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Drop us a line at Comppluseditor@aol.com. |
Top 25 Pro ModifiedsGentlemen, Regarding your article on the TOP 25 PRO MODS- What about ONE HOT TAMALE ? A full size 65 Impala running in the 6 second zone! For years always a fan favorite where ever we raced. Many,many magazine articles and ESPN interviews with thousands of fans. Won EVERY AWARD IHRA had to offer. Steve Reeves, Jeff Burk, Francis Butler,NHRA reporters and commentators can tell you about us. Need a picture , go to www.gforceracecars.com and go under Worldsfastest and Quickest Door Slammers. One Hot Tamale is still in every race fans memory. Just say the name and you will see. Need to read any of the press releases call Jeff Burk or contact Super Chevys Roger or Phil Gustin where we ran the Nitro Coupe circuit for them because the fans craved the cars appearance and preformance. -Steve&Patty Damon. Of course, that car was bad to
the bone and quite the looker. I know the car very well. Got plenty
of pictures of it. However, narrowing down the Top 25 entries was
a tough task. Trust me, the Tamale was very close to making the
cut. Thanks for reading. - Bobby Remembering DadGood article. It is difficult to share personal information with others. I don't know you but your article gave me hope as a father who has three sons who I shared everything with when they were young and who now have no time for me. Guess there is hope. - Bob Holley
For me, it was having my Dad tell me he finally understood what I was doing all the years of spending much of my time and money on race cars. A national event win and having my car on TV got his attention, but it was finally getting him to go to the races with me that showed him my world. He was impressed that a lot of people out there knew me and that I "raced on the same track as John Force". I'll always cherish that. I'm sure you'll eventually find that one defining moment for yourself. - Richard
Hello, Mr.Bennett. I¹m sorry to hear of your loss, but you¹re not alone. I¹m also a drag racing writer (in Bilsport, a Swedish motor magazine) and have had the same loss in 2003 (also due to cancer). The point with your article, being positive, is a lesson I also have learned during my father¹s last months and I agree. When all our nearest relatives are gone, we miss them the most. Hoping the new year will be a better one for all of us, I wish you a happier new 2004. - Stellan Aberg, Stockholm, Sweden.
I'm sure that you have many fathers asking themselves if they taught
their children all that they could have or if they have made family
the priority that it should be.I stumbled upon your site one day
and have made it one of my favroites, good job! - dennisatmorris@yahoo.com Remembering Super ModifiedAs a 51 year old, I remember the introduction of the concept and inception Super Modified. My theories on the heads up idea haven't changed much since then and have really been proven. The idea of heads up racing appeals to every drag racer. That was the whole idea of drag racing in the beginning - who has the faster car. Some people say "money is the root of all evil". In drag racing, that just may be true. Look at the evolution of many drag racing classes. Even in your article, the very top performing cars had factory support and names like Jack Roush behind them. There are always guys who can hang in close with less budget and compensate with ingenuity. That only goes so far, however. Let's look at more recent developments. Fastest street car racing had grown from reasonably humble and exciting beginnings to something far beyond the reach of all but the rich. You'll often see these "street" cars for sale for over $100,000. Sport Compact racing had its little guy heroes for a while. Now it is full factory backing, big sponsors and budgets beyond reason to be competitive. That whole concept of "the guy with the most money wins" goes back a long way. It was the concept that gave birth to bracket racing which saved the sport of drag racing on a grass roots level. The guys able to spend the money can even slant the odds in their favour in that form of racing. There are lots of guys with the latest 4 link dragster, thousand of dollars of delay boxes, throttle stops, mega inch motors with wild top end speeds, computer moditored functions, weather stations, practice trees and on and on. Despite all this, there are occasionally heart warming stories where someone will pull off the victory with a low buck door car but they are rare. But, I am rambling. My point is that "heads up" racing
is great but attempts to make it affordable will always be circumvented
by dollars. I'm not saying it is even a bad thing but it appears
to be an unavoidable thing. Competition plus is great. It will help
pass the long cold Canadian winter.-
Don't forget the West CoastWhat about the (door slammers / Pro Mod) West Coast Drivers back in the 1980 and up to date? Like Wayne Torkelson, Bob Bunker, John Scialpi, Kurt Kuhns, Dave Riolos. Wayne Torkelson was the first from the West to go to the East to race at an IHRA event in October 1988. It makes me mad that they always talk about the boys in the East as they were the only ones that had doorslammers that turn into Pro Mod classes. Wayne was the first one to turn in the 6 seconds before the East boys did. Wayne Torkelson and Bob Bunker was the first to due an NHRA event for exhibition as match race show at the California Nationals in April 1990. (They were told they could not go any faster than 7 seconds et.) Wayne Torkelson turned 7.02 et on first pass and 7.01 et on second pass and 7.00 on the third. Per the National Dragster (April 20, 1990) The blown doorslammers of Bob Bunker, near lane and Wayne Torkelson has the 68,000 fans on their feet every time they pulled up to the starting line. Torkelson won the best of three exhibition match race. Also on the same page it shows that Wayne Torkelson was the First shoebox in the Sixes! Turn 7.03, 6.696, 6.97 and 7.00 all on the same day. The West Coast boys raced just as much as the East did and should be noted for there hard work also. Wayne Torkelson and West coast drivers had tried for 20 years to get NHRA to due a Pro Mod Class. Wayne Torkelson Jr. Started a West Coast Pro Mod Assoc. for the West Coast boys in 1993 and had 10 events a year from Mission, Canada to Az. also in Boise, Id and Utah. I think these driver need credit also. Thanks - Susan Kelley A/Fuel Dragster in IHRA Top Fuel?Maybe some of the top NHRA A/FD teams like the Bartone's and Alan Bradshaw's could get their car in the high 4's with a little less weight and a larger engine but there are a lot of IHRA teams struggling to get into the 4's with a blower!!! If I was Bill Bader I would drop the Top Fuelers and go back to
Nitro Funny Cars. There are more of them in the country and fans
like the floppers better than the dragsters (my personal feeling).
Now if the Alcohol Funny Car drivers don't like the idea of Fuel
Funny Cars stealing their thunder, drop them too. Most of them are
slugs anyway (the cars not the drivers). Only Von Smith, Thomas,
Atchison and a few others are legitimate contenders anyway. Why
the IHRA does not adopt the NHRA rules for their Funny Cars is beyond
me. I have talked to ex IHRA Funny Car drivers that have gone over
to the NHRA and got a PSI and other than the initial expense, the
run to run cost is much lower and the cars run a lot faster and
have less And while we are at it. Bring back the quick 8 races for the Saturday Night of Fire. Other than a few fireworks, the Saturday night show is not much different than Friday's qualifying. Top Sportsman took a major step backward when they eliminated their Top 8 shootout on Saturday night. The amount of 6 second Top Sportsman cars dropped off considerably once that happened. Most of the fans I have talked to that actually know what the shootout was do miss it. I don't buy Bader's exucse that the cars were breaking and slowing down the show. And while I am on my rant, ,......no that's about it for this e-mail - Phil Hutchinson
Sure the A/FD would be an answer. The present TF teams will BITCH at 200db that cheaper cars are stealing the show. The injected cars even solve the eventual problem of blown nitro noise no longer being tolerated ANYWHERE. That day is coming. The real problem is the expense levels of Top Fuel when the purse is a sad joke. In the 80's the fuel racing ante went up like a rocket. NHRA neither put any limits on, nor upped the purse. If Clear Channel ever gets directly involved we will see either
a professional series or a match race circuit. - hechto@evenlink.com
Thanks for the Memories, Roger I was at Covington that day when the Dodge Chargers were booked,
and the Comet showed up. |