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COUGHLIN INTERESTED IN
PRO MOD?
Agent 1320 saw and heard enough to believe
that the Super Stock/Top Sportsman car smokescreen
sent out to the media on the behalf of Troy
Coughlin after he decided to ankle the NHRA
Pro Stock wars was just a hint at the fact
that Troy is serious about Pro Mod. After all,
a Top Sportsman is just a Pro Mod in disguise.
The Agent saw both Troy and Jeg’s primo
PR flack Scott Woodruff hanging around the
starting line every time a Pro Mod made a lap
at Indy and were seen cruising the Pro Mod
pits fairly regularly. The Agent’s spies
haven’t got any solid info but there
is a lot of circumstantial evidence to indicate
the JEG’S yellow paint scheme could move
into yet another class. [9-8-2004]
NOT FUNNY
 The
Agent reported last week that the NHRA Motorsports
Museum that puts on the popular California
Hot Rod Reunion was sending mixed signals to
the Nitro Nostalgia Funny Car contingent. According
to ringleaders Jeff Gaynor and Bob Godfrey,
they and a number of other floppers will be
sitting out the 13th annual assembly of nostalgia
at Famoso Raceway on October 1-3.
One of the Agent’s operatives reached
Gaynor by phone on his way to the Inaugural
U.S. Funny Car Nationals in St. Louis, who
said, “We were not invited and then we
were informed that there was no money to pay
us. We are all pretty busy and could
use the time off.”
Godfrey added, “We’ve been an
exhibition class at the Reunion for the last
two years, it costs us about $400 per run and
the Reunion is not in our budget.” (Darr
Hawthorne photo) [9-8-2004]
IT’S ‘GO’ FOR
COBALT
GM’s Drag Racing Marketing Manager Fred
Simmonds revealed at Indy that the Detroit
automaker has given the go-ahead to chassis
builders to get started on the 2005 Chevy Cobalt
for Pro Stock competition. Reportedly
Jerry Haas has 15 orders waiting for new and
replacement cars to pound the quarter mile
next season.
The Pontiacs will remain with the Grand Am
body style and GM Racing is still considering
whether to switch to the new Australian Holden-based
GTO for 2006. Although the Goat’s
profile may be a little larger than the Grand
Am it may still be smaller than the Dodge Stratus
in race trim.
Simmonds also revealed that their Roush-prepped
Sport Compact drag racing team consisting of
Pro Front Wheel Drive Pontiac Sunfire driven
by Nelson Hoyos and the Pontiac Hot Rod Class
entry driven by Marty Ladwig will compete in
both the NHRA Sport Compact Series and the
NOPI/NDRA events to get maximum fan exposure
for the team in 2005. [9-8-2004]
WINNEBAGO GONZO...ALMOST
One of the Agent’s operatives in the
Midwest called to say that almost the entire
(and very large) Winnebago Sportsman sponsorship
program will be shut down at the end of the
2004 drag racing season. According to the Agent’s
source, a new management team at Winnebago
did not see the benefits of their world-class
sportsman program. Evidently only one racer
will retain a sponsorship from the motor coach
company and that is U.S. Nats Comp Eliminator
winner David Rampy. [9-8-2004]
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