Five Second Pro Mod--Legal-Outstanding

[Doug]

I was there for the race and it was the quickest pro mod field in history.

It was cool to see a car in the 5s...
Thos guys were runing 6.0s though like they were nothing Saturday night. Very cool!!

[beegator]

Animal,

For a cool 150K you can have the former Ed Hoover Torco car.

http://racingjunk.com/post/734186/Compl ... ation.html

[Rapid Randy Baker]

I saw one of the first Teen's a few years ago. It was like magic. You knew when the car left it was gonna be a good one! The further it marched downtrack the better it looked.

[WildcatOne]

Congratulations to Josh and to the Dr. Moon's Rage Team...first-class operation and a much-deserved milestone from them. I've seen them race here a few times when they ran the '57 Chevy and it was an outstanding Pro Mod car. The nurse looked great, too...nice touch...but I'd also like to say in this thread that a 5.99 is a landmark run for Pro Mod, but if it hadn't been for guys like Animal Jim Furer, Wally Bell, Bill Kuhlmann, Donnie Little, Walter Henry, Tim McAmis, Robbie Vandergriff and a precious handful of adventurers who made the choice to start something new and exciting in a sport that was bulging at the seams with complacency at the time they took that leap of faith and went with their instincts over taking the path of least resistance, there is a damn good chance there wouldn't be a class in which these advancements exist. Cheers, WC1

[pro70z28]

true

[animal jim]

Randy, there was a lot of controversy surrounding Bill's low 6 second run. I know he wanted to be the first into the 5's and if you can believe the rumor mill, he might have been using some nitro mixed in with his fuel. Wasn't it around the same time he pushed the crank out of the bottom and had the bad fire ? Another racer, who had a Pro Mod style 51-52 Chevy in the same time era, had a bad fire from a huge engine explosion also. This wasn't during IHRA competition, I think it might have been during the Super Chevy events. The rumor at the time was that was why Summit lifted Bill's sponsorship.

When Bill Kuhlmann ran 6.0001 and also the event he blew the crank out of eng. and almost died-were at Super Chev. events running the Nitro Coupe series (exclusive to Super Chev.) The Nitro Coupes are allowed and encouraged by Roger Gustin to run 30% nitro to provide the smell, sound and fire from zoomies that only nitro can provide.

The Nitro Coupe idea was another Bill Kuhlmann, Animal Jim & Roger Gustin idea. It was concieved in Sept 96 at Bill Kulmann's house. I have VHS film and 35mm photos of Bill mixing nitro and trying it in his Corvette-Pro Mod. I was sitting Bill's car and fired it up with nitro. It was awesome!!!

In 1997 Super Chev. dropped the Nitrous Pro Mods to debut the NITRO Coupes. Nitro Coupes have been their feature ever since.

There's more:: Many may not know this-But I was to be one of the original Nitro Coupe racers. Bill made me a deal on his radical chopped top Camaro. We even released that info To Roger Gustin and agent Duane Nichols. I even had a name for Bill's Chopped Camaro. "The Narrow Camaro"

But I backed out do to multiple 1996 tragedies in my life. I was on the verge of a breakdown. It was a big career mistake on my part. But I was looney tunes at that time. Plus my family needed me at homefor a while. For the first time in 20 years , I put my family before racing.

But I will tell you this!! If I was 5 years younger and could scrape up the $$$. I would be in a Nitro Coupe doing the Super Chev. deal in a heartbeat!!

[Rapid Randy Baker]

Thanks for the info AJ. You, Wally, and Bill would make a show that no-one could refuse to come see!!!

[jim sanders]

Another reason to hang out here EVERYDAY and All times of the day. just for a chance to read a post like that one !

[pro70z28]

Great story.

[Gator]