R2B2 Racing Installs Pro Mod Safety Shut-off Transmitters 

After months of internal debate and witnessing a couple of incidents at the NHRA SuperNationals, R2B2 Racing is installing the Electomotion Safety Shut-off Transmitter on all five of its Get Screened America Pro Mod Series cars before next week’s Ford Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals in Bristol, Tenn….

Roger Burgess, owner/driver at R2B2 Racing and primary supporter of the Pro Mod series, said it is an important step forward.

 “We want to stay at the forefront of safety,” Burgess said. “When we figured out earlier this year that these cars would be getting close to 260 mph over the quarter-mile and factored in the weight we’re carrying, we knew this was the next logical step.”

Trendsetting R2B2 Racing is introducing another first for Pro Mod class racing

The Safety Shut-off Transmitters automatically kill a car’s engine and deploys its parachutes once it passes the transponder, which is located 400 feet past the finish line.

Spearheading the effort is safety guru John Medlen, R2B2 racing’s vice president of research and development.

“The cars are reaching a point where they are going so fast it’s getting dangerous, especially on older tracks that have a shorter runoff area,” Medlen said. “Just about every Pro Mod driver out there has put their car in the sand at some point. These Pro Mods are going as fast as an Alcohol Funny Car, but aren’t nearly as stable aerodynamically.”

Medlen said R2B2 Racing has already ordered five systems for the team’s car and he will petition the NHRA to make the Shut-off Systems mandatory in the class.

“For everyone’s safety, I hope the rest of the field follows suit whether they make iot mandatory or not,” Medlen said. “There’s no downside to these systems that I see. They have been proven reliable in other cars, and they will help keep the racers in the Pro Mod class safe as well.”

Funny Cars and dragsters in the Top Fuel and Alcohol classes have been using the systems full-time since 2010.

Please visit www.R2B2Racing.com for more information

Posted by:  Rob Geiger  —  Photo by:  Bruce Biegler