday, and they all worked perfectly. Believe it or not,
I actually pedaled it and still ran a 5.97. It was pretty loose going down the track - that's about
as far as you want to drive a Pro Mod car without putting the 'chutes out early.
"It has a lot more run in it, and tomorrow we're planning on pushing it just a little more to see
what we can get out of it. From there, we're going to go out to win this thing," he said.
"The great news for us is that when we make a change on the car, we can actually see a difference
in our performance - which is huge when you're trying to tune for a particular track situation.
"We're in really good shape, and I'm excited to get after it and have a great day tomorrow,"
Knowles said.
Racing continues Sunday with one remaining qualifying session scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and the first
round of eliminations scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Eliminations conclude Monday.
