No more pro-mods in street racing?

Anyone catch the Outlaws show last night? Looks like Chief is ditching the pro-mod for a car that left a big three factory with a VIN number.

These guys are more or less in a position to dictate what "street racing" is and isn't these days, and to some extent I think they've taken over sportsman racing from the NHRA (if the NHRA is even relevant at any level anymore). I for one am glad to see them drawing a line in the sand. Somebody had to do something, or we were just going to end up with nitro funny cars showing up at street races.

So all you need is a vin and steel roof to be a street car? Hell I have been racing a street car all these years and didn't know any better!

cool40 wrote:So all you need is a vin and steel roof to be a street car? Hell I have been racing a street car all these years and didn't know any better!

Street racing, not street car.

Rumor is VIN, steel roof, steel quarters.

Either way, say goodbye to the plastic fantastic mini funny cars, and no-prep races at most tracks will probably follow suit.

cool40 wrote:So all you need is a vin and steel roof to be a street car? Hell I have been racing a street car all these years and didn't know any better!

What do you know you frame straightening sombuck  A 4 second car can't be a street car  

I wonder if their going to all steel, back half only deal?

I didn't see the show last night but could it be...That the insurance machine is denying the ability for the Pro Mods to attend No Prep events that require license plates/insurance by flagging the known and well promoted players to achieve a certain level of acceptance, forcing them to change directions.

Kinda reminds me of the steel vs fiberglass deal among car show guys.

Doesn't look like much steel body left in Kye Kelly's car.

My car has steel roof,quarters,and doors that have not been cut out!  a "street race" is just that,could be a Harley and a ten speed lined up together .......

Did anyone catch the note that flashed on screen last night saying that Doc's Monte Carlo still has the factory A and B pillars and roof which makes it a street car? Who knew!

If I had to venture a guess I'd say the cost of street racing has caught up to those guys and they simply don't want to fork out the cash anymore...

Or Jeff Lutz showed up and is poised to steal the thunder once he brings Larry Larson into the fray...?

I know that Mike Moran, ten years ago, in his totally street-able car which would drive 25 miles of real street driving on street tires just before racing and still went 6 seconds in the QUARTER mile, only to get OUTLAWED by that political sanctioning body for being to unfair, has yet to be beaten by any other street car capable of that type driving around just before a race.

"Oh gee, I can't race now because my car is just to hot", is NOT my idea of any capable STREET RACING vehicle.

^^^^Well said Randy, my recollection is not what it once was, but didn't he also put together an 8 sec 351C Pinto wagon with parts lying around the shop just to make the event at an early FSCIAS event more like 20+ years ago also with a 25 mile cruise?.

Hell my car is a street car , plated and insured , only fiberglass is the hatch and the hood
Frank

it's just a really Loud Street car!! LOL
Frank

Not sure if you guys follow Rocky Mountain Race week or not but those are some real, awesome street cars and some have been raced on both the street and at the track. Those guys hook a trailer to their car or truck with tools, fuel, slicks, etc and drive from track to track making passes at each one making huge changes in elevation.

68formalGT wrote:Not sure if you guys follow Rocky Mountain Race week or not but those are some real, awesome street cars and some have been raced on both the street and at the track. Those guys hook a trailer to their car or truck with tools, fuel, slicks, etc and drive from track to track making passes at each one making huge changes in elevation.

That sounds like Hot Rod Magazine's "Drag Week".

rmcomprandy wrote:

68formalGT wrote:Not sure if you guys follow Rocky Mountain Race week or not but those are some real, awesome street cars and some have been raced on both the street and at the track. Those guys hook a trailer to their car or truck with tools, fuel, slicks, etc and drive from track to track making passes at each one making huge changes in elevation.

That sounds like Hot Rod Magazine's "Drag Week".

Probably similar. They come here to Pueblo and run.

rmcomprandy wrote:I know that Mike Moran, ten years ago, in his totally street-able car which would drive 25 miles of real street driving on street tires just before racing and still went 6 seconds in the QUARTER mile, only to get OUTLAWED by that political sanctioning body for being to unfair, has yet to be beaten by any other street car capable of that type driving around just before a race.

