Words by Jeff Burk
Photos by Tom Schiltz

Veteran New Jersey engine builder and doorslammer driver Pat Musi has raced and won in almost every kind of fast doorslammer from the backstreet of Brooklyn and New Jersey to the main events of every sanctioning body in drag racing with the exception of the National Hot Rod Association. Sunday, June 27, he got that monkey off his back by winning his first “Wally”, and the win came in the NHRA’s newest class, Pro Mod. The last time Musi was in a NHRA final round in a professional class was in 1981 when he was runner-up in Pro Stock at both the Winternationals and the Gatornationals.

Brad Personett’s turbocharged “Big Stuff” Camaro.

The Norwalk, Ohio, race was just Musi’s second appearance in the Get Screened America Pro Mod class and his first final round. He beat NHRA veteran Pro Mod racer Brad Personett whose turbocharged Hemi-powered Camaro ran over 250 mph on every lap of eliminations including a 253.53 that he later backed up for a new NHRA Pro Mod National Speed Record.

The final round was just Personett’s second trip to the finals of a NHRA national event. Perhaps, like Musi, his third time will be the one he wins.  

Musi outran Troy Coughlin (whose nitrous backfire cost him an engine) and Ed Hoover, and defeated pole sitter Raymond Commisso with a huge holeshot to make the finals. where he ran his first five-second pass of the race to defeat Personett.  

Musi’s Dodge Stratus powered by a nitrous oxide-injected 900-inch wedge –headed engine posted the first five-second pass of the race in the final round. His 5.981 at 239.44 mph held off Personett’s hard-charging ’68 Camaro, which trailed with a 5.996 at 251.02.