Interest in Modified?
 

I've seen a lot of mention of "bring back modified" I guess my question would be, Who's interested? The way I see it they(IHRA) would have no clue that racers would like to see a return of Modified or a similar eliminator without getting input from the racers. I for one believe that there is sufficient interest in a class such as this, obviously there were some problems with Modified as it was contested prior to it's demise. What would you change if anything with regard to the class? What do you believe would be the best way of swaying IHRA to consider such a move? Let's face it Class racing in IHRA is pretty much a joke IMO. Joe Buchanan SS/AX SS/BX 3117

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

we would run more races if they would go back to modified index racing. come on, we have to get back to real class racing. let me know your thoughts.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

You are kicking a dead horse.......it is all a joke.......class racing is nothing but a bunch of old fart die-hards that can't quit the addiction......where are the young guys who care about performance ????? They are either playing with their "mouse" ( computer ) or putting a muffler on their four banger.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Mr. Davenport, I hardly consider myself an "old fart" however I do agree that for the most part the newer generation has little to no interest in participating in Class racing,however if they so wish there are a lot of classes for them to participate in that don't require the same amount of effort or expense as Modified, it's not for every one. I have a son who is a very accomplished Bracket racer however he has little to no interest in Class racing, that doesn't make him less of a racer. Most of the racers I've grown up around just happen to be Class oriented, the drive to improve a combo just for the sake of improving it is not in everyone. I'm sure there are alot of racers with the same "Mentality" I've just posed the question as to the amount of interest. Thanks Joe Buchanan SS/AX SS/BX 3117

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Joe,

The interest in Modified is already there but "I and N" just call it Super Stock! I attended the IHRA World Finals in Rockingham for the Super Summit Series deal in 2007 and watched a fair amount of Stock and Super Stock action. More than half the cars that populated Super Stock that weekend were Modified cars!

Look at all the big name Super Stock racers who have changed to Modified type cars to control the outcome of the finish line. Fletcher, DeFrank, Biondo (s), Bertozzi, Taylor , Fuqua, Martel, and many others who ran conventional Super Stockers for years and have moved over to "hood scoop" cars and won a lot of $$$ in Modified/Comp trim.

I was at Indy in '81 when the Modified cars protested the demise of the class. Was priceless to watch the parade from the stands and the last time I personally saw a group of racers unite and stand up for what they thought was wrong (other than when the Pro Stock Truck competitors took on NHRA and won).

The interest is there, its just not called Modified any longer.

Mike Ferstl

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Sorry....none of you guys remember the history of the bitter "bomb" the "great IHRA" gave modified and superstock....cut us right off...a lot of great racers were left hung out to dry and never returned.....and will never forget or forgive.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Mr. Davenport, Me and my brother were racing Modified when "They dropped the bomb" on us he hasn't raced since. I've obviously continued however I've not lost the Modified Mentality. I had my ***** handed to me in class run offs the first couple years of running my 6 cyl. combo but I didn't hide or jump class I went home and worked on it, hard to break old habits I guess. I've mostly regarded drag racing as a performance oriented sport, it just seems illogical to me for that to change in class racing.I'd just like to see if there are a few "old farts" like me that would like to have a class where you have to EARN= Qualify your way in thus being "rewarded" for your hard work. After all this is CLASS RACERS.com right? Thanks Joe Buchanan SS/AX SS/BX 3117

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

I'm with you on the idea........the overall interest just isn't there..........I was president of an association that I will not mention that kept class racing alive for a few years on its own......good and bad experiences.....I found out regretfully that too many so called "class" racers are in it just for themselves and their own selfish interest......very disappointing. Thanks for your continued interest but I'm afraid it is too late for a resurrection.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

"Let's face it Class racing in IHRA is pretty much a joke IMO"

Wow...how often do you run IHRA? I think IHRA class racing is very competitive. I run a modified combination myself but would run any kind of car whether it is a traditional ss/ha or gt car as long as it fits in the super stock rules. IHRA class racing is far from a joke!

