What happened to PRO MOD ? (1 Viewer)

Will be interesting to see what goes on this offseason. Which drivers make the commitment to get back on the saddle. Specifically turbo guys. Lyle Barnett winning two out of the last three races in a turbo car has to be a good thing. And if some guys like Tutterow who went all in on PDRA can get some funding and come back. Or if some will even take the leap. That market is thriving right now with the racing tho. Don't know if they give that up. PDRA Pro Boost is next level.
 
The December 1/8th mile promod event in Bradenton had something like 50 cars register in a day. Maybe it’s a mix of NHRA rules and the cost to run 1/4 mile that is keeping the car counts low. Not sure what the deal is but a few years ago it seemed that there were 20+ cars showing up. Now it’s a surprise to see a full field.
 
The December 1/8th mile promod event in Bradenton had something like 50 cars register in a day. Maybe it’s a mix of NHRA rules and the cost to run 1/4 mile that is keeping the car counts low. Not sure what the deal is but a few years ago it seemed that there were 20+ cars showing up. Now it’s a surprise to see a full field.
The Northeast, The South, and The Midwest all have a thriving outlaw pro mod series, where guys can stay local if they want to. Honestly tho, I think only a few guys that were consistent NHRA racers partake. The rest of them are tried and true outlaw 1/8th mile racers. So a variety of factors are at play.
 
The December 1/8th mile promod event in Bradenton had something like 50 cars register in a day. Maybe it’s a mix of NHRA rules and the cost to run 1/4 mile that is keeping the car counts low. Not sure what the deal is but a few years ago it seemed that there were 20+ cars showing up. Now it’s a surprise to see a full field.
But, according to some of the professional fans anything shorter then a 1/4 mile is not real racing. So I'm sure know one turns up to watch it.;) I hope this didn't wake any of those fans up.:)
 
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You'll will see Stevie Fast as the first one to jump on this.
If he even stays in pro mod. Rumor in Vegas last weekend he would be racing in TAFC next year. I didn’t get a chance to ask him but it could be in addition to pro mod. I also heard Jim Whitely would be running TAFC instead of pro mod.
 
He's tested and raced Whiteley's TAFC in the Midwest Drag Racing Series. Brandon Snider has also raced one of their's.
 
If he even stays in pro mod. Rumor in Vegas last weekend he would be racing in TAFC next year. I didn’t get a chance to ask him but it could be in addition to pro mod. I also heard Jim Whitely would be running TAFC instead of pro mod.
Both probably on their way to TF and/or FC.
 
This isn’t a dig on NHRA but since they took over running the class the car count has been lower. I have to give props to John Waldie because he made sure their was a lot of cars when he helped run the series.
There is a ton of factors that has put the class in the position they are today. Going into 2020, it looked like there was going to be 30 plus cars at Gainesville. They made some safety rules that were not cheap but it also added weight to the cars. The changes caused most of the local non NHRA cars to be illegal. To make the change they would then be at a disadvantage when they run other series’s like MWDRS or PDRA. The rules killed off most of the turbo racers, some switched to the pro charger combo while others stopped racing. The pro charger proved superior causing more to switch or quit. To get parity back they have continued to tweak the rules but every time they do it of course costs the racers more money eliminating more of them. Add in pandemic which not only affected some of the businesses of racers it also pretty much eliminated the out of the country racers. NHRA also thought it would be great to expand the series to 12 races and to some places like Denver and Brainard. Both races caused a large increase in costs. Now adding the screw blowers to the class will not make much of a difference with the submitted weight and blower overdrive except cost the few willing to try it more money. The safety requirements will still keep most of the local guys from competing.

So what can NHRA do to get the class healthy again? The racers have asked for 10 races instead of 12. The racers that did venture out to Denver and Brainard loved going there they probably need to eliminate both tracks due to the cost to the racers. I think doing Gainesville, Charlotte (2), Indy, Virginia, Norwalk, Dallas, Bristol, Vegas and Houston or Topeka would help. They have talked about giving the non safety legal cars a two or three race waiver which would allow them to compete on a limited basis. If they paid qualifying money they would have full fields at every race. If they could come up with $500k (10 races/50K per race) and pay $3000 to qualify and $1000 for the top two alternates they would instantly have full fields. Of course I’m spending money that isn’t mine but I think it isn’t too unreasonable. They currently don’t pay any round money outside of winner and runner up so even a small amount of cash to help cover some travel costs would get more cars. NHRA is the only pro mod series that runs 1/4 mile. While I do not want that to change, I do think that is the other thing keeping guys away.
 
I was watching NHRA from the PRI show this morning and it looks like NHRA have lowered some of the current safety rules that will allow more cars to come run the series.
 
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