Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com, through the assistance of a key group of Pro Modified historians and enthusiasts, have compiled a list of the Top 20 all-time drivers based on their contribution to the class, historic achievements, statistics and fan appeal.

Starting on Friday, January 08, 2010, the electronic magazine began revealing those names on the list, and will announce two drivers per week, until the No. 1 driver is unveiled on Saturday, Mar. 13, during the ADRL Dragpalooza in Houston, Texas.

Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com narrowed the list from hundreds of drivers down to 19. Today, we reveal No. 19 on the list.

Lacon, Ill.

NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Won first official IHRA Top Sportsman Quick Eight
• Won the 1990 USSC Championship
• Won first USSC Wheelstand & Burnout Contest

Jim Feurer was the kind of guy who truly represented the Pro Modified name.

Feurer was a professional drag racer by trade, his image and personality slightly modified. Granted, when your nickname is “Animal”, it lends a certain stereotype that makes one brace for the absurd.

Donning pink sunglasses, equally loud sneakers and a carefree attitude combined with an on the edge of out of control Mercury Zephyr, Feurer represented the intensity of the movement; a type of Wylie E. Coyote engineering meets pure driving talent kind of class.

Feurer fed on the Pro Modified movement and it drew energy from his image. Twenty years later, he revels at what Pro Modified has become.

“It’s amazing isn’t it,” Feurer said. “I’ve watched this class in all the years that I stepped aside and there have really been some really great drivers come through here. There’s been so many that I wouldn’t know where to start in compiling a list of the top 20.”

Feurer was one of the early runners, a racer who first dabbled in nitrous as a legal power adder, as an AHRA Pro Stock racer, when the rule book allowed it on small block applications. He ran alongside of Bill Kuhlmann on the UDRA tour until they both migrated over to the IHRA and its popular Top Sportsman division.

The fact he survived driving the Zephyr, he lovingly branded as “Zeke”, was quite the feat. Winning with it netted the respect of his peers, along with a few “he’s crazy” references.

A two-time UDRA Outlaw Pro Stock champion, there were times that Feurer and his OPS counterparts were quicker than the Alcohol Funny Cars at the event.

That kind of success spilled over into the IHRA tour and Feurer, on a blustery cold night in March 1988, out-pedaled and outmaneuvered a quicker Robbie Vandergriff to notch his place in fast doorslammer history.

Feurer also won the 1990 USSC championship.

But for the master showman from the Midwest, winning a burnout and wheelie contest at the USSC might have been his crowning achievement.

“It was all about the show back in the day,” Feurer added. “The show is what made Pro Mod an attraction.”

At 69, Animal Jim is still match racing the same Mercury Zephyr and wearing those loud pink sunglasses.

For the complete list visit: ATTITUDE'S COMPETITIONPLUS.COM'S ALL-TIME TOP 20 HOMEPAGE

 

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