Although his weekend at the NHRA Virginia Nationals ended earlier than he would have liked, Get
Screened America Pro Mod Challenge driver Mike Knowles is leaving Virginia Motorsports park with an
unprecedented honor: his team was selected by NHRA as the best appearing crew, and was awarded a
coveted Wally trophy. Knowles is the first and only Pro Mod racer or team to have won a Wally at a
Pro Mod event.
In his three qualifying attempts, he was able to give a best effort of 6.153 seconds - a number
that would have qualified at any other race this season. With the ultra-quick field and stellar
weather conditions however, he was well outside the 6.07 bump spot.
"We had the same three shots that everyone else did, so I can't say much. We just had a few issues
with the car that took a while to get worked out, and we ran out of qualifiers. Plain and simple,"
Knowles said.
"The good news is, we have already started working on our program for 2010, because the competition
that we're going to be facing is getting quicker and quicker, and we're going to need to be running
90's and 80's consistently if we're going to be in the show for next year.
"Mike Strasberg, Chuck Ford and I have all put our heads together and created a game plan,
something that I think will work out well," he said.
"It was really cool to be awarded the best appearing crew from NHRA. That made the DNQ a little
easier to take. We always take pride in the way things look and how we present ourselves, so to be
recognized for that, it means a lot. It's also huge, as a class, top be included in the judging for
that. We've worked hard to keep the relationship with NHRA advancing, and I think this is a great
sign of how things are continuing to get better and better," Knowles added.
Knowles and his B&J Racing Transmissions team will be in action one more time October 29-November 1
at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals for the final round of the 2009 Get Screened America Pro Mod
Challenge presented by ProCare Rx.
