Two years into what some deemed as a major gamble, Pro Modified advocate Roger Burgess is beginning to see the payoff for all his efforts.

“I think we had a really good start,” Burgess said as he reflected on the 2010 season. “We see this as like any new thing you step out and do; it just takes a few years before it takes on a life of its own. We are hoping that it can do that starting next year, in year three. We need to continue to grow this until we become favorites out there.”

Two years into what some deemed as a major gamble, Pro Modified advocate Roger Burgess is beginning to see the payoff for all his efforts.

With Burgess’ inspiration and guidance, the Pro Modified division under the NHRA sanction has grown from an exhibition class with low self-esteem and little hope for a future to a bona fide professional division.

“I think we had a really good start,” Burgess said as he reflected on the 2010 season. “We see this as like any new thing you step out and do; it just takes a few years before it takes on a life of its own. We are hoping that it can do that starting next year, in year three. We need to continue to grow this until we become favorites out there.”

With Burgess’ inspiration and guidance, the Pro Modified division under the NHRA sanction has grown from an exhibition class with low self-esteem and little hope for a future to a bona fide professional division.

The successful businessman signed a three year contract with the NHRA prior to the 2009 season. A year later the NHRA rewarded his faith by bestowing official series recognition and a television package on the division.

It wasn't all smooth sailing for the series in its first year as a recognized Pro class.

"There are still some issues about rules and trying to get parity between all the different motor combinations,” admitted Burgess. “That’s an NHRA thing and they are working on it. I’m sure we are going to see some rule changes here soon but overall I want to make sure that the overall performance of the class doesn’t go down. We don’t want to dumb the thing down if it’s not something we need to do. It’s hard getting all those motor combinations lined up and competitive.”

Traditionally, Pro Modified rule-makers have “backed-up” the supercharged combination in order for the nitrous cars to be on par with their longtime adversary. There’s also a wild card in the mix with the turbocharged racers.

Burgess is fearful of the route the NHRA may take to achieve parity among the different combinations.

“I think that they are considering that and we should know shortly,” Burgess said. “As far as the things on the list it’s going to be very hard at this point with all the different weight breaks and combinations they’ve allowed the nitrous guys to run. I don’t know what else they can do and the nitrous guys haven’t been able to really provide any suggestions to us either.”

The most prevalent suggestion is the legalizing of auto shifters and transmissions for the nitrous cars. This was denied by the NHRA citing safety concerns and the integrity of the volatile doorslammer division.

While Burgess is adamant, any rule changes belong to the NHRA’s tech department, he fears overwhelming changes in the name of creating parity could adversely affect the class in the name of catering to a minority.

SIDEBAR: HAWLEY’S DEPARTURE COULD LEAD TO DIFFERENT ROLE

Frank Hawley, the two-time NHRA Funny Car champion, who made the term drag racing school a household name, completed a restructuring program of Roger Burgess' R2B2 program this year, which he started in early 2009. With the job done, Hawley has since left the team just recently to refocus his efforts on the growth of his drag racing school.

“Frank helped me get all this stuff started and was invaluable in getting it up and going by introducing me to people and finding folks for the Funny Car when we needed them on short notice,” Burgess confirmed. “Helping with the Pro Mod class, everything he did was just super professional and really helped us. It was always a struggle for him to balance the needs of R2B2 and what he was doing with the drag racing school.”

The demands of running the R2B2 operation grew to the point that it demanded a full-time presence in-house. Currently, driver Melanie Troxel has filled the role in Hawley’s absence. Burgess believes he’ll likely bring in someone else for the future, but for now the chemistry of the team works just fine.

Burgess is adamant the relationship with Hawley was never long term.

“We’ll continue to work real closely with Frank, there are some things that I’m looking forward to doing in the future,” Burgess explained.

One of those things includes leasing race ready, championship-contending Pro Modified teams.

For those with an interest in running the volatile doorslammer division, Burgess envisions a race-ready lease program including personnel.

Once the idea comes to fruition, Hawley will reenter the picture.

“If they want to do that then I will lean on Frank to make sure they are qualified, trained and ready to go before they get in the cars,” said Burgess. “Then we’ll work with him anyway we can to promote his school and any of the Pro Mod training programs he is in the process of developing.”

For Burgess, this is just another page in the book of expanding the Pro Modified brand.

And Burgess isn’t even talking about turbocharged option. Many of the Pro Modified diehards believe the turbocharger as a legal power adder within the series is a Pandora’s Box that needed to remain closed. The series’ largest advocate sees it otherwise.

Burgess is pleased for the turbocharged cars to be a part of the GSA Pro Modified series.

“I think that in the current market the turbo cars are going to be one of the most popular cars in our class,” Burgess conveyed. “I mean you’ve already seen how people are following Brad Personett with the success that he’s had. They have an awful lot of potential and I don’t think anybody’s really found that potential yet.”

