An Idea for the Future

[Bobby Bennett]

What do you guys think of making the SS/E - F - G Modified classes for pre-1970 cars only. Maybe create an H Modified for the 6-cylinder cars. Maybe make the SS/GM cars for the old big wagons like the Good Ole Charlie Brown.

Can't help it, I miss my old Modified eliminator.

[Ed Fernandez]

That makes too much sense for Ca. to do.

[Ed Wright]

I never did understand why they got rid of Modified instead of Comp. Not many raced Comp, and nobody watched Comp.

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

I never did understand why they got rid of Modified instead of Comp. Not many raced Comp, and nobody watched Comp.

Money and politics !

[Steve Williams]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

I never did understand why they got rid of Modified instead of Comp. Not many raced Comp, and nobody watched Comp.

You are way off base on this Ed. Back at the time that Modified got axed, it was very common for close to 60 cars or more show up for 32 car show. It was also common for 100 plus to show for 64 car show. Comp was and still is the class that bridges the gap technology and innovation wise from Super Stock to Pro Stock. I have worked on Modified cars back in the day as well as Comp cars then and now. It was a shame that Modified took it in the shorts like they did because it obsoleted most cars from that category overnight. The problem with Comp nowadays is that it is awful hard to explain index, CIC and permenant index hits to the average Joe. Collectively as Sportsman racers, we can not afford to lose any classes from Comp on down. I may not care for some sportsman classes in terms of how they race, but I hope that I never go to a race again and find out that someone just got axed like I did back in Indy many years ago. I did shed a tear when that happened to Modified knowing that this was the last time that I would see many familar faces that showed up every week without fail and supported the very organization that stuck it in their rearend. My rant is now over..........

[Ed Wright]

Were you actually racing in the late 1970s, 1980s? Where were these 32 & 64 car shows? The WCS races were all run, national events were all class winners. Comp Eliminator today is not the Comp of those days. Mostly Econo dragsters back then.
Thinking maybe the car count fell off drastically after I quit at the end of the 1979 season when Modified greatly out numbered Comp. So after reading your " rant" I emailed Bill Long, Mike Edward's partner when he was running B/SM with his Maverick. Bill says Modified greatly out numbered Comp right up to the end. I'll take his word since I know for certain they were there. Modified Eliminator World Champs, right?

[Bobby Bennett]

So, am I to assume you guys believe there's merit in a pre-1970s rule for those 3 Modified classifications?

[Steve Williams]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Were you actually racing in the late 1970s, 1980s? Where were these 32 & 64 car shows? The WCS races were all run, national events were all class winners. Comp Eliminator today is not the Comp of those days. Mostly Econo dragsters back then.
Thinking maybe the car count fell off drastically after I quit at the end of the 1979 season when Modified greatly out numbered Comp. So after reading your " rant" I emailed Bill Long, Mike Edward's partner when he was running B/SM with his Maverick. Bill says Modified greatly out numbered Comp right up to the end. I'll take his word since I know for certain they were there. Modified Eliminator World Champs, right?

Sorry Ed,

I may have misled you in some areas of this topic. I don't dispute the large turnouts for Modified. You convey an idea that Comp had no turnout and that was not the case at all. Comp was strong back then and not so much currently. Econo dragsters were plentiful, but then again I believe they were out numbered by altereds. Edwards was the Champ, the last Champ and there is no dispute there. It was the same situation then as it is now concerning car counts if comparing SS to Comp. It only makes sense that Comp does not have the counts as it is terribly expensive to run one of these cars competitively as compared to most SS cars. Although there are a few operations out there currently that are spending Comp money to race SS. That makes no sense to me. Comp never qualified off class winners and I never remember an all run situation. Stock&Super Stock all run I agree with that, Comp was not that way in the late seventies. I will say that I read Phil Burgess' article about Modified's demise and was wondering where he got his facts about car counts. The only division that was weak was Div 6. I remember that at the Fall nationals there were more Div 1,2,3,4,5 cars than there were Div 6&7 combined. Ed, about driving back in the 70's-I would if I could have but as a 15 year old that didn't have two nickels to rub together it became apparent that that would have to wait. Now I got the nickels to run Comp but the currency changed to big dollars (it may never happen for me on my own). Atleast it didn't deter me from building an affordable stocker. One last point that I want to make. Modified did not have to be axed. It was healthy as were all sportsman classes at that time. But on a side note, they bring in more SG and SC cars now than Modified and Comp combined did back then. This axing of Modified made NHRA alot of money and put many people in business selling electronics that a rocket scientist marvels at. It also cost alot of guys alot of money on cars that were not worth .50 cents on the dollar. I worry that at some point that this will happen again to some class and we will write and talk about what a travesty it is but have no voice with the sanctioning body. It's all good isn't it? History could repeat itself.

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Bobby Bennett

What do you guys think of making the SS/E - F - G Modified classes for pre-1970 cars only. Maybe create an H Modified for the 6-cylinder cars. Maybe make the SS/GM cars for the old big wagons like the Good Ole Charlie Brown.

Can't help it, I miss my old Modified eliminator.

I would try to do it if I still worked for IHRA. Maybe something like that would be good for a NEW Sportsman Association run by input from racers and not a bunch of fuel queers and circus freaks. I miss modified to but is it to late to bring back the old days?

[ALMACK]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

I would try to do it if I still worked for IHRA. Maybe something like that would be good for a NEW Sportsman Association run by input from racers and not a bunch of fuel queers and circus freaks. I miss modified to but is it to late to bring back the old days?

I see a new _HRA organization in the furure. ?
Maybe the S.H.R.A. (Sportsman Hot Rod Assn.)

Only one rule:
A person cannot be on the board of directors if they have never been a racer at the sportsman level.

You can be the tech man ?