Could Super Modified been different if?

[blkjack]

Looking back at the Car Craft concept of Super Modified. Could things really have been different if certain rules would have been enforced or never changed? When did it go really down the slippery slope of money/ technology? To me it started with the SRD Chevy II's and eventually by the Arlen Fadely FoMoCo/Super Stock Magazine backed Maverick. The class started out to be somewhere between super stock and modified and today has morphed into a "junior pro stock" class. Was the original intent of the class shear genius on Rick Voegelin's part........or just a pipedream for a doorslammer's panacea?

[Charlie Yannetti]

I really don't think, back in the day, that it was ever the intent for Super Modified to be what it is today.. BUT.. with Comp Eliminator being the most innovative class on the planet, and chassis builders being what they are today, the evolution of Super Mod took place..

I don't consider Super Mod to be Junior Pro Stock, as that spot has already been taken by the full bodied altered classes.. but I would definitely agree that the cost of putting together a Super Mod car has become ridiculous.. and unfortunately, because of index adjustments, Super Mod racers will have to spend even more to be competitive..

I feel that eventually, and with today's economy, the cost will bring Super Mod, and Comp itself, to a grinding halt.. just my opinion

[FED 387]

The "original intent" of Super Mod was to provide an entry level set of classes to compete in Modified Eliminator without the cost of Tunnel rams/multiple trick carbs or ported heads-extensive engine/body modifications etc

These were the basic rules as I remember them

There were 3 classes of V8 engines

A--big blocks only
B-canted valve head engines-basically small block Ford
C-inline valve head engines-all other V8 engines

Following were the basic rules

All had carb restrictions

tire size restrictions

limited to a fiberglass hood no other liteweight body parts unless originally OEM factory equipped

Full interior/exterior in all cars

Tires(rear) basically had to fit in the wheelwells 10.0 or 10.5 if I remember

Engines had to fit in the engine compartment without extensive massaging of sheetmetal-Factory engine had to match body used (ford/ford) etc

Stock valve jobs NO porting/polishing of heads

Minimum weight per class restrictions

No Vegas/Pintos little cars basically ChevyII/Nova--Firebird--Camaro--Mustang---Maverick--Aspen--Volare --cudas/darts etc. type cars


That was it!!!!

Worked great until Rickie Smith, MikeEdwards and Arlen Fadely showed up with the Mavericks next thing ya know they allowed port matching then milled air horns 5 speeds etc. and ya know the rest of the story there was no more ECONO in super Modified.

[blkjack]

Originally Posted by FED 387

Worked great until Rickie Smith, MikeEdwards and Arlen Fadely showed up with the Mavericks next thing ya know they allowed port matching then milled air horns 5 speeds etc. and ya know the rest of the story there was no more ECONO in super Modified.

No, milled air horns are not accepted. The 4+1 Doug Nash trannys were 4 speeds .........but essentially you are right. The econo intent lasted 1 season.

[randy wilson]

Sounds like, if they had left it alone, it would have survived.

[Ed Wright]

Some of the rules listed are wrong.
A, B & C were lbs/cubic inch.
Seems like a was 8.5 lbs, B was 9.5 lbs and C was 10.5 lbs.

A/SM did not have to be a big block. I took a shot at it with a 400" sbc.

B/SM did not have to be canted valve engines, still lbs/cubic inch. Lots of 331" sbc there.

C/SM was allowed canted valves one year. Fadley won C/SM at Indy that year but was bounced due to a displacement error. His crank was not what he ordered and he failed to measure it. Something like one cubic inch big at tear down. Voglen should have won. Fadley took him out early. I was dead late in the class semis, and an eleven second car ended up winner when Fadley was tossed. Rick Voglin was robbed. Next year C/SM was inline valves only. Seemed like C/SM had like 30 or so cars at Indy that year?

IHRA had Super Mod as a heads up eliminator at 10 lbs. Looser head rules, 11.5" tires and 850 carbs instead of NHRA's 750 cfm, 10.5" tire rules. Any GM head castings allowed. Rickey Smith pretty much ruled there.