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

clas racing is not a joke. bracket racing has caused us to be a laughing stock of the racing world. can you imagine a local round track making guys dial in by their qualifing laps, the stands would be as empty as a local weekend at the bracket races. do not get all pissy, it is the truth.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Hey Joe!

It would be way to cool for IHRA to bring back modified, I am "all in" as I am sure Jamie would be too.
Might keep our buddy Donn from "retiring" huh?. I love having a modified car (even though its in SS) it is all I have ever wanted to do since seeing Don Bowles Fairmont when I was a kid. I drool at the thought of the high winding cars all racing each other off of records or indexes or whatever, but no chalk! The shame of all this is that IHRA probably could not administer the class fairly, look what happened to Top Stock.
Its not the people at the ground level, its the management that promotes the laissez faire attitude towards this type of racing "too much work". It would be really neat to let the 5 oh cars and the early type modifieds and heck even some of the surviving imports with the turbo motors race "Head Up" with a handicapped start and no break out!

It is probably all moot now that most of the front drive GT conversions are subtly disguised Comp cars. lets face it, we probably are racing in modified (with chalk) what with the ported heads and conversion cars. I know I am generalizing but hasn't stock really become super, and Super Stock is teetering on being modified? If I remember you could not do to the heads then what the "ss" guys are doing now.( I bet somebody will correct me)

Any how I do believe in positive posting and if it were ever to bear fruit, I know I can speak for two crazy Canadians that would be in the tech line up, no matter how slow we were!

Joe I never got to see the new car, how did it turn out?

Venice
SS/CS
3041

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

vev 302 i like your approach and gutsy attitude. we also run cs when we venture out.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

I know there's a lot of interest. I also understand Rusty's point. But who knows if even stock and super stock will survive.

But you can put me in. I would love to run modified again in my old vette.
I think there are a lot of other racers too. I still have fans come up and ask about the "good ole days" and wondering if the class will ever come back.

Doyle Evans

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

who would be interested?------------------ ANTHONY BARTOZZI. THE GREATEST MODIFIED DRIVER EVERY.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

I DON'T THINK SO. Paul Mercure had his but sittin in a modified more than anybody.Plus real modifieds had three pedals, not like these sissy automatic, button leavin,selinoid shifted,so called modified cars

Ernie Price is still livin the dream...


Hammer

Nothing against A.B. he is a great driver

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

I think racers and fans alike would be interested in reviving the category. But this time around make it a doorslammer only class, and forget about weight breaks for using automatics-Door cars with manual transmissions only!

While I am in this thread let me give a shout out to Doyle Evans! :)

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

the fans will come back for this,and dont forget about ernie's engine builder dr dave watson still out there rowin'em also.as a helper with an organization for nothing but stickshift doorslammers(the umtr united manual transmission racers)you dont know how refreshing it is to hear this kind of chatter,it would be great to see some old corvette's and chevy 2's with little inchers and highwinding small blocks banging gears again.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Venice, Hi Car turned out pretty good, took longer than I thought to finish, working full time and trying to build a car in less than a year by yourself was a tough road. I did finally get it going however really late in the year only managed to get to the Jegs Sports nats at Columbus and the Osceola points race. I'm fairly pleased with initial results, but still have some issues to iron out. Hopefully I'll be ready to go in the spring. As for the IHRA SS NOT being a joke as posted by someone else just look at the qualifying sheets at most any race, then tell me the same thing. Thanks Joe Buchanan SS/AX SS/BX 3117

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

283 destroked to 277, tunnel ram/w 660's, 5 speed, 650 gear, left the line at 11,800 and shifted at 10,500 in a 69 camaro, (year...1982. class...e/mp....index...10.50...ran 9.60...front tires droping in the middle of third gear...driver...my machine shop owner/bulider... Bill Reichert. Interested ??? I think i enjoyed watching him more then than what i do now. thanks for listening, "Thrash"

