Pete Berner (Linda Brock photo)
Scott Cannon (Linda Brock photo)
Pro Modified, in my humble opinion, is one of the coolest classes in drag racing. Reminds me of what I think is the best era in the sport's history, the 1970s, when match racing was in its prime. A multitude of body styles powered by dozens of different engine combinations and they are also a violent ride that requires drivers to really be on their toes. Scott Cannon dominated the field. Qualified at 5.99 then ran 6.01, 6.04, 6.02 and another 6.02 in the final over Kenny Lang (seen below in near lane against Ed Hoover).
(Linda Brock photo)
A couple of random notes...Our pit butted up to the staging lanes and we spent a lot of time checking out all the sportsman cars. The Top Dragster and Top Sportsman cars are pretty
cool. There's a lot of innovation there and the many unique car/engine combinations were cool to check out...One thing I dig about the IHRA events is their lead announcer Brian Olsen, he's really into the sport and does a great job keeping the fans pumped up and informed about what's going on...I know I might get some flack for this but there's a lot of hot female drivers in the IHRA Sportsman classes...I filled some of my world-famous Nitro Fume Collection Devices at Rockingham, as a test to see how many people read this I'll send one to the first person who responds to: editor@dragracingonline.com Put NFCD in the subject line and include your address and daytime phone number...Renee Bingham, wife of Top Sportsman racer Gary Bingham, is the glue that holds the IHRA together. Not only does she run the tower but she also works at Gary's shop during the week and is an integral part of the Racing Ministries. She did a stirring tribute to the Virginia Tech incident before the show Saturday night and the world needs more people like her...
