CLASS RACER FORUM - Last Year of Modified? Question

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Re: Last Year of Modified? Question

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Keener (Post 137871)

I have been reading this thread with great interest and about all I can add is a word about breakage. Yes it's true these cars would break some parts but if the class were run today you wouldn't see nearly as much because of product improvement in three major areas.

1. First and foremost the clutch. Clutches are so much less violent than the Long Style/Borg and Beck stuff we used to run it's pathetic. Knowing what we know now..man what a difference.

2. Transmissions are far superior today. In the beginning we used to run Borg Warner Super T10 transmissions! Can you imagine how much difference there is between them and todays Jerico & G Force transmissions used today. Hell even the 9310 Nickel alloy geared Chrysler 4 speed, and the 5 speed Nash stuff that we ran in later years of Modified could never stand up to todays transmissions. However, Much of the transmission breakage experienced by most racers in that era was a direct bi-product of "too much clutch" syndrome.

3. Valve train components. Sometimes it is hard for me to imagine what we expected of these engines when I look back at the crude stuff we had to work with in this area. We had a Jomar stud girdle, and some roller rockers, and very breakable valve springs that we expected to twist nearly 10,000 RPM. Oh sure they did it all right, but you get my drift. Jessel Rocker Shaft systems, better springs...man I wish we had that stuff back then.

MK

So my earlier posts about breakage and costs to keep your car running are not really exaggerated and Mike Keener agrees. Hard work is only going to be a part of the equation. If you have no parts to replace the ones you broke becaue you don't have the money to buy them your sidelined. You can't fix broken clutches, transmissions, rear ends or broken valvetrains strictly with "hard work"........and plenty of local racers did not have "connections" to more than one source for info, parts, machine work etc......Those that stated that all it took was effort to be competetive are not really telling it like it was. The /SM classes were supposed to be a "budget" like the Econo Dragsters.....nothing "econo" about either of them real quickly after they were instituted. It is the same today in Stock and SuperStock........try runnning as fast as they are at Indy today and yesterday with some sort of home built deal and let me know how you make out.......You can work till your fingers bleed and you won't make the field without the "right stuff" under the hood and behind the engine.......

Re: Last Year of Modified? Question

rich you are right about the times and how hard you had to work and how much money it took to campaign one of these cars,but alot of us have fond memories of these cars and always will.you are a glass half empty kind of guy and the rest of us are the half full kind.on a scale comparison it would be like trying to run a comp car now,but as mike kenner said everything is so much more bullet proof compared to what was used back then.i know guys that run stick cars in the umtr that work on them less than you work on your dragster.the director of the south chapter has a 79 z-28 that weighs in at 3400 lbs and runs 9.40's at 142 and 60ft at 1.29 he's put over 400 passes on the rearend and trans with no problems.also david manning runs superstock in one of those home built ones and runs fast enough to get in the field, so the beauty is in the eye of the beholder and can be done both ways.in todays times with the quality of the parts out there it would be much cheaper to run one of these cars.the difference in cost now is driven up by the 18 to 10 degree heads and manifolds, if some one were to resurrect this class and limit the cylinder heads to keep the cost down it could be affordable for someone to put together one and run it.maybe the fans and the fun would come back to drag racing.

Re: Last Year of Modified? Question

Mike Keener is absolutely correct. I finally could not afford all the breakage. Went from a "Super T10" to a Nash, and still tore stuff up. When it was not breaking, my valve spring bill alone was a killer. 50 passes from a set of aluminium rods. Learned the hard way to not push that one.

Sure was a blast when it stayed together!

Re: Last Year of Modified? Question

Scotty D said it exactly right. and the first sanctioning body that does this will have a class affordable and exciting.