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Rusty, you cant be serious, class racers/old farts that cant quit, dont care about performance, you must wear a tie during the day so your head can be pulled out of your arse when needed, like now, you have my vote for posting the funniest(dumbest) post on the site.Please say you didn't mean it. "Thrash"

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

there is one place that still runs off of a set index. check out headsup-racing.com.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Joe - Come race in the divisions where IHRA is strong. If you base the competition level off of the event in Osceola then you would say all the classes are a joke because there were very few cars in any of the classes. Poor scheduling had some to do w/ that, on top of VA national I think. It would be great to bring modified back, I ran modified and super stock w/two cars for several years and I know where there's a couple of cars sitting that would do it again if they were to bring it back. I saw on another forum where comp is being reduced to fewer events in '09...could that be because of lack of participation? Same situation IHRA faced a couple of years ago w/modified. Just a thought.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Many of the "young guys who care about performance" are doing this:
http://www.fasteststreetcar.com/rules.html

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

If it wasn't for IHRA there are a lot of Stock, Super Stock & Modified racers that would not have never run class IHRA brought class racing to the South, in particilar, NC,SC,TN, &Va. In the 70's & early to mid 80's, IHRA had 20-30 "WCS" races. That allowed a lot of racers to get there feet wet in class racing at the local level. NHRA had little to offer in those areas at that time, and frankly, it's not much better now. There are a lot of NHRA class racers that got their start with IHRA over the years. I agree that there are things that need to changed or tweeked, but so does the NHRA. Look at the NHRA schedule, 1 Nat'l event in NC, not running SS, no points races, 1 Nat'l.& 1 points race in Va, 1 Nat'l in the eastern part of TN., 0 Nat'l or points races in SC. For those of you not in these area's, this may not mean much to you. But for those of us who have jobs with not a lot of vacation time or in a sales/commision job where you lose money by not being at work, this is a huge factor in where & which organization we choose to spend our money with. So, before kicking IHRA in the dirt, take a look at NHRA and see how much they have done for the class racers in the last 10 years. 50% of what I read on this forum is compliants about how the NHRA is treating the sportsman racers. Each Association serves it purpose for class racing, in different ways.

Scott Tilley
IHRA SS Nat'l R/U
IHRA SS"WCS" R/U
Many time SS IHRA Record Holder
S/SS Combo wins & R/U

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

I think alot of the slow down in the stock /superstock area is just a microcosm of what has happened to the entire automobile industry and the American car culture. I am in my mid 30's and alot of the peope I know drive Honda's, Toyotas, Nissans. Those were the first cars they drove (because they were cheaper/more dependable??) and thus that is what they have purchased for themselves as time has passed and they have moved up in income brackets. They may have traded their Corola for a Highlander, but it is still a Toyota.
In past generations, this happened to be the way Chevrolet, Ford, and Mopar sold cars. The brand loyalty that the big three laid back and was dependent upon to sell cars has long since gone by the wayside.

I don't think alot of young adults that have the $$$ to compete in Stock/SS/Mod have the background to become interested in those classes. They can't identify with a Camaro, Dart, Mustang, Chevelle unless they were introduced to those cars at some earlier point in their life.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Chris, I agree with you , also when their parents bought ( or let kid buy) that little piece of s@#*t they thought that it was a affordable way to get around. But the kids started figuring out ways to make them quicker and so that's what caused what we have today with all the non-domestic autos. just my $.02

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

I have had the honer to race modified starting in '92 till the end. Great group of people in the class. Sorry to see it end.
The thing that was most enjoyable is that it was a 32 qualified field. I learned how to make stuff faster and more competitive at times and how to really go the other way with it and go slower. Modified had some damn good drivers. If the class was offered to run again I would jump in with both feet. It was a very cost effective weight to cubic inch class compared to comp that is. At least for me it was. I say IHRA throw it on the table see what response you get. I'll check the yes box.
Jim Primozic ex c/ed now ss/cm and i like the door cars more.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

well said Scott Tilley !!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Very well said Scott...and I still can't believe there is no NHRA divisional in Charlotte!!!

