Best Modified racer?
 

Okay, we?ve been through the best Super Stock and Junior Stock racers. How about the best Modified racer? Of course my vote goes to Garley Daniels and his C/SM Chevy II. I?ll have to add Larry Kopp and Cotton Perry also. Let the fun begin.
Bob Rice

I saw Paul Mercure in Michigan in the late 70's early 80's when I was a kid and he was awesome in that Checkmate Camaro. I think he ran D/MP. He was outrunning everybody.

Ed Carpenter

66 Chevy II

SS/H

Oh boy.....This should be a fun one!!!

Where to start.....Dave Hutchens could rank up there with the roadster and the Opel. After Tony Christian acquired the ex-Reher-Morrison Vette, he went on a tear on the National event trail with six wins? David Nickens can't be overlooked. Billy Mansell would have probably have had a great career if he had not left us unexpectively due to his tragic highway accident. Two National event wins in a short time while his future was looking very bright.

How far back do you want to go? Carroll Caudle, Raymond Martin, Bobby Cross in David & Buddy's Maverick ("The Real Boss 302!"), Lee Shepard in his ChevyII wagon, The WOP Shop cars, later Mike Edward's B/SM Maverick (made my life miserable<G>) ....jk

How about Arlen Fadely (B/SM Maverick) or Bruce Sizemore (I/G Pinto)? Northeast guys would remember Brian Gillis (B/G Nova) and Bobby Spirito ("Daddy's Dollar" F/G Camaro).

Ralph Ridgeway . Godfather of the SBC tunnel ram

Coleman Roddy, period

Gene Fulton

Larry Kopp

I'm with you, Randall - Coleman Roddey.

Then Lee Shepherd, Larry Kopp, Dave Hutchins, Paul Blevins and the Nickens Brothers in that order.

Best Modified Racer
 

I have to second that on Paul Blevins he did very well with 55 Nomad.

Clay Hair is another one,//./,

Buddy Ingersoll should rank fairly high.

Best Modified
 

My top three are Larry Kopp, Lee Shepherd, and Tony Christian, and its tough to leave out "The California Flash" Butch Leal

Kopp, Roddy, are 2nd and 3rd. Cotton Perry was the man ! IMO !

Palmer and Perry.

It's before my time, but I read that Allen Patterson was real good too.

Todd Hoven
1035 Stk

Last I heard, the old Pocket Rocket was sitting next to a building right around Ringgold Georgia. Not for sale.

I have to go with Paul Blevins. I remember the 'Vette.

My vote would have to be for Gene Fulton as Best Modified driver. My family (Jerry Jennings) convoyed with Gene & Kay, and we usually stayed late at the races. He is the only man I know who buried his race car after a crash and gave it a tombstone! The wagon was good to him.


Stacie Ridings

Coleman Roddey was the only person to win two NHRA Modified Eliminator national championships in a row against some of the best, many who are listed here. He also did it with two different cars, manual transmissions and no two-steps.

Best Modified Racer?
 

I believe that Roddy won back to back Competition Eliminator Championships in 83 and 84.
Bob Rice

Ricky smith,mike edwards and my west coast vote Tom turner

Best Modifird Racer
 

Cotton Perry Was Very Good, No Doubt. Prior To Cotton, Glen Self
Was A Terror In Div. 4 With His "stormin Six" H/mp Cars. Glen Also Won Indy In 1969. Also, Dennis Ferrera Out Of Div. 1 Did A Good Job In Modified As Did Bob Riffle In The "rod Shop" B/mp Demon.

Tim MacDonald , Larry "DOC" Dixon, Mike Magrew, Paul Bergert, Jim Griffith, Gene Dunlap, Wayne Jessel, Dave Surrells,


Hammer



Havin fun 1/4 mile at a time...

When i was a kid dad took me to tulsa world finals. names i put at the top mods. were GLEN SELF and my favorite CARROL CAUDLE and his blue and white 55 chevy.

Re: Best Modified racer?
 

Carroll still has that '55. He also has a fiberglass prototype tunnel ram Vic Edelbrock sent him for testing. He let Vic take the '65 Corvette FI intake he had made into a tunnel ram before the were comercially available. Edelbock cut Carroll's manifold up for some reason, instead of returning it. They gave him a new tunnel ram instead. He wasn't happy. When they sent him the plywood and fiberglass intake for testing, he kept it. Told Vic he "had to cut it up to test it". He still has it. Butch Lake also had a Corvette FI intake made into a tunnel ram on his '55 panel modified production car, also Ralph Ridgeway had one.

Re: Best Modified racer?
 

I agree with Terry, that up here in Div.6 Tom Turner was one of the best. Terry Kelly was another "pure driver" who did well. We had a lot of regional favorites who also did well, but not always on a national basis. I will have to give an "Attaboy" to Terry Hoard and his eardrum piercing Samurai Warrior Mazda who held off David Hutchens and his all conquering Opel Gt in the final round at the Fallnationals up here at Seattle one year. Yes the "crowd went wild"!
Danny Durham

Re: Best Modified racer?
 

Bobby Thompson..



Hammer.



Havin fun 1/4 mile at a time

Re: Best Modified racer?
 

yeah! for TERRY HOURD he won SPORTSNATIONALS at bowlingreen ky. in 76 or 77 that thing sounded good under bleachers!!!!!!!!

Re: Best Modified racer?
 

