Finally some good news for fans of big league door slammer racing. Rather than tell you stories about series folding up, racer waiting for payment, and other maladies, we’re telling you that the 2014 NHRA season will include 10 races with pro modified as part of the program and the pro mod series has its own television show which will air on the Velocity Channel as well. This is a big deal because as there usually are, whispers were creeping out about NHRA and pro mod. Left without a title sponsor after the 2013 season, several companies stepped up to sponsor events and cover the costs of operating the series under the NHRA umbrella. The big story to us is the TV show which will air as a 10-week series in the fourth quarter of 2014 on the Velocity channel which is owned by the Discovery network of stations.
The series will be hitting more of the normal stomping grounds as well as a return to Atlanta and Commerce Dragway. With nitrous, blown, and turbo cars all in the hunt, 2014 should be a wild year for pro mod action. We’re looking forward to the show and following the action through the season. Read the full release from NHRA.com below!
HERE’S THE FULL RELEASE FROM NHRA –
The 2014 NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series schedule has been released featuring a 10-race schedule, with each event to be televised on the Velocity Channel.
The series will visit drag strips across the country from March through November and will include a visit to Georgia’s House of Speed, Atlanta Dragway, for the 34th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, May 16-18.
Each race will air in a half-hour show on the Velocity Channel, which launched in October and is owned by the Discovery Network. The Velocity Channel features the best in automotive, sports, leisure and travel programming. The shows will be produced by Masters Entertainment Group and are scheduled to air during 10 consecutive weeks in the fourth quarter of 2014.
“We anticipate an exciting season of racing in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series and look forward to the Velocity Channel putting the NHRA Pro Mod Series on television to showcase these 250-mile-per-hour race cars,” said Tom Compton, president, NHRA. “We also thank the presenting sponsors of the NHRA Pro Mod Series events for their support which makes it possible to conduct the series.”
The presenting sponsors will be recognized in the applicable Velocity Channel telecast and during NHRA Pro Mod Series qualifying and eliminations at the NHRA national events at which the Pro Mod Series is contested.
J&A Services, an oil and gas exploration development company in Grand Junction, Colo., is the presenting sponsor for the second stop on the tour, the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals, April 25-27 at Royal Purple Raceway near Houston.
OFFWIRE, a national distributor of wireless accessories based in Omaha, Neb., and recently ranked as one of the fastest-growing companies in America, has been named the presenting sponsor at the Toyota NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., May 29-June 1. OFFWIRE is also the presenting sponsor at the NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 12-14.
JEGS Performance Auto Parts, a leading high-performance auto-parts retailer based in Columbus, Ohio, is the presenting sponsor for the seventh race in the series, the prestigious 60th annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, Aug. 27-Sept. 1 at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.
Precision Turbo & Engine, one of the world’s foremost manufacturers of high-performance aftermarket turbochargers, located in northwest Indiana, is the presenting sponsor of the series’ penultimate race, the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, Sept. 26-28 at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis.
Aeromotive, a Kansas-based company that designs high-performance fuel systems for race, street or marine use, is the presenting sponsor for the season finale, the NHRA Toyota Nationals, Oct. 30-Nov. 2 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The series opens March 13-16 with the Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Florida’s Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville. The series will once again race on Father’s Day weekend at Bristol Dragway, during the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals (June 13-15), and also again on Independence Day weekend (July 3-6), at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.
Featuring the world’s fastest and most unique doorslammer race cars, highlighted by ’63 Corvettes, ’68 Camaros, ’67 Mustangs and ’68 Firebirds, as well as a variety of late-model cars, the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series offers something for every kind of hot-rodding enthusiast.
The NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series is supported by the Real Pro Mod (RPM) Association, a group of NHRA Pro Mod Series team owners who works closely with NHRA on many initiatives to maintain the series.
