Table of Contents DRO Store Classifieds Speed Connections Archives & Search Contact DRO
 

By Jeff Burk
Photos by Steve Gruenwald and Adam Cranmer
12/8/04

The Snowbird Outlaw Nationals at Bradenton Motorsports Park gave Pro Mod fans a little peek at the kind of cars and performances they can expect from Pro Mods racing at NHRA events. At the Snowbird Nationals, held Dec. 4-5 at Bradenton Motorsports Park, Outlaw Pro Mod was the largest class with 37 entries, and certainly was the most diverse in the history of "Pro Modified." There were 37 cars vying for 16 spots and the entries were powered by every engine combination imaginable from Matt Scranton's and Tirso San Juan's 183-inch turbocharged four-bangers, to Jim Halsey's 735-inch nitrous oxide-injected motor to Dale Ashley's 762-inch Sonny Leonard Chevy.


Wade Gullett wins King of the Street.

As for the rules, well, it was an outlaw race so, aside from strictly enforcing the safety rules, it was truly "run what ya brung and hope ya brung enough." That meant removing all of the weight bars from every car and upping the overdrive for the supercharged cars. The race also had a class called Open Outlaw for open wheel cars without rules, an alky dragster field, and a couple of heads-up doorslammer classes. The performances delivered by the racers in all classes were just what you would expect from the Bradenton quarter-mile which is famous for delivering unreal elapsed times for door cars during the winter months.

OUTLAW PRO MOD

The Outlaw Pro Mod class attracted one of the largest and most stellar fields ever for a non-national event race, with 37 cars trying to make the 16-car field. There were more than a few Pro Mod hitters from the NHRA and IHRA circuits on hand, with the NHRA racers testing new combinations that would be legal for the 2005 season and the IHRA racers probably testing their IHRA legal cars.

In qualifying, the cream came to the top as supercharger racers Dale Brinsfield, driving for Roy Hill, sat on the pole with a stellar 6.079, followed by multiple national event winner and former NHRA speed record holder Quain Stott at 6.149. Stott also set the Top Speed mark for the event with a 230.23 speed. Rounding out the top three was nitrous hitter and U.S. Nationals winner Jim Halsey with a very good 6.163/226.75.

 

Copyright 1999-2004, Drag Racing Online and Racing Net Source