NHRA allowed certain number 750 cfm carbs, pretty much same as SS rules there, but the choke butterfly & shaft could be removed.

Cylinder heads had to be assembly line available castings, no "Bowtie", "Turbo", etc. Porting allowed was chambers, and 1" below the bottom of the valve seats in the bowls, and 1/2" back from the intake flange for port matching. Any valve size.
There was a difference in heads. I had four sets from big name shops doing Modified heads. Won't name them all, but Lee Shepherd's were nearly a tenth quicker than anybody else's. They showed much better on my flow bench too. Shows how criticle the valve job & seat/bowl area is.

Btw, the Fadley & Mike Edwards car is one and the same.

[BlueOval Ralph]

and it was Jim Stevens, Fadely, Jim Elean for Div 5 Rickey never ran NHRA S/M only time he came to NHRA was in D/MP with 2 4 barrels at INDY can not remeber if it was 77 or 78!

Heads were ported 1 inch down from valve seat and 1/4 inch intake port match.
Carbs were were never allowed to have Air Horn milled in NHRA
1975 only one 1 class A/SM in 76 it went to 3 A, B & C

In 1976 you could run Canted Valve in C/SM as Fadely Ran Div 3 that way most of the year

Originally Posted by FED 387

The "original intent" of Super Mod was to provide an entry level set of classes to compete in Modified Eliminator without the cost of Tunnel rams/multiple trick carbs or ported heads-extensive engine/body modifications etc

These were the basic rules as I remember them

There were 3 classes of V8 engines

A--big blocks only
B-canted valve head engines-basically small block Ford
C-inline valve head engines-all other V8 engines

Following were the basic rules

All had carb restrictions

tire size restrictions

limited to a fiberglass hood no other liteweight body parts unless originally OEM factory equipped

Full interior/exterior in all cars

Tires(rear) basically had to fit in the wheelwells 10.0 or 10.5 if I remember

Engines had to fit in the engine compartment without extensive massaging of sheetmetal-Factory engine had to match body used (ford/ford) etc

Stock valve jobs NO porting/polishing of heads

Minimum weight per class restrictions

No Vegas/Pintos little cars basically ChevyII/Nova--Firebird--Camaro--Mustang---Maverick--Aspen--Volare --cudas/darts etc. type cars


That was it!!!!

Worked great until Rickie Smith, MikeEdwards and Arlen Fadely showed up with the Mavericks next thing ya know they allowed port matching then milled air horns 5 speeds etc. and ya know the rest of the story there was no more ECONO in super Modified.

[Robert Swartz]

Interesting class to revisit. Could the concept be revived? The 10.5 tire class of the 70's could become the 10.5 tire class of today. Good winter conversation thread.


If you look at the rules, they kind of mirror the IHRA crate motor class but would allow different cylinder heads and roller cams. The heads would be an issue. It was mentioned on another post, a way around this might be a claimer rule. This has worked for the local stock car classes. Why couldn't it be applied to drag racing? We all talk about the costs, it would take some starch out of the money boys, lose a couple of expensive motors. Would the competition be equal, I doubt it but it might level the playing field some for us lo-buck types.

Just to add to the conversation, what about car types? I'm looking at this from the perspective of suspensions. If we had the same type of rules as stock, that limits the types of cars allowed to compete. Would there be an allowance for front wheel drive conversions? How would those be handled? Hate to muddy the waters but just throwing some thoughts out there.

[Rick Voegelin]

A friend pointed me toward this thread. Reading the posts brought back many memories, and stirred up some long-forgotten brain cells. Apologies in advance for this long and rambling post.

I was inspired to look at moldy old issues of Car Craft and NHRA rulebooks to trace the class' history. The original idea of Pro Modified (that's what we called it) was born when John Dianna (then the CC editor) and I were driving his transporter from Bowling Green to Detroit. Car Craft had played a key role in the Econorail concept (back then it was an obsolete front-engine dragster with a small-block and an automatic trans, not the purpose-built dragsters of today), and we came up with a similar doorslammer class. We pitched our idea to NHRA National Tech Director Jim Dale. Dale told us that if there was enough racer support for the idea, he'd consider it.

