As much as I love all door car drag racing, there is still one that just turns my crank like none other, and that is NHRA Pro Stock. And as opinionated as I am on modern Pro Stock, and what sanctioning bodies have done to it, there is no denying the historical significance and what Pro Stock did for drag racing in general. In this video from Bobby Bennett he’s going to talk about the first 15 years of Pro Stock and you’ll see just why I fell in love with this class like so many other folks. I’m not old enough to have been around for the start of all of this, but I heard about it growing up and then in the 1980’s I became a real fan. Check out Bobby’s video below. You’ll dig it.
If you attended NHRA national events in the 1970’s, you made sure to be in your seats for every second of Pro-Stock racing. If you needed to use the restroom, or get something to eat, you did that when the nitro cars were running!
Best racing ever, I still do dry hops and sure miss those times.
thanks for posting. Go Wally Booth.
No denying that the class has become Pro Camaro, the only way to fix that is for Ford and Mopar to see as much value in P/S as they do in FSS. I don’t see that happening, but the racing and the starting line strategies are as close and cutthroat as ever. I take relief and refresh breaks when the Super classes run, what a waste of machinery.
Anderson vs Enders may not be Shepherd vs Glidden or Sox vs Jenkins (yes, I’m old enough to have been there) but everybody is working just as hard and as time passes, today’s stars will be remembered as such just as much as the drivers and teams from the past that we hold in high regard today.
I will never forget the first time I saw a Pro Stock car run. It was a match race and it involved Grumpy Jenkins in his Vega. Unfortunately my memory is bad as I don’t remember the other car/driver. Seeing a full bodied car launch like they did will forever be seared in my memory. Like you Chad I also have zero interest in modern Pro Stockers.