PRO MOD 5

Your editorial reminds me of a letter I sent you several years ago! I could not see dissing IHRA for a promise at NHRA. You know IHRA treats these guys like gold, and I agree the tracks aren't as good, the TV coverage for Pro Mods was equal to, or better than Masters Productions. I am sure IHRA will be glad to accept these guys back in the fold, unless some of them burned some bridges I don't know about.

I understand Virginia Motorsports Park was not happy with the spectator turn out under IHRA. Now let's see what the south does with no Pro Mods in NHRA!

Thanks for listening,

Richard Burbick

PRO MOD 6

If I had a Pro Mod Car and I was treated the way NHRA treated those guys I would never spend a dime to race at one of their events. The lack of exposure for a sponsor and the lack of respect as racers, and the final slap in the face of canceling the two night qualifying sessions at the 50th US Nationals would have done it for me at that time. All NHRA wanted was to use them to fill some seats without spending anything.

I'd rather run the Outlaw races and be treated like they were happy to have me there.

Bill Carroll
Ft. Lauderdale, FL

PRO MOD 7

I think your column has covered all the basics from A-Z on the rise and fall of the NHRA Pro Mod steps! And it is truly a shame that so many people have invested time and tons of money to make this thing a success and it's just gonna fizzle away! Well, I guess my annual Gainesville Gatornationals trip will not be the same, walking 2 miles to the end of the track to see my favorite Pro Mod racers and teams... It's looking like they won't be there this year.

J Hatcher
Pensacola, FL

PRO MOD 8

I just finished reading your article about the Pro Mod situation. Great article, you hit a lot of good points and facts.

Briefly, let me tell you a little story. I used to do t-shirt designs on the side and gave it up, but decided to get back into it a few years ago. I love drag racing and a friend and I drove to the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol to see the Pro Mods for the first time, and fell in love with the class. We were walking around in the pits and found the Pro Mod guys down the hill in the grass and dirt. If you've ever been to Bristol everything is on a hill.

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Anyway, I was amazed how nice and approachable these guys were. So much in fact that they would invite you under their canopy and talk to you as long as you wanted. This is where I met Dennis and Judy Radford for the first time. Super nice people. To make a long story short, Dennis gave me a chance to do a shirt for him, on a hand shake. I live in PA and they live in Oregon. Because Dennis took a chance, I now am doing work for Classic Graphix out of L.A. and have done shirts for Morgan Lucas, Mike Edwards, and Brian Gahm to name a few.

The Pro Mod people are something refreshing and a good thing for motorsports in general. For me personally I feel NHRA is really afraid of where this class could go if it was a pro category. I think they're afraid people would get up and go for a walk and forget Pro Stock. Let's be honest, this class is wild, period. You have a class of nostalgia cars, basically that people can identify with. Stick nitrous, twin turbo's, blowers. . .put them all together and let them go; that's drag racing.

You were right when you said what you said in your article. But I think the fear of what this class could do to a couple of other pro classes (Pro Stock car and bike) is also something that they want to avoid. It truly is all about the money.

Sincerely,

Earl Kendall