Pro Stock racing, at least in it current form, is in deep trouble. The class that was once the darling of the drag racing spectators, media, and the factories isn't anymore. Don't think so? Well, consider these facts.

Fact: soon after the 2001 season began IHRA pres Bill Bader pulled Pro Stock from that sanctioning body's main television show.

Fact: IHRA Pro Stock has practically no corporate sponsorship and absolutely no direct Detroit factory backing.

Fact: legendary NHRA Pro Stock team Reher-Morrison can't get a major sponsor.

Fact: the Ford Motor Company has no obvious factory presence with either IHRA or NHRA Pro Stock racing forcing Ford racers to do it on their own.

Fact: While both GM and DaimlerChrysler support selected NHRA Pro Stock teams, there are still many teams with no significant sponsorship at all.

And if the Pro Stock racers didn't have enough problems, IHRA president Bader in an unprecedented act wrote a piece in the May 11 issue of Drag Review enumerating the problems he saw with the IHRA Pro Stock class. It was, in my opinion, an insightful critique of the class and, although Bader was writing about IHRA's Pro Stockers, I believe his criticisms also apply to NHRA Pro Stock racing.

In essence what he said was that current Pro Stock cars and racing are boring and that they don't have a large enough fan base to support them. Obviously, that is one reason why IHRA/SFX decided to remove Pro Stock racing from their prime television program and network and move it to a far less accessible network.

The slug line for Bill's column about Pro Stock read: "What happened to Pro Stock?" You'll have to read Bill's column to get his complete opinion, but here's mine. 

Pro Stock racing at both the IHRA and NHRA has become a very expensive and boring form of Nostalgia racing. Current Pro Stockers are cookie-cutter racecars that no more resemble a showroom stock car than a front-motored fuel dragster resembles a modern Top Fuel car. I think the only fans in drag racing that can relate to a stock appearing Detroit car with a 500 inch, carbureted engine under a huge hood scoop are those who were in their early twenties in the late sixties. Today's Pro Stock cars just don't interest the fans. When was the last time you saw crowds in the pits surrounding a Pro Stock operation? 

In my opinion, the only differences between Nostalgia Super Stock racing and current Pro Stock racing are the speeds and ET's. In most cases, booked-in shows featuring either of these two classes as the main attraction draw about the same number of fans...not many.

The fact is, most of that all important demographic 18-35 age group cannot relate to today's Pro Stock cars because a majority of the high performance cars they drive or buy have small block power plants with fuel injection, turbo-chargers or superchargers, and a lot of them own and race cars with brand names that don't originate in Detroit.

It would appear that many younger fans cannot relate to or care about NHRA or IHRA Pro Stockers. When these kids want to see fast doorslammers they either go to a Pro Mod race, the closest Import Drag event, or take it to the streets.

Both NHRA and IHRA have demonstrated in recent years that they aren't afraid to make rule changes, delete or create new classes, or do anything they need to in order to put more fans in the stands. How many of you could have imagined Pro Stock trucks or Pro Modified at NHRA events a couple of years ago or no Fuel Funny Cars at IHRA?

So, I say it's time for both sanctioning bodies to make some hard decisions and changes to increase fan interest in Pro Stock racing.  Perhaps the most important is to re-invent the Pro Stock class so that it features fast street cars that look like they could have come off the dealers showroom floor.

Get rid of the rule that prohibits Corvettes and Dodge Vipers from competing in Pro Stock competition. What's the point?

If drag racing allows and even encourages foreign manufacturers in other Pro classes, why not in Pro Stock? Is Detroit afraid of competition from abroad? I don't think so.  I suggest that engines be restricted to 355-ci small block V-6 or V-8 or even V-10 engines. All of the big three Detroit automakers have spent a ton of money developing those engines. Make fuel injection, turbo-charging or supercharging legal as long as they are factory options and are stock appearing and fit under a flat hood. 

Require bodies to be stock with working head and taillights and steel bodies. If fans want fiberglass bodied, mountain motored cars they can watch Pro Mods. 

Eliminate wheelie bars (credit that idea to Bret Kepner among others) and, finally, give the fans wheelstanding 'slammers with 500-inch or 800-inch motors.

Don't put the existing Pro Stock racers out of business. Give them a three year grandfather clause that allows them to use the 500-inch or 800-inch equipment they have.

Pro Stock as it is now is a class where (with a few exceptions) many of the fans and stars have grown old. It's offers little entertainment for the casual fan and with the probable introduction of Pro Modified as a professional class in NHRA in 2002, the situation is only going to get worse.

What I really think both sanctioning bodies should do is change the name from Pro Stock to Pro Street. Anybody who doesn't think the factories aren't going to get involved in a class where the cars really look like they came off a showroom floor just isn't paying attention. Check out the factory involvement in SCCA classes that feature showroom stock cars or GT cars.

Still don't believe there is little fan interest in Pro Stock? Here's an example to prove my point. I attended the NHRA national event at Englishtown. Part of that race was the Holley Shootout for Pro Stockers. It featured eight of the best NHRA Pro Stockers based on qualifying in 2000. The second of the three rounds was run between the regular qualifying sessions and the stands were literally empty. The fans evidently just didn't want to watch the best Pro Stockers -- and on a day when they were running 6.80s at will and the quickest times in history were being run.

Manufacturer and Pro Stock racer Greg Moser was quoted in Drag Review as saying to Bill Bader, "We (Pro Stock racers) are a bunch of rich, egotistical racers. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to race and put on a show for you (IHRA). ...You are the promoter; tell us what to do. Do something with us."

That kind of opportunity or request doesn't happen often for sanctioning bodies.

My advice is to tell them it's time for NHRA and IHRA to come into the 21st century, save the racers from themselves and bring entertaining Pro Stock racing back. It appears that Bill Bader has fired a warning shot and I hear that Bader and the racers have had some meetings to try and find a solution. They'd better factor in what the fans want, not just what they think is best for the sanctioning body and racers, into any solution they come up with, because ultimately the fans, who vote with their pocketbook and remote will decide the fate of Pro Stock.

Kudos to Bill Bader for having the courage to tell it the way he sees it and to say so in print, a rare action for the president of any major league sanctioning body to take. Love him or hate him, Bill Bader is one of a kind.

photo by James Drew

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