As excitement around the race continues to build , Buck recently took the opportunity to answer several of the most common questions he ’ s been asked since the official race announcement was released .

The format of this race goes against almost everything that drag racers know ; there will be no qualifying sessions , 15 of the 16 positions will be decided by invitation , and the first-round pairings will be randomly drawn a full month before the race . What is your reasoning behind these choices ?

First and foremost , I knew when I made the invite-only decision that there would be pushback . I ’ ll be honest – there would be a better chance that I ’ d further reduce the field to an eight-car , invite-only field than expand it to 32 cars . What we are trying to create here is a drag racing entertainment property . It is very important to me that we have a high-level , concise show . There are plenty of events whose doors are open to anyone interested – and I love that . But it ’ s not the World Series of Pro Mod .

It ’ s invite-only specifically because I want to control the cast of characters involved . It ’ s important to have very competitive , high-performing cars . It ’ s important that the World Series of Pro Mod features the world ’ s elite Pro Modified drag racing teams , but it ’ s most important – like I said earlier – that the WSOPM features the most colorful , entertaining , charismatic , lovable characters the sport of drag racing has to offer . That ’ s why it ’ s invite-only . There ’ s plenty of room for

growth here , in my opinion , and my plan is to grow this thing over the course of the next few years and , with a little bit of luck and a little bit of sunshine , well into the future . But we have to start somewhere , and we have to put ourselves in the best possible position to succeed .

Fourteen drivers will be invited to race in the WSOPM . Another driver will be voted in by the fans online . The final spot will be awarded to the winner of a $ 10,000-to-win Pro Mod Shootout on the Friday night of the event . This will certainly make for a thrilling race , but it also drastically changes the way the race can be

promoted . How will this help you and your team promote the World Series of Pro Mod ?

I ’ ve often said that promoting a drag race is like writing a script or promoting a movie and not knowing who ’ s going to star in it . Drag racing is a difficult sport to promote , and it ’ s because of those variables . By controlling a few of those variables and knowing who ’ s going to be in the race , we ’ ll know 30 days before the winner is crowned who will race who in the first round . We can create some excitement and build rivalries and interest in specific matchups .

It ’ s my opinion that the first round at the WSOPM will be as significant and interesting as the final round at any other race . That ’ s cool . That ’ s so cool to me that the first round will be as exciting as the final round . We ’ ll have the time to look up statistics and promote how successful these guys are against each other , what their average reaction times are , who ’ s performing well this season , or who ’ s riding a wave of momentum . All those factors that we typically wouldn ’ t have the time to investigate or promote in the few hours between qualifying and eliminations can be used to build excitement .

Another controversial aspect of the WSOPM

PHOTO : BANDIMERE SPEEDWAY