Imagine being a Pro Mod driver, strapped behind the wheel of a vehicle that feels like it can rotate the earth on launch – somewhat similar to what astronauts feel when those massive rockets light up underneath their … seats.
When asked what he might be doing if not driving his supercharged 1957 Buick in NMCA’s Pro Mod class, Ty Tutterow would like to be blasting through the heavens.
“I’d want to be in the lineup of people that fly to the moon,” he said. “Outside of driving a Pro Modified, it’s probably the only other thing that’d be that much of a rush.”
The last name should ring a bell. Ty is the 28-year-old son of legendary racer and two-time PDRA Pro Boost champ Todd “King Tut” Tutterow. While Todd continues to race – he was last year’s Pro Boost kingpin – Ty is also trying to make a lasting mark in the Pro Mod ranks.
That effort has been hit and miss through no fault of his own. Ty Tutterow has been in and out of some top-shelf machinery the past eight seasons, and now he’s back; this time, piloting Tyler Jenkins’ Buick. So far, through the first two NMCA events of the year, Tutterow has a win and a runner-up under his belt. He will enter this weekend’s NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Muscle Car Racing at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis as the VP Xtreme Pro Mod points leader.
It seems to be as competitive a ride as others he’s had. In 2017, Ty drove one of the GALOT team cars to the runner-up spot in PDRA’s Pro Boost standings. It would seem logical that he would remain in the car the following year, but circumstances changed his plans.
“At that time GALOT had decided at that point they were going to quit racing Pro Modifieds,” he said. “They kinda closed the doors on Pro Mods for a year or two there and then came back with the Pro Line deal. That was the reason that deal kinda went away.”
Fast-forward to the winter of 2019-20, when the Tutterows went head-to-head in Arabian Drag Racing League competition in Qatar. Todd wound up as the champion, and Ty’s sterling performances led to an opportunity to drive a car for Sheik Khalid Al Thani in the United States.
But just as that was about to take off at the NHRA Gatornationals, the world more or less came to a stop thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Drag racing was sidelined for months, and Tutterow’s shot at driving the sheik’s car vanished with it.
“I got the opportunity to drive for Sheik Khalid ’cause I had been in a car that the sheik was tuning in Qatar,” Ty said. “We were in Gainesville, and the car I was supposed to drive was actually on its way to the airport (to be shipped to the U.S.) when they locked everything down in the United States. … We were on our way home, and the car was actually turned around before it got to the airport.”
When COVID put the brakes on drag racing for several months, Tutterow found himself without a ride. With no other viable driving option available at the time, Tutterow threw himself into the heavy workload at Wyo Motorsports, his dad’s business in Yadkinville, N.C. Ty lives “about 20 minutes away” in Mocksville with his wife of four years, Katlyn, and their 10-month-old son, Tommy.
Eventually, the chance to drive again came Ty’s way via Tyler Jenkins, a Wyo customer who lives five hours away in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Jenkins had raced in Top Sportsman and in Pro Nitrous. Early last year, the Tutterows took one of his cars – originally a Tim McAmis piece – and updated it, and by late summer Ty had accepted Jenkins’ offer to drive it in 2023 in Pro Mod competition because Jenkins felt “that with my dad tuning it, I’d be the right one to drive it,” Ty said.
Jenkins and Tutterow debuted the Buick at the U.S. Street Nationals at Bradenton, Fla., in late January of ’23. They barely missed making the field for the 32-car Outlaw Pro Mod show, falling just .004 seconds short of the cut at 3.697 seconds.
“We shook it down at the U.S. Street Nationals, and every run we picked the car up a little bit and found some stuff we were missing in the car,” Tutterow said. “By the time we got to World Series of Pro Mod (a month later at the same venue), we found a couple of gremlins while we were down there, which kind of kept us from being able to compete in the show as far as being a front-running car.”
Competition at the WSOPM was fierce, as the 32-car eliminator resulted in a bump spot of 3.682 seconds, Tutterow and Jenkins just missed the cut by an eyelash at 3.698.
They didn’t enter the NHRA Gatornationals the ensuing weekend, but they made all the right moves in the interim. When the NMCA held its opener March 16-19 at Orlando (Fla.) Speed World, they were quick and consistent and qualified third. In eliminations, Tutterow defeated Andrew Handras in the opening round, took out Scott Wildgust on a holeshot (3.723 to 3.638), edged Randy Merrick in the semis with an NMCA-record 3.631, then scored the win by the slimmest of margins, 3.634 to 3.635 over Robert Abbott.
A month later, at the freshly repaved Rockingham Dragway, Tutterow qualified No. 1 at 3.647, won two rounds, and took the runner-up spot to Craig Sullivan and the “El Mero Mero” ’49 Mercury.
Going into this weekend’s third event in Madison, Ill., Tutterow leads Sullivan in the VP Xtreme Pro Mod standings by 260 points at the NMCA’s halfway point.
Although the NMCA’s season is somewhat abbreviated at a half-dozen shows, it works well for the Tutterow-Jenkins duo.
“It’s short and enough to chase a championship, but at the same time you don’t wear your crew out racing every weekend,” said Ty, who will run the full NMCA schedule in pursuit of the VP Xtreme Pro Mod title. “It’s a good deal, and they’re all at national-event race tracks. They go to good facilities.”
That fact is enhanced by what Tutterow considers the best track prep in the country.
“All their crew is second to none. Their track prep, you never question it,” he said. “It’s how good it’s going to be, it’s not if it’s going to be. We run PDRA, NHRA – NMCA, they have the best track prep that we run on. And that’s a testament to them because at the same race they have street cars running on the surface as the Pro Mod cars, and the fact that they can keep it groomed is a testament to them.”
Perhaps a 2023 NMCA crown would be enough to keep him in a Pro Mod ride long-term. The ones he had prior to hooking up with Jenkins may be history, but he’s not one to bemoan what transpired; in fact, it’s just the opposite. He’s grateful for the opportunity to drive for Jenkins, to work with crewmen Glenn Hill, Greg McAnally, and Jason Green, and to have sponsors such as Ty-Drive, FTI converters, Red Line Oil, and Scarlette’s Performance.
“No, not disappointed. Opportunities will come and go,” he said. “I’m blessed to be driving now, and I’m a lucky guy that gets to drive. I take ‘em as they come.
“I love going racing, and I don’t necessarily have to drive a car to be out there, but it gives me an advantage to be working on the car. … It’s more of a bonus for me to go drive and learn. Nothing’s been more of a blessing than to be able to drive for (GALOT owner) Earl Wells and Sheik Khalid. I never expected to drive Pro Mod because I definitely can’t afford it on my own.”
