SCHORR'S FORD ESCORTS
HIM TO WIN IN GATEWAY
PRO MOD GALA

Words by Chris Martin
Photos by Jeff Burk
7/21/05

Three race weeks on Jack “On the Road” Kerouac Blvd. I had been to Huntsville, I’d been to Belle Rose, and now I was headed to Gateway Int’l in the toughest little town east of the picket wire, Madison, Ill., the home of the NHRA Humongously Humid Nationals, Three consecutive weekends where I got to witness and partake in the new heroin of my life, Pro Mod competition.

In Southern California, there is Pro Mod racing with the John Scialpis, the Tony Fotis, and the Dan Nickelsons, but they pale in number and, don’t get ticked, in quality to what’s out here. The South, the Midwest, and the East Coast are where it's at as far as these full-throttle party crashers are concerned.

The Jeffers Midwest Pro Mod Series was the bill-topper at St. Louis, featuring some of the area’s biggest stars in the class. To my way of thinking, this couldn’t be better: Let’s see what the local talent looks like. Who are the Sopranos of the local Pro Mod scene?

Sadly, my very first impression wasn’t a good one. Burk and I pulled into the pits after overpowering track security with our DRO credentials, and were greeted by reasonably full pits. However, I’ve seen more people in the toilet lines at the Viper Room to see “And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead” than were in the stands for this promising feature. It is a problem that is wide-spread in this sport.

Sure it was hot, sure it was muggy, sure beer cost $4.50 per cuplet, but dammit the hot dogs were only $2 and the cars were running the eighth-mile at 170+ mph. Stand up, adult men and women … but what am I saying? I’m from California. “Pro Mod” there means a clothes horse whose tastes still float in the ether of Carnaby Street.

Enough already.