First thing the NHRA should do before launching this Series …. IF the plan is for it to succeed …. is to limit the body styles to pre 1960 across the board …. giving Pro Mod a AA/GS before that series imploded ( due to modern body styles being introduced )
Otherwise …. like AA/GS … Pro Mod will just look like slow Funny Cars and over motored Pro Stocks .. 😉
They already look like funny cars. Even the one from the 50s. I saw a pro mod 57 Chevy up at Atlanta a year ago that I thought was a short funny car when I first saw it.
But I agree they should limit the bodies to older cars. I’d say no older that early 70s.
They also need to limit the chop on them.
I may be in the minority, but I disagree that “modern body styles” caused gasser classes to “implode.” Getting too far away from the street roots of the class and the emergence of Pro Stocks and the tube-frame “Jenkins-style” car were the missteps.
A fair number of fans still love the idea of a hopped-up production car, so long as the bulk of the car clearly maintains its assembly-line roots and the modifications are something ordinary hot rodders could perform . . . It’s wrapped up in the illusion that “anyone” could build one if they had the time and money.
The mix of modern and old body styles has always been the trademark of Pro Mod and this, as early as the two TS years before the class was named PM. Why change that? Limitations on the body styles would render the class boring and kill it. The wilder the better and since the day Turbos showed up it’s even better. It’s quite some action and by far one of the most interesting classes I know of due to the extremely wide variety in both body style and engine type. Not many drivers complain as far as I know.
They have been running pro mods at NHRA races for like a decade plus. I think the success deal is handled. 🙂
Not hardly !!! This is round three of the NHRA attempting to bring Pro Mod into the big leagues and public spotlight … with all three previous ( as well as the IHRA’s attempts ) having failed miserably
Just because the class is hanging on [ barely ] does’t guarantee its success this round either
Remembering …. the IHRA had extensive TV on the major ( then ) networks ( ESPN and Speedvision of old ) coverage of Pro Mod a few years ago … with that attempt falling unfortunately … flat on its face
Nope … the NHRA needs to revise the class to make it as distinct from its Kissing Cousins ( Pro Stock and Funny Car ) as possible … lest history ( AA/GS ) rear its ugly head and repeat itself once again
Not hardly? There have been Pro Mods contested at NHRA events every season since 2001. They (like pro stock bikes) do not run at every race. The first appearance of pro mods at an NHRA race was in 2001 and they have been running at events since the first year of a “series” in 2002.
Pro Mod have always fielded their own television coverage, they are not under the NHRA’s TV program.
Considering that the fastest Pro Mods are running neck and neck with alky funny car guys and there are about 10x more pro mods than alky funny cars and pro stocks combined, you have tagged the wrong guys to be worried about.
To me, what you said says volumes about NHRA’s commitment to Pro Mod. Their TV package does not cover Pro Mod. Their press release talks mostly about who is going to sponsor what. And if I remember correctly, they almost cancelled last year’s Pro Mod due to lack of sponsorship for the class. Basically, they are saying if you can bring in revenue to us, we will allow you to race. To me, that shows how out of touch NHRA is with race fans and what they are really interested in. If NHRA wants to continue being the premiere drag racing sanctioning body, they need to start considering the fan and racer and quit worrying about their pockets.
I love Pro Mods. They are way more interesting than fuel cars are due to the diversity.
There were 36 Pro Mods at Snowbirds this past weekend. 3 broke .
No problem getting cars for the class if purse if reasonable.
Wow! Cool!….but lets limit the “caricature-type” bodies….maybe a nose stretch and a little off the top (mild chop)….early 70’s cut-off sounds about right too. No more “silly-putty” looking Willy’s!
I think the problem is that getting proper attention isn’t going to happen until they are included in the same TV broadcast (which they should). It’s a slap in the face to the racers and car owners who have to wait until after the season for a broadcast of their race, all while the ESPN show carries no entertainment value.
That is in a “pre -70’s” cut-off date
Not buying an HDTV or subscribing to premium cable just to watch that “Velocity” crap.
Most “Pro Mods” are simply hideous to look at, anyhow. Yawn. Zzzzzzz.
It’s about dam’n time !!!
The key word here is … modified !! Drop pro stock bike …… add pro-mod ….. yay !! T.V. problem semi – solved ….