40 Yrs. of modified and super stock racing

J Slane · 02-19-2018, 05:15 PM

40 years ago in a small one car garage Mike Pearson and I started building a 68 Camaro C/SM, Mike was 17 and I was 18, we finished the car in about a year and hit the road, we had a pickup truck with a 60 over 427 in it and an open trailer, Bowling Green to Indy and all over the southeast. 2 years later we decided to make a SS/J car, now it's 40 years later and Mike is still running the same car. I can't make Gators this year, but if you see him at the races congratulate him on his 40 year tour, I'm sure it will make his day....

Gary Smith · 02-20-2018, 01:22 PM

Wow Jay, all this time I never knew you and Mike were the East Coast version of Voegelin and Mayerson

Growing up in SoCal I watched Rick and Norm do the same thing. Had I known you guys back then, I probably could have been the "third wheel" and been racing SSSSA events with a Chebby!!

Congrats Mike on your 40th year doin what we all love!!

voltdr · 02-20-2018, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary Smith

Wow Jay, all this time I never knew you and Mike were the East Coast version of Voegelin and Mayerson

Growing up in SoCal I watched Rick and Norm do the same thing. Had I known you guys back then, I probably could have been the "third wheel" and been racing SSSSA events with a Chebby!!

Congrats Mike on your 40th year doin what we all love!!

Man, how I remember those magazine articles about them building that SM car. Great stuff back then.
Dan

J Slane · 02-20-2018, 01:38 PM

Gary you are not a third wheel you have history to man

Mike Pearson · 02-20-2018, 05:10 PM

Its been an awesome 40 years wheeling my trusty old 1968 Camaro. Its taken a few different turns during its life. Like Jay said it started as a C/SM car around 1977-78 and after a few years I made it into a SS/J stick car with a 327 and 4 speed. In the mid 80s I put a 350 and a glide in it and ran SS/IA and then later SS/HA. Now I have a 327 back in the car and am running SS/IA again. I have a few guys that really helped me out in the beginning to get me going in the right direction. Jay Slane has always been there right beside me helping out with what ever needed to be done on the car. Now he has a car of his own and we still race together along with many other things. I have been very lucky to have Jay as my best friend for all of these years. Another was my mentor in the early days Phil Jones. Phil taught me most everything I know about a race car. He taught me how to build engines and how to weld and fabricate. Thanks to him I can do almost everything on my car except the machine work. Its not real fast but I have a lot of fun racing it. Hopefully this year it will treat me well and we can go some rounds and get a few win lights in our lane. See y'all at the races

Alan Nyhus · 02-20-2018, 05:28 PM

Very cool story and history. Congrats! -Al

Keith Bennett · 02-21-2018, 11:49 PM

Well Deserved Congratulations to you Mike, and Jay.

Glad to be racing with you.

HR9121 · 02-22-2018, 12:08 AM

Congratulations on 40 years of class racing Mike. I hope I can still be getting at it after 40 years, I won't even say how old I was when y'all got started!

02-19-2018, 05:15 PM	#1
J Slane Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 73 Likes: 225 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	40 Yrs. of modified and super stock racing 40 years ago in a small one car garage Mike Pearson and I started building a 68 Camaro C/SM, Mike was 17 and I was 18, we finished the car in about a year and hit the road, we had a pickup truck with a 60 over 427 in it and an open trailer, Bowling Green to Indy and all over the southeast. 2 years later we decided to make a SS/J car, now it's 40 years later and Mike is still running the same car. I can't make Gators this year, but if you see him at the races congratulate him on his 40 year tour, I'm sure it will make his day....

02-20-2018, 01:22 PM	#2
Gary Smith Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Miami, FL. Posts: 830 Likes: 7 Liked 69 Times in 24 Posts	Re: 40 Yrs. of modified and super stock racing Wow Jay, all this time I never knew you and Mike were the East Coast version of Voegelin and Mayerson Growing up in SoCal I watched Rick and Norm do the same thing. Had I known you guys back then, I probably could have been the "third wheel" and been racing SSSSA events with a Chebby!! Congrats Mike on your 40th year doin what we all love!! __________________ Gary Smith "another broke racer spectating"

02-20-2018, 01:38 PM	#4
J Slane Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 73 Likes: 225 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: 40 Yrs. of modified and super stock racing Gary you are not a third wheel you have history to man

02-20-2018, 05:10 PM	#5
Mike Pearson VIP Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 2,371 Likes: 555 Liked 1,640 Times in 507 Posts	Re: 40 Yrs. of modified and super stock racing Its been an awesome 40 years wheeling my trusty old 1968 Camaro. Its taken a few different turns during its life. Like Jay said it started as a C/SM car around 1977-78 and after a few years I made it into a SS/J stick car with a 327 and 4 speed. In the mid 80s I put a 350 and a glide in it and ran SS/IA and then later SS/HA. Now I have a 327 back in the car and am running SS/IA again. I have a few guys that really helped me out in the beginning to get me going in the right direction. Jay Slane has always been there right beside me helping out with what ever needed to be done on the car. Now he has a car of his own and we still race together along with many other things. I have been very lucky to have Jay as my best friend for all of these years. Another was my mentor in the early days Phil Jones. Phil taught me most everything I know about a race car. He taught me how to build engines and how to weld and fabricate. Thanks to him I can do almost everything on my car except the machine work. Its not real fast but I have a lot of fun racing it. Hopefully this year it will treat me well and we can go some rounds and get a few win lights in our lane. See y'all at the races __________________ Mike Pearson 2485 SS

02-20-2018, 05:28 PM	#6
Alan Nyhus VIP Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Lower Dakota territory Posts: 1,162 Likes: 1,012 Liked 761 Times in 225 Posts	Re: 40 Yrs. of modified and super stock racing Very cool story and history. Congrats! -Al __________________ "That'll never work....."

02-21-2018, 11:49 PM	#7
Keith Bennett Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Lakeland FL Posts: 222 Likes: 447 Liked 75 Times in 40 Posts	Re: 40 Yrs. of modified and super stock racing Well Deserved Congratulations to you Mike, and Jay. Glad to be racing with you. __________________ Keith A/S 2990/Terri A/SA 2991 "Imagine what you'd attempt, if you knew you could not fail!"

02-22-2018, 12:08 AM	#8
HR9121 Live Reporter Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: New Bern, NC Posts: 3,351 Likes: 112 Liked 2,866 Times in 640 Posts	Re: 40 Yrs. of modified and super stock racing Congratulations on 40 years of class racing Mike. I hope I can still be getting at it after 40 years, I won't even say how old I was when y'all got started! __________________ James Williamson W200 J/SA

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