One of the early Pro Modified racers, Robby Vandergriff recently  walked through, Sunshine Home, a group boarding home, and much to his surprise he

saw a familiar model car, assembled and prominently displayed.

The model – the 1957 Chevy he drove during the pioneering days of the Pro Modified movement. On the door was his first and only major sponsor, Soffseal. Seeing the logo of the automobile restoration accessories company brought forth a groundswell of memories.

The model car reminded Vandergriff of both his happiest and saddest day.

The Real Story of Why One of Doorslammer Racing’s Most Colorful Personalities Walked Away …

One of the early Pro Modified racers, Robby Vandergriff recently  walked through, Sunshine Home, a group boarding home, and much to his surprise he

It was always hard to spot Robby Vandergriff without a smile. The veteran doorslammer pointed out his smile was a testimony as to the fun he was having.

saw a familiar model car, assembled and prominently displayed.

The model – the 1957 Chevy he drove during the pioneering days of the Pro Modified movement. On the door was his first and only major sponsor, Soffseal. Seeing the logo of the automobile restoration accessories company brought forth a groundswell of memories.

The model car reminded Vandergriff of both his happiest and saddest day.

“The same day I signed my sponsorship with Gary Anderson at Soffseal is the same day I found out my youngest daughter was born with a significant birth defect,” said Vandergriff. “Not even five minutes after we signed the deal, I got the phone call. I knew my days were numbered in racing from that point on.”

His daughter now lives at Sunshine Home, a group home for the mentally challenged, and while Vandergriff never wanted her to be there, he respected her wishes.

“So, we went to visit and one of the male residents staying there had cars all over his room, and guess whose car was right there in the middle of them all?” said Vandergriff, voice beaming with pride. “That was the coolest thing because it took me back to the time when me and my wife were walking through Wal-Mart one day when we were dating and we walked through the model car section. She asked me if I was going to build a model car and when I told her I was looking for my model, she looked at me like I was crazy. I found that same model, and handed it to her. She had no idea.”

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Vandergriff will always believed that model car deal in 1990 was the biggest accomplishment he’d ever managed in drag racing. Never mind the extreme fan following that he developed campaigning the world’s fastest 1957 Chevy during the days leading up to Pro Modified, a car that would eventually evolve from a stock in appearance 1957 Chevy to a modern day cross between a Chevrolet Lumina and a Bel-Air.

And just when it appeared that Vandergriff’s team owner Jim Bryant had reached the end of the line developing the classic shoebox with the last car they ran, he presented his driver with plans for an even more radical version aimed at capturing the next level. This was before the new car had even turned a tire under power.

Vandergriff remembered the crudely sketched version of a 1957 Chevrolet greatly resembled a Funny Car body mounted on a Pro Modified chassis and that wasn’t what turned off Vandergriff the most. The big, honkin’ supercharger protruding from the hood was enough to point out this was as good a stopping point in his career as any.

His team owner was convinced this was where Pro Modified was headed.

“Jim told me that we were going to take it to the next level,” Vandergriff recalled. “I looked at him and said, ‘I’m not driving that thing.”

Vandergriff, cousin of Top Fuel racer Bob Vandergriff Jr., reached the finals in the first two USSC events, winning once.

“I told him that I didn’t want any part of it because I’m a carburetor guy and that’s all I will ever be. I let him know that if this was where Pro Modified was going, then I’m done.”

Two years later, at the IHRA Awards Banquet, Vandergriff was given a glimpse of Scotty Cannon’s new Chevrolet Lumina, a Pro Modified entry based on an Oldsmobile Funny Car body with a supercharger.

“I looked at that car, and knew then Jim was right,” said Vandergriff, who still has the fate-sealing rendering.

Vandergriff has few regrets about the path he took in racing, but if he had to list one it would be his limited time running on the IHRA tour. Soffseal was heavily vested in marketing his product line to the Super Chevy demographic.

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“I really enjoyed the time I had racing with everyone and I made some lifelong friends. We had laughs, stories and experiences that will last a lifetime.” – Robby Vandergriff on his years in racing.

Though Vandergriff largely ran the Super Chevy tour, he still managed time to drift over into the milestone pre-Pro Mod events. In successive years he managed to trade spots in history with “Animal” Jim Feurer. Feurer scored a victory at the first-ever IHRA Quick Eight event, a race where the IHRA nearly disqualified both drivers because Vandergriff refused to fire until Feurer got his Mercury Zephyr started.

Feurer won that on-and-off the throttle match in Darlington, SC.

A year later, Vandergriff beat Feurer to capture the inaugural United States Super Circuit race in Budds Creek, Md.

“Animal Jim [Feurer] said in an article that back in those days I was always smiling and I was, because I knew we were having the time of our lives,” Vandergriff said. “For me, I knew it was going to be a really short ride, so I was just living in the moment.”

Those moments for Vandergriff were unforgettable.

He smiles when recollecting one of the most profound championship runs began at his expense in 1991 while racing at the IHRA Springnationals, then the series’ cornerstone event. Vandergriff was in the opposite lane when six-time class champion Scotty Cannon won his first national event.

“Yeah, ‘ole Scotty and I ran quite a bit, and he got lane choice in that race,” said Vandergriff laughing with the explanation. “He knew I had that big hood scoop and couldn’t see the tree from the left lane. So where did he put me? The left lane.”

Vandergriff walked away from Pro Modified just shy of the 1992 season, his seventh year of racing the fast doorslammers. He still gets the urge to watch the Pro Modified cars race and admits a strong hankering to experience one of the ADRL’s events. The issue is finding the time between spending time with his family and running his three innovative auto repair centers he opened two years ago in Knoxville, Tenn.

Vandergriff launches on a pass at Raceway Park. To the right of his car was the late Gordie Hmiel who was on the sidelines after burning his car up the night before.

“You know I owe a lot that I’ve attained to the good Lord above watching out for me,” said Vandergriff, who in addition to being a successful businessman serves as a Sunday school teacher. “I can only say that you look at the life I’ve had, it isn’t difficult to see I’ve been a blessed man.”

When time permits, Vandergriff lets his mind wander back to the days when he was able to portray a larger than life image while racing the formative days of Pro Modified.

“I was always branded as the golden child of this movement and if they only knew that I was doing this out of my backyard garage,” Vandergriff admitted. “We looked good once we got to the races, but it always amazed what people portrayed us as.”

He’s even more amazed with his ability to live a dream for as long as he did.

“I really enjoyed the time I had racing with everyone and I made some lifelong friends,” Vandergriff said. “We had laughs, stories and experiences that will last a lifetime.”

And for Vandergriff, seeing one of those model cars conjures up those memories.