An Idea for the Future

[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?

[Ed Fernandez]

Bobby, as an automotive journalist why don't you try and get an interview with Gracia,Bruce and Graham Light about these new cars?And ask them the tough questions being addressed on Class Racer?

[Jim Kaekel]

Bobby, as an automotive journalist why don't you try and get an interview with Gracia,Bruce and Graham Light about these new cars?And ask them the tough questions being addressed on Class Racer?[/QUOTE]

Now there's a good start for an article right there. It's called investigative journalism.

[BlueOval Ralph]

Comp in 1977-1981 when we ran it was not all run. Div 3 was 16 cars at WCS meets.
National events was either 16 or 32 cars
Indy was 64 cars
Ralph

[Bobby Bennett]

Jim that's already been in the works, just takes time to finish.

So I guess few want to talk about the possibilities of this.

And yes, I am building a new car for one of those classes.

SS/E Modified

[BlueOval Ralph]

The car count in those classes is so small, it just doesn't mater to the masses, only to those building a new car, right Bobby?? The more important fight is fixing the big picture items like CJ & DP classes.

Originally Posted by Bobby Bennett

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

[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by BlueOval Ralph

The car count in those classes is so small, it just doesn't mater to the masses, only to those building a new car, right Bobby?? The more important fight is fixing the big picture items like CJ & DP classes.

I agree.

[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.

[Sean Kennedy]

Does somebody have a copy of Modified Eliminator rules?

Or at least, since I'm too young to have been around for modified, the difference between modified and comp.