Here's Some Interesting News

I Just received this from another site.


AMS done for 2006 and for the forseeabale future after this breaking news! Such a shame, but as you read you will undertsand why but it must be a tough decsion that for sure will have lingering effects felt all around the pro mod family for time to come! Looks like IHRA is going to be a busy place next year

Pro Mod Challenge Canceled for 2006

DALLAS (Nov. 7, 2005) — After an investment of millions of dollars and thousands of hours, AMS Staff Leasing President Dave Wood announced Monday that his company will no longer be a sponsor for the Pro Mod Challenge that has competed at NHRA national events for the past five seasons.

“AMS Staff Leasing has gladly invested in the Pro Mod Challenge over the past several years, but always with the hope of finding other sponsors who would join us in the effort,” said Wood, whose company took over as the Pro Mod Challenge’s title-rights sponsor before the 2002 season and also backed various entries driven most recently by Troy Critchley. “At this point, I feel that our company can no longer justify the expense, time, and effort that would be needed to maintain the series at the high level to which it is accustomed.

“This is one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make. I have made many good friends and have many wonderful memories from racing with the NHRA. It is my sincere hope that another sponsor will step up in the near future to build on the work we did to make the Pro Mod Challenge a success. I would also like to personally thank all of the drivers, teams, fans, and sponsors who have supported our series for the last four years: I wish them all nothing but the best.”

Wood’s announcement comes just days after Torco Race Fuels owner Evan Knoll, through PR representative Bobby Bennett, withdrew his offer of future sponsorship for the Pro Mod Challenge, leaving AMS Staff Leasing without a financial partner and effectively canceling the 2006 season.

“This is a day I hoped would never come, both personally and professionally,” said Kenny Nowling, the Pro Mod Challenge series administrator since 2002. “Like Dave Wood, I have poured countless hours into making the NHRA Pro Mod class the best that it could be, and I have treated the Pro Mod Challenge like my fourth child. The success we’ve enjoyed, along with the many wonderful relationships I’ve established over those years, will always be memories I cherish.

“I think all Pro Mod drivers, teams, sponsors, and fans owe Dave Wood an enormous amount of gratitude: his investment, in both time and money, has been second-to-none. At the same time, as someone who is in business for himself, I can understand both Dave and Evan needing to make decisions that they feel are best for their companies and their futures.”

Wood and Dallas-based AMS Staff Leasing began sponsoring the Pro Mod Challenge in 2002, following NHRA’s limited one-year, five-event experiment with the class in 2001. Beginning with the 2002 season, the Pro Mod Challenge competed in at least 10 NHRA national events per year and steadily raised its profile through purse increases, rules changes, exciting championship battles, and some of the best side-by-side drag racing found in any class. The recently concluded 2005 season featured Mike Ashley winning his second consecutive AMS/TLR Cup world championship and Jay Payne posting the quickest and fastest Pro Mod runs ever recorded (6.000 at 239.23 mph).

“I had hoped that by working with [presenting sponsor] Tommy Lipar in 2005 and Torco Race Fuels in 2006 and beyond, we would ensure the continued development of the class,” Wood said. “However, much like I hope Pro Mod fans respect my decision, I respect the fact that Evan Knoll has a business to run. As a businessman, he had to make the decision that he felt was best.”

Based upon that information it would appear that the future of a series of Pro Mod races at NHRA National Events is very much in doubt, unless a company or individual decides to fund the series.

 

Interesting news or good news

We might get back some of the better pit places.

We might also not get totally screwed when the weather effects qualifing runs.

To me this is a great thing for Top Alcohol.

Let Pro-Mod be happy over in IHRA where it is a good class for them.

 

I agree!! I think pro mod may have cost us our third qualifier at Gainesville. AND our asphalt pits. We had to be towed out at event completion.

 

Getting towed out of the pits it not fun. Let along taking the pan down under water.

 

We learned all about how to make irrigation canals, and having sewage ejection pumps, fold up army shovels and plywood grass. on hand in your trailer from them florida guys Gunderson and the Allen brothers.

 

I think TAD should go to IHRA and leave PRO-MOD at NHRA, especialy since they have the good pit spots already.

