Brian
Gahm had decided he needed a break from drag racing after many years of pursuing
championships in the volatile IHRA Pro Modified division; so he hung up his
driver’s suit and went about enjoying life away from a racetrack.
When his phone rang with suggestion to pull the suit out of the closet,
Gahm decided to get back behind the wheel. At the suggestion of longtime
friend Doug Kirk, a two-time IHRA Pro Stock champion, Gahm decided that he’d put
his Pro Modified life behind him and go Pro Stock
racing.
“I had gotten out of
drag racing but I didn’t stay away too long,” Gahm said. “Doug Kirk talked me
into giving the class a try, so in 2000 I made my
comeback.”
To this day, there are more than a few drivers who wish Doug Kirk had not
been so convincing.
Brian
Gahm had decided he needed a break from drag racing after many years of pursuing
championships in the volatile IHRA Pro Modified division; so he hung up his
driver’s suit and went about enjoying life away from a racetrack.
When his phone rang with suggestion to pull the suit out of the closet,
Gahm decided to get back behind the wheel. At the suggestion of longtime
friend Doug Kirk, a two-time IHRA Pro Stock champion, Gahm decided that he’d put
his Pro Modified life behind him and go Pro Stock
racing.
“I had gotten out of
drag racing but I didn’t stay away too long,” Gahm said. “Doug Kirk talked me
into giving the class a try, so in 2000 I made my
comeback.”
To this day, there are more than a few drivers who wish Doug Kirk had not
been so convincing.
“We adapted to Pro
Stock pretty well, and were fortunate enough to win a couple of IHRA
championships,” Gahm said. “It was quite a change for us to go from the nitrous
Pro Mod to the naturally aspirated mountain motor Pro Stock, but it was a good
change. The Pro Stock cars have a short wheelbase, so you don’t drive them
around like you do a Pro Mod. Once you get a Pro Stock car in gear you pretty
well know what it’s going to do. They’re not all that easy to drive because of
the short wheelbase, but they don’t compare to Pro Mod cars, which were always a
handful.”
Gahm is credited with winning back-to-back world championships in 2002
and 2003 and becoming the first driver to officially run a 6.4, 6.3 and 6.2
elapsed time.
When he reflects on a
career that has rendered 11 national event wins in seven years, he can’t help
but smile.
“Mountain Motor Pro
Stock has been awful good to me,” Gahm said. “We have been fortunate to be the
team that knocked down the Pro Stock performance barriers – and considering just
how good the competition is in IHRA Pro Stock, that’s something we’re real proud
of.”
