Here’s some great video for all those pro mod fans in the crowd. We’re taking you back to the 1994 Sunoco Racing Fuels Pro Mod Shootout at Atlanta Dragway where Al Tucci was calling the action, John Force was match racing his funny car, and the people showed up to watch. This is an awesome window into what pro mod was and boy is it fun to watch. You have these guys hammering their stuff to go into the 6.80s and the cars today are basically a second faster. That’s not taking away the entertainment value here because these things were a riot due to their big horsepower and relatively crude chassis. They would get sideways, loose, and well, you’ll see. Nitrous was the preeminent power adder of the day and the body styles were all over the place.
You’ll see guys like Jim Halsey, Charles Carpenter, Norm Wisner, Ed Hoover, Johnny Pilcher, and the list goes on and on and on. One of the interesting elements is the fact that Tucci mentions at one point that more cars than qualifying spots. That’s constantly been the case with pro mod over the years and continues to be today. Gainesville has more than 20 showing up to pound their way into 16 spots.
Lastly, John Force is pretty funny in this one. He gets an interview at the top of the show and he’s his typical self when talking about the pro mods. He calls them the funny cars of the 1960s which is cool and then he does make one shockingly prescient prediction. He basically calls the shot of pro mod exploding in popularity and becoming a larger part of the drag racing scene. Remember, when this video was made the class was only about 4 years old!
This is a great watch from a great event!
