The Long Road to the 5-second Doorslammer Pass

Words and photos by Jeff Burk
5/7/03

"It's run what'cha brung and hope ya brung enough." --Bill Kuhlmann during a drivers meeting about the future of Pro Mod at the Texas Motorplex in 1991

The Pro Modified race to the five-second barrier, whether anyone likes it or not, is tied inexorably to alcohol funny car technology. When the class was born as the Top Sportsman door car class in the late 1980s, the power plant of choice was gas-burning 615 cubic inch or bigger wedge-headed engines with nitrous oxide injection.

Scott Shafiroff, Robbie Vandergriff, Tim McAmis, Bill Kuhlmann (photo above) and, of course, Scotty Cannon were the hitters of the class using engines built by Gene Fulton, Shafiroff, Sonny Leonard and others. As everyone knows, Kuhlmann used a Sonny Leonard 615-inch big block with an NOS nitrous kit to break the 200-mph barrier in 1987.

Robbie Vandergriff was one of the early hitters in the development of Pro Mod power.

Not many racers back then showed up with supercharged power plants. Jim Oddy and his driver Fred Hahn, Tommy Howes, and the late Walter Henry were among the few that opted to use a supercharged engine.

Tommy Howes took a wedge-headed alcohol-burning funny car motor, shoehorned it into his Datsun and became the first "Pro Mod" in the sixes with a 6.99/201 lap at New Jersey's Atco Dragway in 1988.

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