60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds

Here is Fred's forum, great place to hang out, great products too.

http://www.fredsresinworkshop.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=1&sid=cd6665ad1e0da10229f61deb05822ef4

 

isnt the #8 falcon a Ralf Earnhardt car?

 

Wow Be still my heart. Many,Many Friday nites spent at The Reading Fairgrounds (Pa), The sound of those big block modifieds roaring into the turns wide open. The sounds of the Big Donkey when he had to back off. Those were the days. Lindy Vicaro and how can we forget "Sammy" the Men's Room Attendant. Brave men and most had hearts of gold, until they got on the race track.Dick Tobias,Buzzy Ruiteman,Will Cagel,Even Kenny Weld and I remember seeing the Great Jan Opperman behind the wheel of a modified. Those were the days.

 

Fred,

Nice resin work! Nice that you have produced so many scale parts for oval track modeling. One of these days I'm going to build some good scale models and I'll have to order some parts from you.

Lately I've been playing with 1/32 slot cars. Here's two old Gilbert Ford coupes, I hand painted #2:


And here's a pair I did up like my own #65 Modified and #56 street stock...again hand painted (these were clear bodies):

 

If I'm not mistaken....wasn't this illustration once on the cover of Trackside Magazine?

Very nice work! What medium....watercolor, oil....?



Also...a few more links, not sure where I "stole" many of the pictures I've posted:

http://www.speedwaysnapshots.com/

http://www.racesongs.com/

 

A friend of mine e-mailed me a link to this site, I've passed it on to some others. No discussion of modifieds would be complete with at least one mention of one of the most beloved modifieds of all time, the GMC powered 659 ( actually it was a sportman, but they raced with the modifieds ) the main driver was Parker Bohn.



These cut down Model A's ran in the Mid South area, in the sixties and seventies. They were called B modifieds and were the headliners some tracks and the undercard to sprints at others.

 

I'm pretty sure Roy Bryant is still very much with us.

 

The Tom Skinner-Parker Bohn "Jimmy" #659.....probably one of the most successful sixes to run against the overhead V-8's in stock car racing history. They continued to be competitive with a hot six cylinder well into the 70's.

One of the 659 coupess has recently been restored and the mid-70's 659 Vega also is still around. I attended a vintage event at New Egypt New Jersey a few years ago and the 659 Vega was there on display out in the parking lot. While the URC Sprints were running their heat races, the 659's nitro powered 6 cylinder engine was fired up. People in the stands watching the Sprint show climbed to the top of the grandstand to look out in the parking lot and see what was making all the noise. That is absolutely the most outrageous six cylinder GMC I've ever seen (heard)!!!


Steve Danish was another successful racer who beat the V-8's consistently with the GMC sixes. He used #61 at Fonda NY.

 

Stan Ploski in the Kenn Brenn #24


And one of the wildest Modifieds I remember from the 70's, Chuck Gravatt's injected Vega station wagon:

 

Alcyon Speedway, Pitman New Jersey

 

The old battle horse #19 Pinto still lives....check out this website:
http://www.mikegrims.com/brightbill.htm

 

Fuzzy Baer's "cut down" at Waterford Speedbowl Connecticut:

 

This thread is absolutely fascinating! Today's racing "clones" er I mean cars can't hold a candle to these old homebuilt chariots.

 

A group tried to revive this type of car in the early 80's. I built the chassis and cage for 13 of them and assisted in a couple more. Unfortunately it didn't take off.

 

The CARC is a Denver area club that has kept the modifieds alive for 50 yrs. According to their web site they now have 44 cars registered this yr. And this is the real deal racing, not the putt around/look pretty stuff a lot of vintage clubs do.

 

Nebraska and Iowa



Bob Burdick

 

A couple more "legends" of Modified racing....


Virginia's Ray Hendrick in the Tant-Mitchell "Flyin' Eleven":


New Englander Fred DeSaro in Lenny Boehler's "Ol Blue Coupe":

 

Injected Big-Block Falcon:


Cool knock-off Halibrands on this injected coach:

 

Here are some of the guys who raced at Waterloo NY in the early sixties

 

Before thay had a Charger the Dukes used to fool with Chevies and they hadn't quite mastered performing jumps in reverse!

 

I wonder how the announcers called the "number" on this one?

 

Don LaJoie always had great looking cars at the Danbury Racearena. Back in the day he had coupes stacked three high in the wrecking yard. The yard is still going strong, I'll be there tomorrow with a load of scrap.

 

That's a real early pic of Geoff Bodine there in the white 99 coupe there fuel pump.

 

Same game, different name.....

Downunder in the 1960's, these cars were known as 'stock cars'and they raced on round or oval dirt circuits usually reserved for harness racing (trots) horses. Speedway motorbikes also usually ran on the same nights, and the 'modifieds' and 'sprintcars' were the big dollar racers the same evenings. I guess like everywhere else, noise and pollution complaints have driven them off the tracks.

I remember watching these sorts of`cars racing in The Sydney Showground in the 60's, and getting up close and personal with them in the pits. Sidevalve V8's, Straight 8 Buicks, and old flathead Dodge 6's were the normal source of sufficient grunt, and the bodies were old coupes, sedans etc that had been cut down and reinforced with as much steel tube and plate as the chassis could carry and still move under its own power. As a budding junior rodder in a country almost devoid of early coupe bodies, it almost made me cry!

The style of racing was almost 'demolition derby' rather than out and out speed, and anyone who dared turn up in a new, 'big dollar' car that sacrificed weight in favour of speed was soon ganged up on by the heavier cars and left a crumpled pile of sheet metal in the centre of the track

This is my fist attempt to post pics, let's see how I go.....

Glen.

 

Brian,
I raced at Geoff's dad's track in the mid-60s before Geoff even started racing. I remember watching him build his own street stock in the shop next to the track. If those brothers wanted to race they had to learn how to build a race car first.

 

#99 Geoff Bodine about 1968 or 69. Prior to the white, gold and blue vertcal painted Valiant.

#7 looks like the Genesee Beer Wagon driven by Dutch Hoag, but that doesn't look like Dutch. Is it Ozzie?

#32 Pop Wilcox's car, usually driven by Jerry Townley.

#96 ????? Ernie Gahan?

#S-360 Don Diffendorf

#421 ???? Wasn't that the Big Donkey# outa' Jersey?

#2 "THE OLD MASTER", the guy Area Auto Racing Newspaper voted as the #1 northeast dirt modified driver of the 20th century, FRANKIE SCHNEIDER .

These were the best years of racing in the NorthEast.

Guys could make a living at racing with little or no sponsorship. I know, 'cause I did it .