CLASS RACER FORUM - Ever wonder where Grade Points started?

I remember it the way Lyn Smith does. We showed up at the 1976 Summernationals at Englishtown with George Lazar's B/SM entry. Neither George nor I had ever watched a national or divisional event, let alone participated.

In fact, he didn't get through tech on the first try. The tracks at Atco & Cecil County let us run in a similar class called XS with only a lap belt. George rode back to Phila to get a 5-point harness at Ben Pilla Speed Shop while I stayed with the car.

We did get through tech the second time, and ended up making it down to three cars (from 10) in the semi-final. Joe Lepone took George out, Dempsey Hardy singled, then Hardy won the class final and the right to race on Sunday.

I remember this vividly, as it was such a big deal to us to even get in, let alone win some rounds in a class that had some big names in it. In fact those two finalists went on to race in Pro Stock for a while.

I know it was 1976 because I was still in high school in 1975 and married with child by 1977, and I was never involved another NHRA race until I bought my own car in 2001. Perhaps the WCS entry requirement started in '77. Come think of it, 1976 was the first year the Super Modified classes existed in NHRA.