 

Why would the nhra keep pro mods instead of the TA/D's . Pro mod was never an nhra class , it was funded by an outside source as an exhibition class and that is it . NHRA never regonized it even as a sportsman class . Also it was an invite only class which sucks unless you want to race the same people each race ( like a match race ) . If you want to see the pro mod cars race , go to an IHRA event and see the real pro mods race for a championship in a pro class and not a side show . When the outside funding went away from nhra , so did the pro mods .

 

real Pro-Mods? Who went 6.000? Isn't the point of drag racing making your set-up go as fast as the track will allow regardless of who's in the other lane.? I didn't know those were fake Pro-Mods at Indy. Maybe you should call AMS and tell them.

 

but the fact is promod was a exhibition class in nhra,had it's own set of rules they setup to make them different from the ihra real promods,to make it harder to have two seperate tune ups for both series so you would kinda have to pick which way you wanted to go .ams also wanted to have 5 second et's,and although they got close it never happened in competition.they also made it unfair for the nitrous cars buy allowing more overdrive on the blown cars.you want to do away with tad,but would all those promods with the bigheads run as a sportsman class to replace them,when you can run ihra as a proclass?I don't think so.I feel bad for the guys that put there hearts and soles plus a lot of money in this series to have it go away the way it has,but the reality is they were't in control of there own destiny anyway.it was a exhibition class and nhra never said it was anything but that!!

 

^in my opinion REAL pro mods have no rules, they run outlaw events and B: let's give NHRA a couple of weeks before we count out pro mods next year... no sources, just a feeling...

 

I remember back when the Blown TAD guys were complaining about NHRA changing rules in favor of Nitro TAD's. Wasn't NHRA in control of there destiny? How many racers stayed home because they couldn't compete with nitro racers? I have nothing against TAD's, I even worked with the Hiratas, but to have people blame Pro-mods for there pit problems and say they don't belong in NHRA is ridiculous. Maybe TAD's should compete with no rules, that would weed out the fake ones.

 

What I consider to be a real pro mod class is one that is recognized as a professional class by a sanctioning body with a set of rules created and enforced by that body . I looked in the back of my nat'l dragster where the national records are listed for ALL nhra classes and guess what class I did not find listed ?. 6.00 is haulin ass even at 29% o.d. , but on the other hand the ihra record of 6.04 at 20% isn't to far off either .

 

You must have been looking in the wrong place, the NHRA record for AA/PM is 6.17, 228.92.
I find Pro Mod to be very interesting, radical looking cars and a real handful to drive. I think AMS is still willing to sponsor the series as an exhibition class in NHRA, but not without a marketing partner, and I wouldn't be real surprised if another company steps up and joins them next year to keep the class alive.

 

maybe he was looking in DRM.

 

Bob you are right on that e.t. record . I was looking for a class called Pro Modified and did not look at the competition eliminator records . I thought Jay went 6.01 , then 6.00 in the ams pro mod class , how did he do in the actual comp racing ?.

 

jay dosen't race in the actual competition eliminator field, they have a seperate class. but, if you want you can enter comp eliminator with your pro mod and win about $1500 plus contingency. WOW....what a chunk of change to win in your $150,000 race car! the bigger money came in the AMS series. the reason you don't find the "real" pro mod record is because NHRA never really recognized the class, it was intended to be exhibition only.

 

http://www.dragcoverage.com/ make of this what you like...

 

It's $3,500 to win and when you get $10,000 more in Contingency it's not a bad pay day - but who's racing to get rich?

 

its $3500 to win indy, virtually everyone else pays $2000 to win. contingency money is definately good, and you could take home a good chunk of change IF you beat the other 31 cars in the field. my point is this: comp eliminator gets NO ink at all! half the people in the stands at a national event go to the pro pits when the alky cars run. how many people do you think watch this class? we used to run comp eliminator, but it truly started to get way out of hand on the money side just like everything else. i am not a pro mod racer, but i would be willing to bet that none of them want to spot a 4 cylinder opel 3 full trees and try to catch him. if you do catch him you have to pray that you don't kill your index for the next round. another thing is...have you ever driven a clutch car on a pro tree, then try to run a full tree? not easy to do....bottom line ..it's all about exposure, and how many people will see your company name on the car. alot more people watch the AMS pro mod class than comp eliminator.

 

http://www.competitionplus.com/2005_12/news_dirt.html hmm some more rumors....