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| Let's put the Pro back in Pro Mod
As a fan I believe that NHRA and IHRA have taken away some of the anticipation of watching Fuel cars by implementing a 90% nitro fuel rule this year. That rule has made the chances of seeing a record-setting performance in Top Fuel or Funny Car slim indeed -- thank God for Nitro bikes and A/Fuel dragsters. On the other hand, the Pro Modified style of race cars still offers fans the unbridled competition that is the heart, soul, and main attraction of drag racing, despite what bean counters and management types from Mickey Mouse-land may believe. Super Chevy's Nitro Coupes, Australia's no holds barred Top Doorslammers and IHRA's Pro Modifieds still give the fans a chance to see a record set every time they race. For most fans the rules aren't as important as the results, and most fans are salivating at the thought of a five-second doorslammer pass, no matter what kind of doorslammer does it. Now, though, it appears that the inmates and officials of IHRA's Pro Mod class are determined that it won't happen on their watch. Instead they appear to be inclined to make the most popular professional class developed since Fuel Funny Car into a glorified Super Gas class where consistency is rewarded and performance penalized. And I have to say I'm damn mad about it. I have been observing this class since its inception, which I believe began when an independent, innovative racer named Bill Kuhlmann beat a stellar group of doorslammer racers including Bob Glidden, Scott Shafiroff and ADRA Pro Stock Champ Randy Hagerty, to the 200mph barrier at the '87 IHRA WinterNationals in Darlington, SC. In those halcyon days the class was known as Top Sportsman and, in the words of Kuhlmann it was a class that had just one rule: "Run what you brung and hope you brung enough." Immediately after the 200 mph pass all of the competitors in the class started pushing themselves and their cars to go quicker and faster. Manufacturers saw how popular the cars were with both the media and fans and jumped on the bandwagon. Engine builder Sonny Leonard started a 200mph club for the class and NOS's Mike Thermos had a six-second club. From 1987-89 the class remained basically an unlimited doorslammer class. Then, before the 1990 season, the racers and sponsors who started and supported the class, including then NOS prez Thermos, lobbied IHRA head man Ted Jones to make a pro class for what was then a basically unlimited doorslammer class. Ted did and, thanks to Bret Kepner, named the class Pro Modified. There were rules, but they were fairly simple. They eventually settled on a 526 cubic inch engine for blown cars and a 710 cubic inch for nitrous cars with the nitrous cars getting a 150-200lb weight break. Things went along pretty smoothly for a time. Nitrous cars won a majority of the races and World Championships. Nitrous racers like Robbie Vandergriff, Scott Shafiroff, Tim McAmis and Scotty Cannon, among others, experimented with multiple bottles of nitrous, multiple stages and "push" systems. All of these were designed to increase the horsepower of the nitrous engines and they did. Nearly ten years ago engine builder Scott Shafiroff advertised that he could make over 2000hp!! with a 636 inch nitrous motor. Then the unthinkable happened: Engine builder Jim Oddy and driver Fred Hahn won a few races in the early 1990s -- three to be exact. Then Kuhlmann, Cannon, Al Billes and others switched to supercharged powerplants and over the next six or seven years nitrous racers and manufacturers convinced the sanctioning body to put all sorts of restrictions on the blower cars, including suspension, more weight, overdrive percentage and much more. What had started out as a "run what you brung" door slammer class began to have the look and feel of a competition eliminator program where going quick or fast meant you were penalized with an index change or a weight break. Unfortunately, only the supercharged cars were penalized. If you ran nitrous oxide injection the nitrous lobby got their racers weight breaks, more nitrous systems, more clutch discs and just about anything else they wanted. Despite the restrictions, the supercharger racers managed to stay competitive but certainly not dominant. Supercharged cars remained competitive by using radical and innovative chassis designs, serious and expensive engine programs, and building nostalgia cars for the weight break. O.K. Now here we are in the twenty-first century with the supposedly "new" IHRA. Except nothing for Pro Modified is new. Every time a supercharged Pro Mod puts a really good elapsed time, such as recent Hahn's 6.17, the team can't enjoy their success. Instead they start sweating bullets wondering when the new rules changes will be announced to try and slow them down. By contrast, if a nitrous team has a stellar performance such as Tommy Mauney did at the IHRA finals in Shreveport, LA last year all they have to worry about is where to spend the prize money. At the IHRA race in Grand Bend, Ontario, Canada, Jim Oddy, Fred Hahn and the crew took advantage of a perfect track and good weather and put together a career pass of 6.17/226. News of that pass went through the drag racing community like a dose of salts. Suddenly IHRA Pro Modified was the talk of the sport. An IHRA racer was in the national spotlight. Many more people called and e-mailed this magazine wanting information about Jim Oddy and Fred Hahn's accomplishment than called to ask about John Force's record 86th win.
So how did some of the so-called "Professionals" of Pro Mod and IHRA handle the situation? Did IHRA banner it on their website or take an ad out in a major magazine as NHRA did when Force won his 86th? No! Apparently the first thing on their agenda was to figure out a way to appease the nitrous Pro Mod racers and slow down the blower guys. Here is the way I see it. At the "Professional" level in auto racing no one should expect to make money. History has proven that professional racing is at best a break-even proposition and more often than not a serious money loser. Professionals are supposed to be the quickest and fastest in their category. That is what the fans expect. A racer who can't afford to race at the highest level shouldn't. A racer who chooses to race in a Pro Class should dedicate himself to being the quickest and fastest whatever it takes, except for legislating rules to slow down their opponents and the class. Maybe what IHRA should do is form another sportsman class called Top Nitrous and have a 6.35 index. Then let Pro Mod be what it should be, an unlimited, professional, doorslammer class for nitrous injected or supercharged cars. But the question that begs for an answer is why are the nitrous competitors complaining? In the period between 1996 and 1999 nitrous cars have won 27 out of 38 IHRA events. You can look it up! And some of these nitrous racers think the blower guys are too quick and fast?? All I really want is to be around to see the first five-second doorslammer pass and I really don't care what kind of engine is in the frame. Please guys, just shut up and race. If you want parity run a bracket class.
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photo by Kay Burk
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As a fan (not as a magazine editor) there are two branches of drag racing that I'll always spend my own bucks for a ticket to watch: any racing vehicle that burns nitromethane and Pro Modifieds. I enjoy all drag racing, but if I were down to my last 20 bucks and my options were to either spend it on tickets to watch nitro burning machines or Pro Mods or to buy food and beer, I'd have to go thirsty and hungry! 
