Dirt
“Pro Mod is relevant, Waldie insists. “Everyone’s got something to cheer for no matter what
their preference. Pick a body, pick a power adder, pick a driver, pick a crew chief; there are so
many choices,” he explains of a class that features
supercharged, turbocharged, and nitrous oxidepowered Mustangs, Camaros, Chargers, Daytonas,
and many more.
Entry lists also have grown since RPM got involved, Rowe points out. “NHRA came to us to
talk about dwindling car counts. Everyone was
building eighth-mile cars at the time. We did
a good job communicating to the racers to get
competitive cars to come out.”
RPM has been able to stabilize the class and
Rowe believes that’s a big part of why there are
so many cars showing up today. Full qualifying
fields and nearly 30 entrants for each of 10 RPM
national events each year has become the Pro
Mod standard. “NHRA is a great place to race
with some of the best racing in the country, if not
the world. There’s a lot of value there, and I think
we’ll see car counts continue to grow,” he predicts.
Parity between the different power adders has
been a hot-button item for Pro Mod’s participants,
however. It’s an issue that plagued IHRA for years,
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too, and Matusek recognizes it’s always going to
be a moving target. “As one combination does the
homework to get ahead, the others fall behind,
but then they start to work harder and make
advances and get ahead themselves,” he says. “It’s
an ever-changing deal.”
More of an issue for Matusek, who drives a
supercharged ’69 Camaro in the RPM series, is
the growing presence of what he feels are “readymade” combinations, especially turbocharged
entries. He appreciates the trend has brought
more people to Pro Mod, but still can’t agree with
the process. Originally known as a driver’s class
where you just have to have money, although
we wouldn’t have the inventory of cars otherwise. We’re making it so anyone can do it, but
that can be a negative. I think it should still be
a purist class.”
There also are problems in regard to Pro Mod’s
representation on NHRA’s new All Access television program, aired on the Fox Sports network,
Matusek says. He believes the show is too boring,
too dry, and doesn’t take advantage of the opportunity to emphasize the excitement and drama
within the RPM group that exists behind the
scenes. “The previous program we had, the ratings were off the charts. Now,
the show is sub-par. They just
show round-after-round of
race coverage.”
Rowe agrees there should be
more emphasis placed on the
story line for Pro Mod racers
at each race and remains hopeful the TV format will soon
improve. “We’re not getting
the same love as some of the
other classes as far as production goes. NHRA has promised they’ll work on it, but it
just doesn’t show the quality
of what we have going on and
we need to do a better job to relate that to fans on TV,” he says.
Regardless, others outside of
NHRA have taken note of Pro
Mod, and the RPM organization has been repeatedly asked
to make special appearances
TEAMED UP
at non-NHRA events. With
Longtime Pro Mod pilots Danny Rowe and Steve Matusek joined forces in
major drag racing facilities,
2014 when Matusek sold his twin-turbo Mustang and hoped in the seat of
a Danny Rowe Racing-operated supercharged Camaro. The two racer s,
including Florida’s Palm Beach
also successful businessmen, have been integral in the upward trajectory
International Raceway and
the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series has been on in recent years, workColorado’s Bandimere Speeding with teams, manufacturers, sponors and sanction officials to grow and
way, reaching out to have RPM
improve the quarter-mile doorslammer category in any way possible.
as part of their special events,
it’s evident RPM has achieved
where racers had to shift, pull their own ‘chutes, its goal of bolstering the reputation of and desire
and own considerable talent behind the wheel, for Pro Mod racing as a whole.
Matusek says he misses those days.
“We have tons of tracks calling us and request“Buy a car, engine, turbos, get a program and let
ing we bring the RPM cars to race at their tracks,”
go of a button to drive a car. Someone who may
says Rowe, who above all remains grateful for
not necessarily have experience can go race now,” each success. “There are opportunities for us
he plainly states. “It’s morphed into something
to grow our program by building the value and
Issue 111
PHOTOS: NHRA / NATIONAL DRAGSTER, WES BUCK
THE FUTURE OF NHRA PRO MOD