LETTER from the EDITOR
O
LOOKING FORWARD
h, what a time to
be alive. While there’s
certainly always room
for improvement, and
it’s no secret that I’m
not exactly thrilled with drag racing’s
current post on the motorsports to-
tem pole (thus our Make Drag Rac-
ing Great Again campaign), I have
to admit that I believe there are far
more things to be excited about right
now than there are to be disappointed
with when it comes to straight-line
motorsports.
As evident with our choice for the Steven Whiteley
cover story in this 120th issue of Drag Illustrated,
it’s my opinion that legal, quarter-mile Pro Mod
racing is, without question, the hottest thing in drag
racing right now. Sure, there could easily be an ar-
gument made for no-prep and radial racing, but as
far as something that appears to have many years
left on its upward trajectory, considerable staying
power, surrounding infrastructure and, perhaps most
importantly, a sizable inventory of cars - what the
Real Pro Mod group has done alongside the fine
folks in Glendora, California, with their J&A Service
NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series is second-to-
none. With two races added to the schedule in 2017,
including the fan-favorite NHRA 4-Wide Nationals
in Charlotte, expanding the series to 12 stops, and
further improvement and expansion for the program
rumored for 2018 (four qualifying sessions and a
possible appearance at the NHRA Finals in Pomona),
the momentum seems to simply continue building.
And I haven’t even touched on the performance
of the drivers, cars and teams involved in the series,
which borders on unbelievable. At the recently com-
pleted NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida
- the event where our cover star Steven Whiteley took
home the win and identified himself as a legitimate
contender in the series - the 16-car bump spot was
a jaw-dropping 5.855-second elapsed time and 11
world-class cars were left on the outside looking in
(27 total on the property). To put that into perspec-
tive, you have to understand that just five years ago
the same event drew a total of 18 cars and produced
a 6.955-second bump. Matter of fact, the number-
one qualifier (Mike Castellana) wouldn’t have even
qualified this year (5.862).
Unfortunately, the aforementioned ever-increasing
performance of the stars and cars of the NHRA’s fast-
est doorslammer division is a double-edged sword.
It’s fun to talk about and exciting, but it’s hard not
to wonder just how long a dozen top-tier racers
who, quite literally, are in contention to win and/
or dominate virtually any other event they attend,
will continue to beat their head against the wall and
show up hoping they can make a career-best run and
make the field. For the moment, and for the foresee-
able future, though, there doesn’t appear to be any
downturn in interest from competitors. Matter