DeWayne Mills, Photo Credit Dom Damato, DRD Photos

Last weekend at Shadyside Dragway Jamie Hancock laid down an earth-shattering performance — a 4.09 at 180 MPH – on the 315-wide drag radial tire and with nitrous-oxide injection, no less. All week we here at Dragzine have been bantering back and forth on what this performance means for the future of the immensely-popular “Run Whatcha Brung” Radial Vs. The World class and where it goes moving forward.

Hancock, a former ADRL Pro Nitrous champion, campaigns a Pro Mod with the correct tire underneath. It fits the rules to the letter, as it meets the chassis rules and runs at the correct weight specified, but from the chatter we’ve seen on the interweb there are two categories of fans, both of whom have very valid points. One side feels that Hancock’s car brings more popularity and participation to the sport, the other side feels that his machine doesn’t belong in the class at all.

Hancock’s stretched-out Corvette isn’t the type of car that’s been competing in RvW all this time. Cars like DeWayne Mills’ Camaro, Kevin Mullins’ Mustang and Rob Valden’s Mustang, stock-appearing rides all, do not have the benefit of the longer wheelbase and vastly improved aerodynamics like the Pro Mod Corvette of Hancock.

Ed Rice’s “framerail” on his new Mustang. Photo Credit: Scott Sparrow/NMCA

They all use what are essentially tube-chassis designs with stock-appearing bodies placed back back on top, but the difference between a Pro Mod and a stock-appearing car is immense. Before Hancock laid down his monster run, DeWayne Mills was top dog with his 4.105 blast back in April. The rules are so loose that racers are constructing “stock-appearing framerails” with round-tube chassis built inside — just check out the picture of Ed Rice’s machine to the right.

From day one when Duck X Productions‘ promoter Donald Long originally conceived the class, it has been touted as the ultimate competition between radial-equipped machines and slick-tire machines, no-holds-barred, no BS, just shut up and line ’em up. Prior to Hancock’s entry into the class, although the racers were toting around Pro Mod-style power (and more) the class has centered around those stock-appearing machines, with nary a thought into what could happen if someone like Hancock showed up to do battle.

Today the vast majority of cars in the class compete on the radial, as each racer wants the glory and accolades for dropping the next level of elapsed-time barrier. Hancock has proven that he can run the number on the 315 with substantially less power than the turbo entries as shown by his MPH through the traps — 180 to the consistent high-190’s of some of the turbo entries and Mills’ one-time shot of 202 back at the NMCA‘s Gateway stop in May.

And in even more exciting news, rumor has it that legendary Pro Mod racer Frankie “Madman” Taylor will be making an appearance at Duck X’s September No Mercy 5 race with a 29-inch slick on his Stupid Fast Racing screw-blown Corvette to face off in a match race against either Kevin Mullins or DeWayne Mills. It looks like DXP is trying to determine the baddest man in the land — and has invited the current baddest man in the land to see what happens, as Taylor has already cranked out a mind-numbing 3.48 at 216 MPH from his Corvette on the much larger Pro Mod tire. Taylor has Shannon Davis of Davis Technologies in his corner, but SGMP is typically prepped for the radial tire, so anything is possible when this goes down. Insane happenings in the door-car racing world..

What say you, Dragzine readers? Does the Pro Mod belong in RvW? Do you think these cars have already gone too far in their design from what small-tire racing originated as? Sound off in the comments below!