IHRA Pro Mod 660 Ironman Classic Starts At Willowbank Raceway

29 January 2026

The introduction of the IHRA Pro Mod 660 Ironman Classic class of racing at Willowbank Raceway’s Pro Alcohol Nationals on January 24 and 25 provided close and spectacular racing from the new eliminator.

The supercharged, turbocharged or nitrous oxide-assisted cars race over the half-track distance of 200 metres.

As it is a new eliminator under the IHRA racing banner, there was an opportunity for all eight teams to put their name to a track record.

Despite the early end of the weekend’s event due to a thunderstorm, six of the field went under four seconds and four exceeded 200mph (321km/h).

Top qualifier John Ricca, from Victoria, set the track record at 3.724sec in his Camaro and the Corvette of Queensland’s Steven Smith took the speed record at 206.16mph (331.78km/h).

Best times for the other teams were: Barry Plumpton 3.823, Steven Smith 3.869, Neil Murphy 3.872, Russ Pavey 3.906, Rod Harvey 3.923, John Cannuli 4.038 and Jack Danaher 4.097.

John Ricca set the new track record at 3.724sec