There’s been a lot of chatter on the internet over the last couple of weeks, following the loss of Street Outlaws star Justin “Big Chief” Shearer’s famous “Crow” Pontiac LeMans in a crash, as to what he’d be strapping in to next. The conversation has centered, in particular, on a certain lightweight, full-tube chassis, 1968 Pontiac Firebird — a legitimate Pro Modified car — as the rumored successor to the Crow. While Shearer hasn’t shared any specifics or hints as to his plans, a photo circulating on social media and web forums shows the engine out of the Crow sitting in the engine bay of the very Firebird that you see here. He’s also said the new car will indeed be a Pontiac. But at this time, it’s still all speculation.

Shearer, as we know, was in the midst of filming for another season of Street Outlaws when the devastating accident with Brian Davis occurred, and with his leading role position on the show, there’s certainly good reason for him to seek an already-built car to get right back in the game, rather than taking several months off to build a new piece from the ground-up (as Daddy Dave Comstock has done with his new Goliath).

While many are supportive of a potential move to a Pro Mod-style car — a type of vehicle the shows’ own stars have often criticized on-air — many others are simply calling it a case of jumping the shark. But there’s plenty of motivation for Shearer to go in such a direction.

Racers like two-time Drag Week champion Tom Bailey have worked to legitimize all-out Pro Modified race cars as truly street-driveable vehicles, and while they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, they certainly can get people talking.

For starters, a lighter, more purpose-built car is safer in the event of another catastrophic accident like the one that destroyed the LeMans. Beyond that, Shearer has shown interest in competition in track events, and a Pro Modified chassis gives him a range of options, not the least of which could include running in Radial vs The World with 315’s on the car. His relationship with Drag Week star Jeff Lutz, who turned his own Pro Modified Camaro into a 5-second capable street car this year, also provides some spark to assemble just such a machine.

Jeff Lutz, a familiar face on Street Outlaws, transformed his Pro Modified Camaro into a street legal vehicle for Drag Week this year, where his 6.05-second effort set off a storm of internet discussions.

Beyond those factors, however, Shearer and the racers from the 405 are seeing a growing number of competitors on the street with purpose-built, all-tube race cars that work better and weigh less, and it would seem a given that he’d be taking every opportunity to better his chances of winning. This is a point that he argued himself recently on a web forum, giving further credence to the fact that his next car will indeed be a Pro Modified-style machine.

What are your thoughts? Is a low-slung, far-from-stock-looking Pro Mod car going too far, or is anything fair game in your mind that’s necessary to win? And would one, or several, such cars that defy the more stock-appearing nature of the show cause viewers to lose interest?