Harry Luzader was'nt too bad in that Opel. Had a sbc and the first one I saw with the dist. in the front of the engine. I am thinkin' 1973.

Re: Best Modified racer?
 

I think my choice might pre-date "Modified Eliminator." But, it was a Gasser, nonetheless, and would have run "Modified" at a later date.

Pittman/Edwards's B/GS and C/GS '41 Willys coupe was the car that showed Stone/Woods/Cook how to "do it."

They were among the first to make a supercharger work in a "door car" and surely one of the first teams to use an automatic transmission exclusively, in a blown car with serious horsepower.

Their Willys always had Oldsmobile power, and a Dual-Range '52 Olds HydraMatic transmission. The held the record in B/GS more often than not, and when they ran B, (which was most of the time) they were seldom outrun... and ran perilously close to the times being turned in "A", which carred two pounds less per cubic inch.

They were innovators and among the first to figure out that for a hydro car to e.t. like it should, it was critical not to have ~any~ wheelspin.

They once had a '41 Willys coupe that weighed 3,600 pounds.... :)

ZERO wheelspin, with that kind of ballast, for sure.

Their cars were featured in the Engle Cam ads and the B & M Hydro ads so much that it got boring.... except that they were just so dominant in their class, you wondered who was going to be able to knock them off.

Stone/Woods/Cook took Pittman/Edwards "recipe" (Hilborn-injected 6:71 on top of a late model Olds, hooked to a hydro, in a Willys coupe) and ran amuck in A/GS for several years with only Ohio George Montgomery and Big John Mazmanian giving them much trouble.

Ultimately, Stone/Woods/Cook garnered all the publicity in the Drag News "Gasser Wars" ads, but personally, I don't think any of that would have happened if not for the trail-blazing efforts of Pittman/Edwards in the years before.

They just about "invented" Blown Gassers.... fast ones, anyway...

That all took place between 1958 and 1966, BTW.

Bill, in Conway, AR

Re: Best Modified racer?
 

Come on,if you want to talk GASSERS you have to put the little fat guy on top from Dayton,Ohio. Got to hang out there before I was even a teenager. A neighbor worked for George a few nites outta the week. The Willys with a Cadillac engine was before my days. Remember it well with the sbc and was at Kil-Kare the day he tested with the Ford SOHC engine. I remember the older guys there joking with him saying he needed to put the sbc back in it because the SOHC didnt have enough power to spin the tires. Thats why he was standing it on the bumper every pass.

Re: Best Modified racer?
 

You're right about Ohio GEORGE (Montgomery.) He showed Stone/Woods/Cook the way home nearly every time they got together.

But, the Pittman/Edwards B and sometimes C car was racing nearly every week (mostly at San Fernando and San Gabriel, and getting lots of coverage in Drag News, plus they raced the year 'round, something you just can't do in Ohio...

No doubt about it, Ohio George was a HUGE influence because of his unprecedented success and innovative ways. His cars were ALWAYS really, really fast (I remember the earlier Cadillac-powered car and its "Moon disks.")

I think that Pittman/Edwards were slightly ahead of him, chronoligically, but he (Ohio George) was VERY successful, having turned back the vaunted S/W/C car in most of their encounters, and with a small-block Chevy, to boot...

Maybe it was because Drag News was a West Coast (L-A area) publication, but Pittman/Edwards were in there constantly, with class winner results from San Gabe, San Fernando, Long Beach, and the many other L-A area drag strips in the period around 1960. They seemed to race every week, somwhere, and almost always won, so had many imitators. Such was their influence.

Thanks for bringing up Geroge Montgomery, though, His win/loss record is probably about the most formidable in Gasser history; he didn't get beat much; that's for sure!

The great bulk of the Supercharged Gassers from that era ran 4-speed Hydros, and I think Pittman/Edwards, and Ohio George (who both ran Dual-Range Hydramatics) wew probably responsible for a lot of those cars using the hydro drivetrain. There were a few exceptions, but the outrageous torque production in these blown cars would literally eat up a B/W T-10, and there weren't a lot of options, 'til the T-Flites and Turbo 400s came into vogue, later.

Before those cars (the supercharged gassers) showed that automatics could work in a high performace environment, nobody took them seriously. B & M, and some others like them (Vitar, Bee Line, and a place in Chicago, whose name escapes me right now) changed all that. And, it changed the sport.

Re: Best Modified racer?
 

If my memory is correct George had the very first spool in 1959. Look at the scoops the A/FD are running. The tall partially round narrow ones. George ran that style of scoop in the 60's. George also built all of his cars.

Re: Best Modified racer?
 

That's very interesting about the spool and the hood scoop.... I'll have to consult one of my textbooks and take a look at that.

Do you remember the turbocharged AA/MC Pinto he built? It was, as far as I know, a twin to the one that Buddy Ingersoll ended up with , that eventually ran in the high 9's.

I don't remember ever seeing an article about that car. Dunno why not...
Washington state's Butch Ball had the record, with a similar car...

Bill, in Conway, AR

Re: Best Modified racer?
 

I dont think George sold the Pinto to anyone. I wanted to buy it in 95 and he didnt really want to sell it. You can look back at georges Willys and see the scoop and I know he had the first spool.

Re: Best Modified racer?
 

I'm surprised I haven't heard his name mentioned yet, but Don Carlton should certainly be considered. Another one of those guys that you have to wonder what he would have done had his life not been tragically cut short...