"Oh gee, I can't race now because my car is just to hot", is NOT my idea of any capable STREET RACING vehicle.

That's the way "street racing" should be IMO. You have to drive it to the races. Fiberglass or aluminum panels etc. ok as long as you don't trailer it and/or have a 'pit crew'. Trailered vehicles and Pro Mods is not true street racing IMO!

GT300TD wrote:That's the way "street racing" should be IMO. You have to drive it to the races. Fiberglass or aluminum panels etc. ok as long as you don't trailer it and/or have a 'pit crew'. Trailered vehicles and Pro Mods is not true street racing IMO!

Gonna have to disagree with you there.

Back in the late 80's, when I spent most weekends "cruising" Telegraph in Detroit, it wasn't uncommon at all for people to trailer their cars in, and unload in an empty parking lot.  Licenced, insured, fiberglass panels, full slicks, race gas....racing on the street.  Some of them also had "crews" in cars following them so passengers in the car that was racing could get out and ride in the follow car as needed.

Like it or not, none of us have a TV show, and our opinion of what street cars, or street racing is, or should be, doesn't matter.  These guys are setting the rules for how it's going to be on their show, and since they have a national audience, it's almost certain everyone else will start doing the same.

Carl wrote:

GT300TD wrote:That's the way "street racing" should be IMO. You have to drive it to the races. Fiberglass or aluminum panels etc. ok as long as you don't trailer it and/or have a 'pit crew'. Trailered vehicles and Pro Mods is not true street racing IMO!

Gonna have to disagree with you there.

Back in the late 80's, when I spent most weekends "cruising" Telegraph in Detroit, it wasn't uncommon at all for people to trailer their cars in, and unload in an empty parking lot.  Licenced, insured, fiberglass panels, full slicks, race gas....racing on the street.  Some of them also had "crews" in cars following them so passengers in the car that was racing could get out and ride in the follow car as needed.

Like it or not, none of us have a TV show, and our opinion of what street cars, or street racing is, or should be, doesn't matter.  These guys are setting the rules for how it's going to be on their show, and since they have a national audience, it's almost certain everyone else will start doing the same.

Totally true.
Almost everyone has their own specific opinion about this and one is just as viable as another.

Trailering the car 50 miles so you only need to drive it a couple at least involves some street driving it.  

A "street race" is simply a race on a public street ... not necessarily between street driven vehicles.

I don't know about most people but I don't let a fk'n reality tv show influence my life.

It's not changing what I race or drive.... I'll put this in the 86 file.

Frank Merkl wrote:it's just a really Loud Street car!! LOL
Frank

LOUD PIPES SAVES LIVES

cool40 wrote:I don't know about most people but I don't let a fk'n reality tv show influence my life.

Maybe not yet, but if things keep rolling the way they are now, there's either going to be a new sanctioning body for this kind of racing, or NHRA is going to get on board with no prep 1/8 mile, and they'll probably adopt a format and rules package of what's already taking place. 1/8th mile, no prep, VIN, steel roof and quarters.

Don't want to play along? That's fine. Nobody is saying you have to. I won't be either, as I'm more into open road and land speed than any of this stuff, but I still enjoy the show, the cars, and the racing. A minimal rules package made all the difference for the UFC (MMA previously being an obscure/illegal sideshow), and it's probably going to do the same for the kind of racing these guys are doing, whatever they decide to call it.

.

The sanctioning body's already exist

NMRA, NMCA, OSCA, plus a number of others

dfree383 wrote:The sanctioning body's already exist

NMRA, NMCA, OSCA, plus a number of others

exactly! If any of the tv star promods want to race THEY will be the ones playing along. Nothing wrong with what they do ,other than make street racing look like something it's not, but I don't see this trend lasting much longer. IMO !!

Rocky Mountain Race Week is Drag Week type event. It is a bit more laid back that DW and actually offers prize money for winning.

I hope to do it this year with my oldest son in his 74 F250toF100 Project truck that we are currently working on.

The Pro-Mods racing on the street to me was them "jumping the shark".