Pro Mod series goes like lightning

BILL MEHLENBACHER FOR THE TORONTO STAR

Bruce Boland of Hamilton won his third consecutive Pro Modified Racing Association championship this summer.

Norris McDonald

MOTORSPORT WRITER

In his latest book, Drag Racing: The World's Fastest Sport, Hamilton author Timothy Miller (everybody calls him Tim, except the people at Firefly Books Ltd., who insist on calling him Timothy), sums up the sport thusly:

"Once considered the `bad boy' of motorsport, drag racing has evolved into one of the most technically sophisticated forms of motorized competition. And it produces some of the most exciting racing, based on a simple premise: two drivers race their vehicles, from a standing start, over a measured distance (usually a quarter-mile), competing for the shortest elapsed time."

And the caption on a photo of two funny-car drivers lined up to blast off says it all:

"The drivers are ready, the track is ready and the fans are ready for the imminent explosion of 15,000 horsepower."

Wow! You can get shivers just thinking about stuff like that.

Which brings me to today's subject: the 2009 season (and fifth in its history) of the Ontario-based Pro Modified Racing Association.

The Pro Modified class has been around for 20 or so years and the PMRA (and its sister class, the Quick 32 Sportsman Series, which was started this year) entertains thousands of people each summer in Ontario, Quebec and New York who flock to see the "world's fastest door-slammers."

The attraction? Well, start with engines that are turbocharged, supercharged and/or nitrous-assisted and then add interesting body styles. The result? Speeds of over 230 m.p.h. (370 km/h) reached in under six seconds.

The shows are mind-blowing.

A month ago, the PMRA held an awards night to honour the champions and other top five finishers in the Pro Modified Association and Quick 32 Series points chases.

Here's a quick look at these gunslingers.

Pro Modified Racing Association

Champion: Bruce Boland of Hamilton.

Boland won four of the six PMRA events to capture his third consecutive championship.

In a year filled with highlights, the biggest came during the July 18 running of the IHRA MOPAR Nationals at the Grand Bend Motorplex. Boland set the pace with a 4.030-second run in qualifying and was never headed.

He also won PMRA events at Toronto Motorsport Park's Cayuga Dragway in June and September and Grand Bend in August.

At the banquet, Boland served notice that he'll be back in 2010, looking for his fourth title.

Runner-up: Mark Nielsen of Brantford.

Nielsen's record-setting PMRA quarter-mile run of 237.30 m.p.h. at Cayuga Dragway in 2008 held up in '09, even though he could only finish second in two of the '09 races – at the Cayuga events in June and September. But add his pole-winning time of 233.03 m.p.h. at the final race and that was good enough for second place in the standings.

Third place: Jeff Roth of Kitchener.

The highlight of the season was winning the meet at Grand Bend. Roth qualified the car second in the field with a 231.83 m.p.h. pass and was able to beat the series champion, Boland, in the final.

Although both of their times were listed as 226.30 m.p.h., Roth's quarter-mile run was done in 6.208 seconds while it took Boland 6.212 seconds to go the same distance (about half a blink).

Quick 32 Sportsman Series

presented by NAPA Auto Parts

(Note: the Quick 32 is made up of Top Dragster and Top Sportsman cars. The cars race within their class and then the winner of each class goes up against the other in the final race, the winner of which is overall champion.)

Champion: Kevin Wicke of Stratford.

Wicke didn't win any of the six Quick 32 races this season but he always made it into the elimination rounds and was runner-up in the Top Sportsman class for the Sept. 19 event at Cayuga.

"We got the car to come around the last few races," he said.

Runner-up: Jamie Bridge of Napanee.

Bridge qualified for all six Quick 32 races but was knocked out in the first round at two events, the May opener and the September final, both at Cayuga. His best showing was a runner-up spot in the Top Dragster side of eliminations at Grand Bend in June.

"Overall, we had a great season," he said of his rookie year in the series.

Third place: Carl Spiering of Jordan Station.

Spiering, who has won several championships in Pro Modified at IHRA events, hasn't raced in Sportsman events for more than 10 years and had a successful first season back in 2009 by finishing third.

He qualified for all six events in his Top Sportsman car but his best finish was a runner-up at Grand Bend in August. "We didn't finish the season the way we wanted, but we're happy with the finish we got," he said, hinting he would have a big announcement about the 2010 season soon.

Read Norris McDonald's Auto Racing blog at Wheels.ca nmcdonald@thestar.ca

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