by Brian Wood
DOUGLAS, Ga. - After several successful testing sessions in Florida, legendary Pro Modified competitor Scotty Cannon of Lyman, S.C., took the first steps towards reestablishing his dominance of the class he was instrumental in putting on the drag racing map.

The Oakley-sponsored Cannon, a five-time IHRA champion, capped off his return to the sport’s premier doorslammer class with a match race victory over Outlaw Pro Mod standout Jason Scruggs at Southern Dragway in Douglas, Georgia. After five years in the nitro Funny Car ranks, Cannon’s return to the Pro Mod stage has been highly-anticipated.

Cannon, wheeling his blown hemi-powered ’53 Studebaker, went one for one in heads up action against Scruggs’ record-setting blown small block Chevy-equipped ’63 Corvette, and then made a solo pass to wrap things up after an oil leak forced his opponent to forfeit the final match.

In a warm-up run early in the day, Scruggs threw down the gauntlet when he streaked to an impressive 3.99, 182-mph pass, coming close to his track record of 3.98. Cannon countered with a solid effort of 4.15, 179, and the fight was on.

In the first of three scheduled races, Scruggs came out on top 4.85, 130 to 5.23, 119, as Cannon encountered tire shake off the line and fought to keep control through the top end. The victory came at a high price, however, as the intake manifold on Scruggs’ “Vette lifted, spraying oil on the headers and enveloping the car in a cloud of smoke as he crossed the line.

In the pits, Scruggs’ crew thrashed to make repairs, applying silicone sealant to the intake in order to stop the oil leakage. It was a band-aid fix at best, however, and in the second round, Cannon’s consistency was in evidence as he reeled off a pass of 4.15, 176 to handle Scruggs’ smoky 4.32, 169 shot. This time it was too much for the stout-hearted little small block, and as Scruggs returned to the pits with his car coated in a film of oil he decided it wasn’t worth doing any more damage to the car, or worse, adding to an unsafe situation, as there was a considerable amount of oil on his tires as well.

To cap off the evening, Cannon wheeled out to make his solo pass and carded his best effort of the day, a 4.14, 182-mph blast. Later, he recapped his return to Pro Mod competition. Well, we didn’t do too bad, but of course we wanted to run better than we did. After the shakedown run, when he ran a 3.99 to our 4.15, we hopped it up quite a bit to try and get into the 4.0s. We took the weight out of the car, spun the blower faster and put bigger tires under it, but it was so cold here today, with the air temperature at 42 degrees and the track temperature around 48 degrees, that we just couldn’t get it to hook up.

“I remember the day when I would have loved to run 4.14s or 15s consistently, to tell the truth, so all in all it wasn’t a bad way to come back to Pro Mod competition. I have to say again that I really love this Murray Anderson swing arm car – it will handle just about any track conditions, and it proved it here again.

“I have to take my hat of to Jason Scruggs – he’s a hell of a racer and he probably has the quickest outlaw car that I know of,” Cannon added. “He was running 4.0s when I left to run Funny Cars, and he’s been beating the stink out of everybody ever since. I guess I was just lucky to come out on top here this weekend. I have no doubt he’ll be gunning for me when we meet next time, and from the looks of it we’ll be tangling quite a bit all year long.”

Special thanks to our major sponsor - Oakley - www.oakley.com