The Race to the Five-Second Doorslammer Barrier is Getting Serious

By Jeff Burk

When IHRA tech officials let it be known that their Pro Mod rules which, because of NHRA's reluctance to formulate their own set of rules, are the rules for all serious competitors for the 2003 season, would remain basically the same, most knowledgeable Pro Mod fans and racers gave up any hope of seeing a "legitimate" five-second doorslammer pass anytime soon.

Most car owners, drivers, tuners and engine builders agree that, given the current weight, gearing and blower overdrive restrictions under which blown Pro Mods compete, a five-second pass -- which would be an improvement of around fifteen-hundredths of a second (6.13 by Mike Janis at Rockingham at the last IHRA national event of the season) - would be highly unlikely. Nitrous oxide-injected cars would have to better their best elapsed time by more than two-tenths of a second and aren't seriously considered a threat when the five-second pass is being talked about.

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Almost everyone I've talked to recently has said that in order for the five-second pass to happen it would require a team to completely change their engine-fuel system-clutch and blower combination and then do extensive testing, and no one seemed too interested in doing that. Most serious teams are more interested in developing a combination that would allow them to qualify, win races and perhaps a World Championship in either NHRA or IHRA. Most have said that they wouldn't compete at races where the rules were basically suspended except for safety. Only a few name racers like Bill Kuhlmann and Johnny Rocca have publicly said they would try to be the first in the fives and already those two racers and a couple more have tried but they have had very little success.

Now though, the course of events in Pro Mod racing may have taken a new direction and for the first time the race to the five-second barrier may become a serious objective for many racers.

First, CompetitionPlus editor Bobby Bennett Jr put together a program for early in the season at Virginia Motorsports Park with backing from Mike Ashley's sponsor InfiNet that was designed to attract racers going for the five-second barrier. Unfortunately, the event was scheduled for a weekend that was after the first IHRA national event at San Antonio, Texas and the first NHRA Pro Mod race at Gainesville, and one week prior to IHRA's race at Rockingham. Most serious Pro Mod racers aren't going to change everything on their car to try and run the five at that time of the season.

Second, NHRA sticks to its guns and forces the AMS folks to sign a contract for their ten-race series that restricts the fields to the quickest, eight-cars which will make that field the toughest to qualify for in the history or professional racing. IHRA's 16-car fields won't be much easier to make.

Third, according to several sources close to NHRA, some 60 new Pro Mod teams have contacted NHRA about attending the first AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod event at Gainesville. Judging by NHRA's past history, only about 30 teams will get an invitation, leaving a lot of quality Pro Mod teams without a place to compete.

Now comes word that NHRA's Darlington Dragway, the site of Bill Kuhlmann's historic 200-mph, barrier-busting lap, is going to have a race in mid-February. And perhaps more importantly they are going to open up the rules for Pro Mod just a little, allowing any overdrive and a 2500-lb weight minimum. On top of that, track owners Carlton Phillips and Johnny Rocca have announced a five-second club for Pro Mods.

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