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Scott makes a good point. I don't think it's worth the trouble and expense to race NHRA when most of the division races are in FL or south GA. If NHRA had put one in Bristol, one in Charlotte, and left the one in Atlanta then it would have been a resonable distance for the racers in the Carolinas to participate.

As for the Modified racing I say bring it on!! I'm too young to remember how it worked with out "chalk", but the dial-in stuff needs to go. I also think these all run fields need to go. IMO the fields need to be set on 32 or 64 car qualified field using CLASS ELIMINATIONS and then field with fast qualifiers. I'm just getting started in this Super Stock thing and would honestly have to say that currently I probably wouldn't make the show, BUT that means I need to go do my homework, not cry for shoe polish!

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

I would really like to see the modified classes come back. I am old enough to remember the gas and modified races at Kinston. What ever your class record was that was what you ran off of.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

I know I'm probably spitting in the wind but here goes.

Just for curiosity sakes, why not make a list of potential racers who currently own a car that would fit in modified and would be willing to run in the class. If IHRA (I doubt seriously NHRA would add another "class" eliminator) would try, who all would be interested?
I have one car and think I know several others.

Doyle

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Mr, Evans thank you, this is what I was looking for, I have a car that I believe would fit a Mod. class and I know at least 5 other racers that do also. That makes 6 and counting. Thanks Joe Buchanan

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

i have one. ss/cs

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

I was told a couple of years ago an effort was made similar to this by a former IHRA modified racer (which later went to comp) who went to IHRA and offered to sponsor the class but there was no interest in adding more classes. That was before the Polburn/Peaco era so maybe things have changed...they're cancelling nitro funnycar because of lack of sponsorship, maybe it's a good time to go in w/ a sponsor to try to revive it. If they paid qualifying money as was the case before I would consider switching to modified otherwise I have too much invested in a super stock combination to make the changes to be a competitive top qualifier. I do know of at least two people that would do it though. Also, something to consider is where most of the racers that would do it are located, probably the largest concentration will be in division 2 and 9, maybe you could get the divsion director to add the class to the divisional schedule to test the waters. Just a thought.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Ok guys at a track operator Ill make this offer. You get me 20 cars Modified type, now SS production cars can run as well but we will call it Modified, and I will do a race for it.

1000 win
300 RU
150 Semi
75 1/4's


I know this isnt alot but its a start. My brother and I have had a TON on our plate the last year but have now figured out how to run a track and not let a track run us. As always Xtreme Motorsports will pay 100.00 bonus to any stick car that wins a race at Piedmont. So its really 1100 to win. If we have enough we could have the first race in April before Rockingham National..

Herb Jr

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

All of you guys have some good points about Modified

I also had a thought very close to this, They come out with like a 283-310 class, 327-360 class and a 383-410 class and a 396-433 class and so on

Have it sort of like Pro Stock, Tunnel Ram with 2 carburetors, and race the engines in weight/hp classes or in CID classes

Basically have the rules like must have tunnel ram with two carburetors, no injection, no N.O.S, pretty much any mods as long as its a 23° head

Make rules on transmissions such as nothing Exotic. Make it for the guy who dreams about racing like a Pro in a heads up class but make it affordable and easy to race, if they dont make a class thats easy to get started in without big sponsorship or alot of $$$ Drag Racing is living a limited life

This is just reflecting my opinion, so my overall answer is YES or a similar class

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Do you have an e-mail or phone number or web-site? Thank you !

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

if this happens count us in 2008 cobalt ss/cs. 5101. set indexes and let them run out the back door. would be nice to have them also set records.

Re: Interest in Modified?
 

Hey Herb------sounds like you plan to get the scales out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!