Drag

Ironhorse Ready for Summer Nationals Challenge

Ironhorse Pro Modified 1949 Mercury Hoping To Challenge For IHRA Summer Nationals Pro Modified Crown CORDOVA, ILL. (June 29, 1998) This time last season, Leesburg, Virginia's Johnny Rocca was literally frustrated to the point of pulling his ...

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Ironhorse Pro Modified 1949 Mercury Hoping To Challenge For IHRA Summer Nationals Pro Modified Crown

CORDOVA, ILL. (June 29, 1998) This time last season, Leesburg, Virginia's Johnny Rocca was literally frustrated to the point of pulling his hair out. The cagey veteran had a good reason to feel that way. The rules regarding the supercharged cars were pushing them harder to keep up with the field while offering no chance of being competitive. Rocca was convinced that the supercharged engines had hit a proverbial performance wall that would not allow them to scale it, dig under it or tear it down. He never qualified during the 1997 season as a result of this. In fact, only one supercharged entry made a program at one event for the whole tour.

This season poses a new set of rules which allows for a high-helix supercharger with a 34-percent overdrive. Indeed, this amendment has made a world of difference as Rocca's Ironhorse Mercury was qualified in the program at the Winter Nationals at the time of its bone-jarring crash. Rocca substituted his "Tin Indian" 1933 Willys for the recuperating Mercury at the Southern Nationals and qualified for the first time since 1996. He hopes that in bringing the radical 1949 Mercury back into competition at the Summer Nationals will afford him the opportunity to make the show with his fenderskirted creation. The Ironhorse has never taken part in IHRA final eliminations.

"I am anxious to return to battle with the Ironhorse," explained Rocca. "We have made some changes to the car since the crash that we hope will improve our performances. It feels real good to go to the races now and know that I have a chance to actually compete. Last season, we didn't feel that optimistic. It is going to be sweet qualifying Ironhorse in our first IHRA national event. I am convinced that Bradenton would have been our first, but with the crash...we have been forced to start anew in our quest"

Rocca along with a barrage of Pro Modified entries will be attempting to qualify for the Summer Nationals on Friday July 3 and Saturday, July 4. They will have 4 attempts to qualify as the sixteen quickest entries. Those sixteen will be a part of final eliminations on Sunday, which begin at noon.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article CHAMPCAR/CART: Portland Hogan Racing notes

Next article ALLSTAR: Eldora Speedway 98-06-27

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Sebastian Vettel reveals why BMW didn't want him – but Red Bull did

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 7 min

Sebastian Vettel reveals why BMW didn't want him – but Red Bull did

MotoGP riders resigned to racing in Qatar despite safety concerns

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

1 h

MotoGP riders resigned to racing in Qatar despite safety concerns

Marc Marquez wary of MotoGP title rival Jorge Martin at Sepang: "Adrenaline is the best painkiller"

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Australian GP

2 h

Marc Marquez wary of MotoGP title rival Jorge Martin at Sepang: "Adrenaline is the best painkiller"

Joan Mir "has a lot of answers" about crash-strewn 2026 MotoGP campaign as he explains illness

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP 3 h

Joan Mir "has a lot of answers" about crash-strewn 2026 MotoGP campaign as he explains illness

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts