As history has worn on, fewer and fewer people understand the pretty incredible rise of the pro mod class to the echelon that it currently lives on today. The category was an outgrowth of the fast top sportsman category that was being contested by the IHRA and multiple other (and smaller) organizations at the time. The racers who were going ever quicker and faster at the top sportsman events inevitably wanted to see who had the quickest and fastest car there so “quick-8” shows were developed. Often these would be run in a shootout format on a Saturday night preceding Sunday eliminations but they became so popular that “quick-8” events gave way to “quick-16” and “quick-32” eliminator shows and people were packing the stands. It was not long before the the always adventuresome IHRA was keyed in on these developments and brought the class in as their own under the pro modified moniker. This was literally bottom up type stuff and the guys who raced themselves into the program were some of the most colorful characters the sport had seen since the early funny car days.

This video was taken in 1989 at the now dead Shuffletown Dragway outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. The track was a narrow eighth-mile with a short shut down area and as you will see, attending a race there was a full human experience. Cars spinning out, people running for their lives from the fence, and general lane swapping craziness were all the order of the day and the folks ate it up. Pro mod became a class famous for is complete unpredictability as much as it did for the outlandish looks of the cars competing in it. In this video you will see guys like Ed Hoover, supercharged door slammer pioneer Walter Henry in his green Corvette, and of course the Cannonball himself, Scotty Cannon. The cars were nearly as famous as the drivers and you will see why. Cannon’s Willys stands out in a sea of Berettas, and third generation Camaros. Between the announcer screaming and yelling, the cars being all over the track, and the people lining the fence, this is what the birth of pro mod looked like.

The cars have evolved and the high four second elapsed times and speeds in the 150mph range have been supplanted by eighth mile elapsed times a second quicker, but we’d argue that there’s something about the magic happening here that the class has shed over the years. That is what happens when things evolve, we understand but boy what we would give to have a time machine so we could hang on the fence with a beer in our hands during this sunny day at Shuffletown in 1989.

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THIS GREAT ACTION FROM SHUFFLETOWN DRAGWAY CIRCA 1989 –