Image courtesy NHRA/National Dragster

Don Walsh Jr., one of the most decorated drivers in the history of all-Ford drag racing, scored a popular win in the NHRA ProCare Rx Pro Mod Drag Racing Series at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk on Sunday, turning back fellow turbocharged racer Troy Coughlin to earn the first NHRA national event win of his career in just his sixth start.

Walsh, a former four-time NMRA Pro 5.0 world champion and World Ford Challenge winner, is a diehard Ford aficionado, and although on the sidelines for the better part of the last decade, but returned this season in a big way, teaming with Precision Turbo’s Harry Hruska, BigStuff3’s John

Don Walsh Jr. in his former Pro 5.0 Mustang entry.

Meaney, and forging a relationship with Brad Anderson for an all-hands-on-deck NHRA Pro Modified effort. Another key ingredient to the mix has been the tuning prowess of Todd Tutterow, who has been working in conjunction with Kruska and the Precision Turbos team on a couple of different fronts  this season.

In the sweltering Midwest heat and humidity, Walsh put the Precision Turbo 2011 Mustang in the No. 3 qualifying slot with a 5.983 a 250.74 mph and carded low elapsed time of the opening by a good margin, running 5.95 to send Kevin McCurdy packing. Walsh continued that torried pace, reeling off the quickest lap of the round in each successive round, including a 5.89 defeat of Mike Janis in round two, a 5.88 to down first-time semifinalist Dave Roemer, and another 5.89 in the final over a slowing Coughlin to pout the icing on the cake.

With the victory, Walsh moved up to fourth in the NHRA Pro Modified standings with four events remaining.

This weekend, Walsh will return to his street legal drag racing roots as he and the Precision Turbo team head to the Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., where they’ll take on Chris Rini, Bill Lutz, and the rest of what’s expected to be a large and formidable NMCA Pro Street contingent at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing.