History was made a month ago in the Pro Mod class.

Back on Nov. 1, the class officially joined the NHRA as part of the Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. The Pro Mod Series will compete at 10 NHRA Full Throttle Series events in 2010 as part of multi-year deal between the Pro Mod Series and the NHRA.

The NHRA adding the Get Screened America Drag Racing Series was made possible by funding from Pro Care Rx and its current Get Screened America initiative.

Once an Invitational Process; NHRA Adopts Grading System for Pro Mods

History was made a month ago in the Pro Mod class.

Back on Nov. 1, the class officially joined the NHRA as part of the Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. The Pro Mod Series will compete at 10 NHRA Full Throttle Series events in 2010 as part of multi-year deal between the Pro Mod Series and the NHRA.

The NHRA adding the Get Screened America Drag Racing Series was made possible by funding from Pro Care Rx and its current Get Screened America initiative.

The Pro Mod class isn’t new to the NHRA as it has been competing at NHRA events as an exhibition class since 2001.

“This is something that we have worked for, for a very long time,” said Matthew Brammer, who has been the director of the Pro Mod Series four out of the last five years. “Realistically, it has made things legitimate, if you will. Up until this point we have been an exhibition class and now it’s an actual series in the NHRA.”

The Get Screened America Drag Racing Series will make its NHRA debut at the 41st annual NHRA Gatornationals March 11-14 in Gainesville, Fla.

Although the Get Screened America Drag Racing Series is new to the NHRA, the Pro Mod class will celebrate its 20th anniversary in March.

Since there are drivers with plenty of experience who are competing in the Pro Mod class, the NHRA has put together a criteria for competitors to be able to compete in its 10 Get Screened America Drag Racing Series races next season.

“The quotas for the number of Pro Mod cars we can run at the (10) events have already been established,” said Josh Peterson, the NHRA’s director of racing administration. “The quotas are based on the allotted space at the national events and how many cars we can just run in a period of time during a day. With the grading system, we’re looking at the drivers who ran in the 2008 Jeg’s Pro Mod Series and those drivers who ran in the 2009 Get Screened America Pro Mod Series. We’ve added up each year, the events they’ve run. Then, we’ve taken between 2008 and 2009, just in terms of points, the higher of the two numbers and given them that number for grade points. That allows the drivers to go in and register for national events when they open based on the grade points they have been allotted.”

Peterson also said Pro Mod drivers can look on the NHRAeventreg.com website to see the quotas for the number cars that will be allowed at each of the 10 races in 2010. For example, at Gainesville there are 26 spots available in the Get Screened America Drag Racing Series for cars to try and qualify.

The Get Screened America Drag Racing Series will conform to the NHRA rulebook and will race to the quarter-mile. Also, each event will have 16-car fields that qualify for eliminations. The drivers in the series also will be competing for world championship points.

“The NHRA is setting up the Get Screened America Drag Racing Series just the same as they do any of their other classes or series,” Brammer said. “If a driver has raced in the Pro Mod Series in the past two years, they will receive more grading points than they would if they’re just a new team that wants to go race Pro Mod or maybe a team that has never raced in the NHRA before. There will be more preference given to drivers who are past champions. We have had champions in the series since 2001, and the people who finished in the top 10 last year will receive more grading points than the people who didn’t.”

According to Brammer, in the past when Pro Mod was an NHRA exhibition class, it was invitational-only for drivers to compete at races.

"Now, it’s based on grading and first come first serve,” Brammer said. “The system is different than what we’ve done in the past and people are just going to have to get used to it. The thing about it is, this is the way NHRA does it. They have a lot of experience doing this and this is the way it works for them and they know what they’re doing. For new racers, guys who are going to run Pro Mod, that’s great, but I don’t know how it’s going to work out. They’re not going to be able to get into every race, I can tell you that, but that’s not say that will not be able to get into a couple of races. All of that is really going to depend on how (NHRA) does the grading and how persistent that particular team is going to be in terms of checking on the web site and doing the things they need to do to get a spot to race.”

Peterson recognizes it’s going to take some adjusting by drivers to the Get Screened America Drag Racing Series.

“With any change, there is going to be a little bit of growing pains,” Peterson said. “The way it was done before is different than how we’re doing now. We will shortly be sending out a guide to explain how to set up accounts to register on-line, and then the steps you need to go through once you’ve established that account and how you register for a national event. We’ve done those sort of things to help them (the Pro Mod drivers) along and plus, we’re always here in the office to help answer phone calls.”

Peterson also believes the Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series will not have a problem attracting fans.

“Since the Pro Mod Series was an exhibition series it has grown in popularity and we can tell that just by announcing recently, the number of phone calls that we have received just from competitors,” Peterson said. “I think it’s going to bring in more fans and possibly more sponsorship opportunities across the board. I think it’s a good thing for the sport as a whole.”

Brammer also is upbeat about what’s in store for the Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series.

“The future is very bright for this series,” Brammer said. “I think the Pro Mods put on an incredible show and fans like it. People stay in the stands to watch Pro Mods. That has been a trend now for the past several years. The Pro Mods are a wild ride. The full suspension and all that leads to unpredictability and people like that. It’s a fun class to watch.”

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