World Series of Pro Mod (1 Viewer)

[justafan]

This race has been very entertaining the two previous years. 16 car field, lots of heavy NHRA hitters. Not sure what happened this year. Only 11 cars, 4 Supercharged and 7 Turbos. 4 full time NHRA Pro Mods, Steve Jackson, Doug Winters, Rick Hord & Clint Satterfield. Terry Haddock showed up with a 1937 Ford Coupe that looks like it hasn't been to the track in 10 years (but at least he showed up). Guessing the altitude is the deal breaker. Kudos to Wes Buck, whose passion for this sport, Pro Mod in particular (probably my favorite class), is incomparable, for putting on this event ($100k for the winner is the real deal), but in order to draw a larger, stronger field, I think that this race needs to be moved further East. It would be a great Test & Tune session leading into the U.S. Nationals in Indy.

 

[Cliff]

I guess the nitrous cars don't think they can be competitive. Too bad. Racing so far has been good, in spite of the short field.

 

[Chili]

The carnage this year and the recent rule changes had a huge effect on the car count. Bowman, Caruso, Ray and Enders are all currently without cars. Jim Whitely is still waiting for his new car to be completed, Steven Whitely is waiting on his car to be fixed and they have thrown in the towel on running the Caddy. Team Elite (Laughlin and Matusek), Biehle, Gonzales, Frigo and Latino were originally supposed to be there but backed out either because of the new NHRA rule or engine issues. If those 12 would have been on hand they would of had 23 cars qualifying for the 24 car field. Unfortunately Pro Mod is getting the be like every other Pro Class. The cost continues the rise and in this case guys start to give it up either because they don't have the resources to build a new competitive car or they get sick on spending the money and not having success. Earlier this year we were seeing 28 cars showing up for the E3 series and its been dwindling as the season has went on. We still have full field and alternates but the guys not qualifying are starting to disappear.

Sure if you have this race back east there are more potential cars to draw from. Maybe its the distance or the altitude that keeps them away. After three years maybe the race has kind of run its course at Bandimere. The crowds are getting better each year but with the Turbo cars winning all three years it may chase the rest of the blower cars away.

What I would like to see happen is make this a points earning event. The E3 series is more or less a free standing series from NHRA. They run them in conjunction with the NHRA National events but they supply the purse. Also only Winner and runner up get money now. Maybe they could add the WSOPM to the series as a stand alone event. You can have 100k to win, have a 32 car field, with maybe an extra round of points. They would need to do some adjustments to the rules to get all three power adders to show up and be competitive and of course Wes Buck would need to agree to the whole thing.

A guy can dream cant he. lol

 

[Cliff]

One car that made a good impression on me was the runner-up in T/S, Mike Candelario, in a '57 Chevy with (I think) a screw blower. He was running low 6.30's at over 225 all night; ended up with a 6.28 at 227 breakout in the final. That car reminded me a lot of Pro Mods from some years ago.

 

[Pete]

Lots of carnage keeping people sidelined at the moment. Also, the new boost limit needs testing and I don’t think Denver is the place.

Kudos to the teams that showed up and thank you to Wes Buck for yet again pulling this together!

 

[Chili]

One car that made a good impression on me was the runner-up in T/S, Mike Candelario, in a '57 Chevy with (I think) a screw blower. He was running low 6.30's at over 225 all night; ended up with a 6.28 at 227 breakout in the final. That car reminded me a lot of Pro Mods from some years ago.

He did a great job hitting his number all weekend long. Cool Car. The TS and TD racers put on a great show.