Recently, while surfing for high horsepower wheel stands and burnouts in the land of YouTube, we stumbled across some classic footage of the IHRA Hurst Pro Stock Shootout from back in 1988. It’s intriguing to look back to the days when the NHRA and the IHRA played nice. In Pro Stock, the cars were for the most part the same, but like today, the NHRA had the 500 cubic inch engine rule and IHRA allowed big-inch mountain motors. The big difference was the IHRA gave the 500 cube teams a weight break in order to remain competitive.

The mountain motor of the time was a relatively new technology and unable to produce the large numbers of today. This allowed some of the NHRA teams to be
competitive with the IHRA heroes.

The 1988 Pro Stock Shootout was sponsored by Hurst and pitted the eight consistently quickest Pro Stockers of the year against each other at the Texas Motorplex outside Dallas, Tex. The eight qualifiers in order were: Rickie Smith, Tim Nabors, Warren Johnson, Terry Adams, Harry Scribner, Jerry Eckman, Kenny Koretsky, and Larry Morgan. It’s interesting how many of those names are still relevant in the sport today.

Rickie Smith won five IHRA championships in the ‘80s, drove in some NASCAR races in ‘88, and now in 2012 is still winning, with an NHRA Pro Modified event victory earlier this season. Tim Nabors competed in IHRA Pro Stock through 1997, earned six event wins, and was runner-up for the championship three times.

Warren Johnson won five NHRA championships in the ‘90s and added his sixth in 2001. Johnson has won 97 final rounds, was inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007,  and is still competing in Pro Stock in 2012. Terry Adams became an NHRA Pro Stock crew chief, where he worked with Warren Johnson, and helped carry Mike Edwards to the 2009 NHRA Pro Stock championship. Kenny Koretsky has competed in both Top Fuel and Pro Stock and is still finding success as an NHRA team owner. Larry Morgan is also still competing and his career includes 42 final rounds and 10 wins, while Jerry Eckman continues to be a familiar face in the Pro Stock pit area.

Watching the ’88 shootout 24 years later is a little less about who won and the 7.30 elapsed times and more about a cool glimpse at history involving some of the most influential Pro Stock racers of all time. We don’t want to give away any spoilers and ruin the entertainment value of these clips, so we’ll leave the rest to your viewing pleasure.