The first article appeared in July 1974 CC titled "Cutting the High Cost of Racing." (The US was in another recession back then, and money was tight.) The introduction laid out the idea: "Drag racing needs an eliminator bracket which encourages racers to build fast, exciting cars on a low budget. It needs a place for sportsmen who would like to campaign a heads-up, stock-bodied car without committing the financial suicide of going Pro Stock racing. It needs a bracket which spectators will pay to see, and which track operators can run without courting bankruptcy."

Based loosely on the AHRA GT3 class, CC proposed a Pro Modified class at 10 lbs/ci, 1967 or later body, single four-barrel, production cylinder heads, and 12" tires. We put a survey in the magazine for racers to fill out and send, and ran regular updates in following issues. I took two notebooks filled with racer letters and surveys to NHRA headquarters and dumped them on Dale's desk. "There's your response!" I told him.

NHRA bought the concept, but not the details. Instead of a separate heads-up eliminator, the class became part of Modified in 1975. NHRA renamed it A/Super Modified, and specified 9 lbs/in, 2850 lbs. minimum weight (without driver), 366ci maximum, and 10.5" tires. Not more than 50 percent of total weight could be on rear wheels. Only three A/SM cars made the 1975 Winternationals, but by Indy, there were more than 20 in class eliminations. The index was 10.65 as I recall.

In 1976, NHRA expanded Super Modified to three classes: A/SM (8.5 lbs/ci, big-block wedge or canted valve, 850 cfm carb, 11.5" tires, 3350 lbs. minimum with driver); B/SM (9.50 lbs/ci, 3000 lbs. minimum with driver, small-block wedge only, 750 cfm, 10.5" tire); and C/SM (10.50 lbs/ci, otherwise same as B/SM). I believe the respective indexes were 10.40 for A/SM, 10.60 for B/SM, and 10.80 for C/SM. That year at Indy, there were 31 cars in C/SM, and it took five rounds to make Monday's Modified show.

There were no significant rule changes for 1977, but in 1978 A/SM was opened up to allow Hemi and small-block engines, and non-production factory heads were allowed in A/SM and B/SM (permitting 292 turbo heads in Chevys). C/SM was reserved for production wedge heads only, effectively eliminating the Cleveland Mavericks from the class. NHRA also factored the canted valve Fords with a .2 lb/ci penalty (not the right thing to do, but they'd set the precedent with weight breaks for Pro Stocks based on engine type). Cars with automatic transmissions got a 150-pound weight break.

As others have mentioned, many great racers competed in the Super Mod classes over the years. To name just a few: Ray Allen (Truppi/Kling Chevy II), Garley Daniels (C/SM Chevy II), Larry Nelson (Jeg's Chevy II), Mike Cook (C/SM Camaro), Rick Houser (B/SM Chevy II), FJ Smith (B/SM Camaro), Ron Anderson (B/SM Maverick), Jim Ehlen (B/SM Mustang), Dempsey Hardy (C/SM Chevy II), Mike Keener (A/SM Camaro), Steve Nolan (A/SM Nova), Rick McGinnis (C/SM Camaro), Don Bowles (A/SM Fairmont), Mike Edwards (B/SM Maverick), Jim Stevens (B/SM Maverick) and many, many more. (Sorry if I've got cars and classes incorrect, a lot of brain cells have died since then.)

In my opinion, Super Mod died when NHRA killed Modified eliminator at the end of the 1981 season and the classes were split between Super Stock and Comp. When I look at what Super Mod has become, I just shake my head. While I am amazed at how fast the Super Mod cars run and I respect what the racers have accomplished, the current generation of cars is light years away from the original idea of affordable, heads-up racing.

Thanks for the memories,
Rick Voegelin

[larry dowty]

ed you were right, i talked with steve nolan at breakfast this morning and mike was in B/SM as rick just posted ( hi rick ) that was some good times had buy all.