Cannon not only became the first two-time champion in the class but also the first third and fourth for good measure. Pretty good for Cannon equaled a world championship, followed by another, and another, and for good measure a fourth. It started running really good, it was hurting the motor but I was getting a little bit more help from everybody and they saw a little promise and the next year turned out pretty good.” I’ll never forget stumbling on a little nitrous stuff which is no good at this day and time, but the car starting running better. “I remember going down there day in and day out … day and night … flowing nozzles, flowing this and flowing that. Naturally he was the brains and I was the flunky, the guy who was learning. “We worked on nitrous and nitrous and nitrous and we worked on motors. “I worked at Fulton’s shop nearly every day and if there were eight days in a week I was down there all eight of them,” explained Cannon. This photo was taken at one of the first Shuffletown Dragway Quick Eights. Ironically for Scotty Cannon, his career began to take root with this wild, Top Fuel winged Willys built by Quain Stott, the No. The OnSat team reached the final round in one national event and by the season’s end held the class record.Ĭannon and then engine builder Gene Fulton spent many hours working and testing until they had the upper-hand. When Pro Modified came around in 1990, Cannon and Brown jumped into to the fledgling professional division with both feet. Incredibly the Quick Eight and one of his Top Sportsman triumphs came during the same weekend, the first time any driver had pulled off such a feat. The same year Brown signed Cannon to a reported $30,000 a year sponsorship, the future world champion delivered two national event wins and a Quick Eight victory. I did okay that year, I didn’t set the woods on fire but I wasn’t a back-burner guy either.”īrown would provide the perfect platform for Cannon’s ramp up to stardom. From that day on, we just started racing. It was a shock to me, my family, and everybody. He didn’t fall in love with me that’s for sure. “He told me to come up the next week and talk to them about getting a sponsor for the car,” recalled Cannon. The initial plan was to run a few races and call it quits.Įnter Doug Brown, owner of a satellite programming television guide OnSat, with a proposal for the obscure bracket racer from Lyman, SC. With the help of a few friends, Cannon was able to bring out a new 1941 Willys at the 1989 IHRA Winter Nationals in Darlington, SC. Scotty Cannon, arguably the most dominant Pro Modified driver ever, wonders if the competition will ever know how vulnerable he was in the early years of his fast doorslammer career.
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