In one of the worst kept drag racing secrets, Burgess’ R2B2 Racing has a turbocharged 1953 Corvette prepared for the future. As soon as the car reaches a level of competitiveness and Burgess believes it can qualify, he’ll bring it out.

“I embrace the technology,” Burgess added.  “If we can tune these cars with a computer then let’s do it. Let’s embrace the technology and not run from it. Then of course the challenge is going to be can we police it.”

Spend time with Burgess and you’ll quickly walk away from the conversation with the realization that he has a master plan for the division that expands well beyond the US borders.

Burgess believes Pro Modified provides one of the best opportunities for actually international competition. On multiple occasions, R2B2 has sent drivers overseas to compete in the European FIA competition. The hardest challenge is universalizing a rules package. The FIA competition is based on NHRA rules but the other doorslammer hot spots such as Australia [Top Doorslammer] and Qatar [Pro Extreme] run by other series regulations.

“In order to have an international competition we have to have standards and standards need to be the NHRA worldwide Pro Mod standards,” confirmed Burgess. “If we can get folks to adopt those and we can get folks to adopt those and race against those standards and each other that would be a lot of fun and would really promote the sport of drag racing.”

Two years ago the Pro Modified division was on life-support in the NHRA until Burgess stepped forward with the life-saving backing needed to keep the volatile doorslammers running on drag racing’s main stage. Two years into his multi-year contract, Burgess has seen major improvements to this drag racing lifestyle.

“I think it’s starting to take on a life of its own,” Burgess said. “I’m hoping that most of the teams can find sponsorships so they can stay out there. Over time I think the NHRA is doing everything they can do to keep it balanced and make it competitive to provide the parity that we want, one to where all the different motor combinations can be out there. It’s an exciting time for us, Tom Compton and Graham Light and all the people at NHRA have been great to work with.” 

And for that, Burgess sees plenty to be thankful for this season.   

SIDEBAR - IN-N-OUT FUNNY CAR TEAM IS BURGESS’ DOUBLE-DOUBLE

While he’s largely seen as a Pro Modified sponsor, team owner and driver, Roger Burgess' drag racing involvement isn’t limited to just  doorslammers.

Burgess is a nitro team owner and is in his third season fielding a Funny Car driven by Melanie Troxel.

Burgess first entered the nitro lifestyle during the 2008 season as a partner with past NHRA Pro Modified champion and Indy Funny Car winner Mike Ashley. He eventually bought out Ashley’s interest and has retained Troxel as his driver ever since.

This season, through a relationship cultivated many years ago by Troxel, Burgess has found a successful venue for major west coast hamburger chain In-N-Out to return to drag racing. This season Troxel drove both a nitro flopper and Pro Modified car bearing the In-N-Out brand.

“I think they are very pleased. All the feedback we are getting is very positive,” said Burgess. “We work hard to promote their brand to make sure people know that they are out there. I know in California no one needs to know because it’s been around forever. They probably don’t ever need to advertise in that particular state but in Texas and other states they are going to expand into; we are going to help get their message out there.

“We are certainly proud to be associated with the brand. It’s a fantastic brand and it has its origins in Hot Rods and hangouts and stuff we all remember doing. Then, of course, having Melanie go up and double-double doesn’t hurt. She is one of the most popular drivers out there.”

Popular she may be, but Burgess admits the team’s not presently at the level he envisions for the future. However, at the same time, he’s encouraged by their progress.

“Right now I think we have the opportunity to get prepared for the season and last year we really didn’t have that opportunity,” explained Burgess. “It all came together really fast and when we started struggling we really didn’t have a way to get out of that. I’m very encouraged that we will have a highly competitive nitro funny car out there next year.”

The keyword is a Funny Car for Burgess. Rumors began to circulate the team was on the threshold of a second car in 2011. Burgess dismisses the rumor as just that, a rumor.

“When the time is right and when the circumstances are right I think we have an infrastructure that can handle something like that,” said Burgess adding he’s only planning to run one Pro Modified car next season.

This season Burgess campaigned three Pro Modifieds but for 2011, a newly married Raymond Commisso is likely to step aside for the season and Troxel is largely uncertain whether she’s going to drive a doorslammer.

With the Funny Car though, Burgess finds encouragement in the belief that tuner Aaron Brooks represents the next generation of tuner.

“Every business that I’ve ever been in I’ve always tried to hire and promote people based on potential,” Burgess said. “Experience is probably more important in this particular area because it’s difficult to learn how to tune any of these cars but more specifically the nitro cars. It’s almost magic some of the stuff they do. I believe Aaron has the potential to be the leading tuner or one of the leading tuners out there in a very short amount of time

“But only time will tell whether we are right or not, but we are going to give him the resources to go out and make that happen. I think he’s got one of the best drivers out there and the chemistry and combination is great. We talked to several people before I decided to make the decision to hire Aaron and I’m looking forward to the future with him as our tuner.”

With this future, Burgess sees a double-double, win-win situation.