Scotty Cannon
Scotty Cannon began his education into racing and performance enhancement before he even had a car. He was at the races every chance he had and paid attention to what was happening. One night he watched a particular Camaro try to run but that broke an axle every time it ran. When it broke again, he overheard another spectator say the owner needed to use aftermarket axles to stop this. That statement never left Scotty’s mind.
In 1979 when he was finally able to buy his first race car, a 1967 Pontiac Trans Am, one of the first things he did was install an aftermarket camshaft. The result was an instant increase in performance and a lesson learned.
By the 1985 season, Scotty was able to win enough to keep his dream of racing alive. In 1987, he replaced the Trans Am with a 1941 Willys Coupe that had a Top Fuel wing sticking out the back and a nitrous-injected 615-inch Chevy under the hood. During his career, Scotty has used every form of power adder available. He has fielded engines equipped with nitrous oxide and carburetors, supercharger, and even once a turbocharger.
A turning point in Scotty’s career came in 1989 when finally qualified for an IHRA Top Sportsman Quick 8, and then proceeded to win not only the heads-up race on Saturday night, but also the 32-car 200 mph bracket racing field on Sunday. Cannon supplemented his racing with a modest sponsorship from OnSat Satellit Magazine and over 75 match race dates a year.
IHRA introduced Pro Mod class in 1990 at its Darlington, SC Nationals and in 1991, Scotty posted his first IHRA Nationals win at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, TN. By the end of the 1991 season, Scotty took home his first IHRA World Championship title which he did again in ‘92 ’93 and ’94. He missed taking the title in ’95 but made it number 5 in ’96. He added his sixth and final one in 1998 before heading NHRA Funny car racing. Scotty returned to the Pro Mod wars in 2007 with his son, Scott doing the driving and the team captured its sixth IHRA World Championship title.
In 1998 Scotty received a sponsorship offer from Oakley Sunglasses to field a AA/Fuel Funny Car. He had always been fascinated by this class so in 1999 he entered the NHRA Funny Car world in a ’99 Pontiac Firebird bodied car and garnered the NHRA Rookie of the Year title.
During his IHRA Pro Mod reign, Cannon scored 28 victories, a mark that was never topped when the race series ceased running professional drag racing. In 2010, Competition Plus Magazine named him Pro Mod driver of all time, in 2019 he was inducted into the North Carolina Drag Racing Hall of Fame and in 2021 into the IHRA Hall of Fame. He even made a trip Down Under to Australia where he won the series title in a 1953 Studebaker, and then brought the car back to the USA to complete a championship sweep on two continents. No other Pro Modified driver had done this before.
When questioned about his success, he stated it was all about working harder than his competitors. There were years when he competed in as many as 75 races with no season limits.