This is the week that many in the world of drag racing for have been waiting to watch play out for a good long while. This is the week where Big Chief comes to the Big Show and brings his Pontiac powered Crow Mod to the world of NHRA Pro Modified. It has been an insanely hot topic of conversation among people in and out of the sport. There are those that bust his chops for being a sellout, there are those that praise the NHRA for undoing what was a public relations mess last season, and there are those that are hoping against hope and logic that he’ll qualify for the J&A Service Pro Mod category at the Chevrolet Performance NHRA US Nationals.
Larry Jeffers did the necessary chassis work on the car to make it class legal and despite speculation that Chief would have some sort of double throw down ProLine or other engine in the car, the tried and true Pontiac mill that scores underdog honors of the entire race lives under the nose of the car and will be carrying Chief down the track at the US Nationals.
How did it run in St Louis? For a first time out he was making consistent laps, he was getting the car down the track, and while he was not running eighth mile numbers indicating five second potential, he was definitely making progress. The mandatory 38psi of boost that NHRA pro mod cars run has to be hampering the engine combo that was surely getting loads more than that when it was being run on radials or at match races around the country.
Our take? It is cool that the is going to be at the race and there will be people loudly cheering for him and some lustily cheering against hm. That’s the way things are supposed to work, right?
Win or lose he has already proved he’s the real deal and can run with the big boys.
Easy now….that was a 660 foot race…..he won by .06 against what appears to be a local. When he gets to Indy with the “big boys” we’ll see what he’s got.
Glad to see him at least try.
He’ll need to step it up big time though. A 4.23 only converts to around a 6.90 and all the fast guys usually run a full second faster than that.
Everyone that lines up against Justin is thinking…….if this ol Pontiac beats me I’m the laughing stock of INDY 16! Pressure ? There is no billet 5.3″ block or one off killer set of heads on Justin’s car. This car can drive out the front gate, hang a left and head to Brownsburg for Pizza. The fact that Justin has a real Pontiac engine is all class in my book. Have fun Justin.
go chief! it takes brass balls to drive a car like that especially after his wreck. for all the haters out there whether he wins or not he showed up ready to kick ass.