Since the Blower and Nitrous contingent is a reasonably well-known quantity (in terms of today’s performances), given the rules changes it appears to be the vision of the sanctioning body (TLR/AMS) that this will pull them within sight of the magic 5-second zone.

The unknown? The turbo combination. Internet message boards are packed with predictions ranging from "they will ruin Pro Modified" to "they won’t even be competitive." My guess is most of the people writing those predictions are just bench racers who wouldn’t know a turbo from a street cleaner if it sucked their cat up off the road, trying to stir the pot from the cheap seats.

Buddy Ingersol created quite the stir when he brought out a twin turbo Buick V6 that had the capability to blow the doors off anything that ran in the Pro Stock ranks. The knee jerk reaction at the time was to eliminate him from that level of competition by outlawing his combination.

The difference today is that there is quite a bit more information and it’s not as if an unknown is going to show up at the track and run two-tenths and 20MPH faster then anyone on that day. While turbo combinations have been successful in many venues such as NMRA, Fast Ford, NMCA and other "street legal" organizations, the combinations used in those venues are quite different from those that will compete in what proposes to be the fastest doorslammer class in the world.

The quickest and fastest run by a turbo charged door slammer is Mike Moran’s 6.25/236 blast and his 6.26/239.7 blast. While nearly 10MPH faster than the current crop of Pro

ADVERTISEMENT

Modifieds, it’s still over a tenth off the best ET of a blower car with 20 percent overdrive in similar conditions. Moran’s best effort to date wouldn’t have qualified him for the IHRA World Finals in Rockingham this year.

You can count the number of big block turbo combinations that are currently built or have been campaigned in the US using only fingers, although soon toes will be required as more are now under construction. Few are even remotely qualified to speak on the potential of the turbo combination at this level of competition but I did manage to chat with turbo guru Ken Duttweiler, who has built some of the most potent combinations available and solicit his input on the ability of the turbo combination to compete in this elite class.