Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com, through the assistance of a key group of Pro Modified historians and enthusiasts, has 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 8, 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. 20, during the ADRL Dragpalooza in Houston, Texas.

Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com narrowed the list from hundreds of drivers down to 20. Today, we reveal No. 4 on the list.

Columbia, SC

NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Won First Pro Mod event
• 18-time National Event Winner [IHRA/NHRA]
• 14-time Top Ten Finisher

Ed Hoover has spent the last twenty-four years chasing a dream;  admittedly making a good living at it. The veteran doorslammer believes he’s got another ten good years left in him, too.

However, if his career were to end tomorrow, he’s experienced a complete career.

When you’ve raced for a Pro Modified championship for 20 consecutive seasons, won 18 national events and finished in the top ten for 14 seasons, there’s bound to be a sense of completeness.

“How could you ask for any more?” said Hoover, who finished second  in the last season of IHRA Pro Modified. “I’ve done everything I set out to do and performed well. I really want to do this ten more years. There are people who race a lifetime and don’t experience what I have.”

Hoover has long been considered one of the pioneers of the Pro Modified division, dating back to the mid-1980s when he made his mark in the Top Sportsman division.

He staked his claim in the Top Sportsman class as one of the fierce drivers who hung out in the top eight of the qualifying list. The Saturday evening Quick Eight was his primary objective, the chance to run heads-up just like the Pro Stock division.

“I never was fond of that patting the gas, or slamming on the brakes at the finish line,” said Hoover, who is entering his twentieth consecutive season of racing Pro Modified. “That wasn’t racing to me.

“I always believed drag racing was mashing the gas, holding on and giving it all you had and then some to the finish line. It had to have doors on it too.”

Hoover was always looking to earn his place in history and nearly became the first driver into the six-second zone. A broken engine just shy of the finish line cost him a place in drag racing history by two hundredths of a second. A few cars later, Tommy Howes recorded the first doorslammer six second run.

Hoover’s first spot in Pro Modified history would come on March 15, 1990, when he won the inaugural national event for the class during the 1990 IHRA Winternationals in Darlington, SC.

Two years later, he would become the first Pro Modified driver to make a legal 6.5-second pass. That same year, he missed by one round winning the Super Chevy Pro Modified world championship.

By 1996, Hoover was almost out of racing, stung by sponsors who promised the moon but only delivered rocks, and saddled by the rising cost of maintaining a competitive race team.

Local successful construction company owner Paul Trussell was looking to get into racing just as Hoover was prepared to depart. On a whim, Hoover pitched Trussell on a sponsorship but was met with a counteroffer of purchasing the team under the condition Hoover would drive.

Now the two can't imagine racing without one another.

Looking back, Hoover never imagined he’d be around long enough to see the level Pro Modified has attained. He’s watched the class transitioned from a group of drivers who raced and tuned from the seat of their pants to full-time operations with fly-in drivers and crew chiefs.

“Never in a million years would I have ever envisioned the class would come to this,” Hoover said. “I think the one thing that has never changed has been the passion of the fans. Those fans will never know how much they inspired us.”

Twenty-years without a championship might have been a sore spot with some, but for Hoover, there was more to racing Pro Modified than winning a world championship.

“You can be a champion without winning a championship,” said Hoover, pausing to reflect on a career rich with memories.  “I never really dwelled on the media stuff and never tried to hype myself to anyone. What I did try to do was go out and run the very best I could every time I went down the track.

“Pro Modified has been good to me, and it’s been a real good source of income and at the same time something that has brought a lot of enjoyment over the years. I still have as much fun today as I did back then. If everything works out, I hope to have as much fun in 2020 when I get ready to retire.

“If I don’t make it that long, all I can say is it’s been a tremendous ride.”

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