Back to the Future

Words by Jeff Burk & Susan Wade
Photos by Jeff Burk
10/28/03

cotty Cannon is out of the nitro Funny Car business -- at least for now. Cannon made the long-rumored move official at the just completed ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals race. He confirmed to DRO that he'll not be driving a Fuel Funny car for either Don Schumacher or Jim Jannard for the 2004 season. Instead, he will, somewhat reluctantly, return to the class where he won five IHRA World Championships -- Pro Modified.

Despite a promising start being named NHRA Rookie of the Year in 1999, his nitro Funny Car career has yielded no victories and just a handful of top qualifying positions in his five seasons in NHRA competition. That performance may have contributed to the popular driver's return to blown doorslammer racing.

The five-time IHRA Pro Modified champion is still undecided how he will split his schedule between rival sanctioning bodies IHRA and the NHRA's AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge.

The Lyman, S.C. driver said he anticipates his appearances next year to be "probably 80 percent NHRA," an arena in which the Pro Modified class remains at exhibition status. He also said that his Pro Mod team would retain a full Oakley sponsorship for the 2004 season.

"We consider Scotty a permanent fixture at Oakley and are proud to have the opportunity to grab the major sponsor spot on his car," said Oakley's Jim Jannard. "Watch for great paint."

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Cannon said he still likes driving a Funny Car and would like to have a team featuring both a Pro Mod entry and nitro Funny Car, a team that would be the first of its kind among NHRA owners.

"I have mixed emotions," he said of the move that will become official following the Nov. 6-9 NHRA World Finals in Pomona, Calif. "I want to get back into it (Pro Mod competition), but I also want to keep racing a fuel funny car."

Whether Cannon ever runs a Pro Mod/Funny Car team naturally depends on funding. With an initial price tag he estimated at $2.5 million and an annual operating budget of $2 million, he said, "The bottom line is I'm for sale."

He said he doesn't regard the change as a step down or backward. "I don't think it's no less," Cannon said. "I have as much respect for a guy who wins a championship on a skateboard. It takes the same amount of effort and dedication. The higher up people go, they forget that."

Cannon said he couldn't define what it would have taken to stay in the Oakley Funny Car. A certain number of victories? Round-wins? Top-qualifying spots? Top-five or top-10 finishes each season?

"I don't know," he said, raising his eyebrows in a nobody-ever-told-me expression. "Really. I don't know."