60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds

Make sure you find those Waterford photos, They were some of the best cars from the pasdt

 

We could use those air scoops on the roofs to keep the driver cool today....at least their tempers!!! lol

 

No asphalt tracks around here, how would these sidewinders do in the dirt?

 

The roof scoop on Jack Reinhard's 6 was functional. It began life as a pop up cowl vent that was popular on cars in the old days. I seem to remember that was from some 50's model car.

 

This is the last two rows for the 1961 Langhorne National Open. The 6 is Jack Reinhard, the 01 is DD Rebel Harris and the 179 is Hoppy Jensen, I do not know who the white coupe is though. The 6 was a 1937 Hudson with a 308 six in it. The car was built for the Freeport sedan division by Franny Smith and he really snookered the inspectors by cutting the forward protruding firewall out and re-installing it backwards!!! The result was that the engine appeared to be in the proper location relative to the firewall but was probably 16-20" back from the stock location.

In the inspectors defense they knew what pre war Fords and Chrysler products looked like but who the heck knew Hudsons?

 

Looks like the the hood scoop used on the larger Ford dump trucks of the mid 60s. They were mounted reversed with the outlet facing the driver. I always thought they were cool. I believe they were ribbed on top with a chrome grille, some were painted.

 

Harold (or anyone) .. correct me PLEASE where I'm wrong here.

The Jarzombek #1 offset coupe is a product of home grown engineering .. built from the ground up .. hand fabricated by the family / team .. in a farm barn, I'm guessing some 40 - 41 years ago. It was and is a singularly unique piece of equipment.

In comparison, today's very sophisticated modifieds are bought from a specialist .. not built at home. A LOT of engineering has since into shocks, springs, purpose built chassis and what have you since this car was built. Almost every piece of today's cars come .. pre-engineered .. off a shelf. Each car is almost the same. .. Back in the day .. they MADE their own parts!!

Add to that, even if the cost (currency / money) was adjusted to reflect the times .. today's cars are MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE.

Harold here was a good friend of Chargin' Charlie. Both he and Charlie's brother Ricky lovingly restored this car.

Let's look at this .. we have a comparitively boxy, 40 or so year race car with old home grown technology / shade tree built / farm barn engineered ANTIQUE with a current hot shoe in it .. but he only has had five or so laps in the strange (to him) machine and he goes out and sets a time that would put him in the middle of a field of this divisions current NASCAR elite .. with their expensive, highly engineered, low slung, sleek, sophisticated "store bought", almost all (except for paint) look alike machines in 2008 .. and if I heard right .. with another chauffer in 2009 .. with only similar time in the car .. it could have sat in the top five in the Modified Tour show at the Riverhead (NY) Raceway.

WHAT DOES THAT SAY TO YOU?

I also wonder that if one of today's top drivers had the opportunity to put some real seat time in that car, to get accustomed to it's nuances & quirks .. plus have a set up put in it that was more attuned to his particular, individual driving style .. if it might possible be fast enough to maybe equal or better the pole time???

Another thing .. and "maybe" it's only me (but some how I don't think so) .. but as I think back 40 or so years .. the shows put on by these home engineered, low tech (in comparison), shade tree built machines were also more competitive, there was more passing, the show contained more entertainment value than todays modified stock car shows do.

ENOUGH SAID!!!!!

 

For those of you who don't know Harold Seaman .. I'll TRY to give you an outline of this multi faceted -- multi talented guy.

Born & brought up in Riverhead, NY, he's an extraordinary, talented sign painter / letterer that has done not only all of the Jarzombek cars .. but many of the modifieds on the Long Island scene. He's done pace cars .. including (but not only) an outstanding job on all of ours while I was at the Riverhead Raceway. (Camaros & Corvettes from Buzz Chew Chevy, etc.) .... He's done what we now refer to as Cup cars at Daytona & Indy cars at Indianapolis .. and much in between. He's rubbed (and maybe bent) elbows with the best.

He's done other open cockpit cars too -- midgets & sprints.

That's only part of his abilities!!

He can pound tin .. hand hammer & shape aluminum panels that is .. over sand bags or bucks & such .. into intricate body parts with complex compound curves, with the best of the master craftsmen of that almost lost art.

In his shop he's worked on current midgets. He's owned and restored a midget .. the "Seaman Offy" (maybe more than one?) and certainly played a big hand in the historical preservation of others .. stock cars too.

The famous former Bill Meis "MIGHTY MOUSE" .. a Don Edmunds AutoResearch built SESCO powered midget (currently owned my Stan Lobitz) sits in Harold's shop awaiting his magic touch.

With Ricky Jarzombek, he was involved in & is currently involved in the historical preservation of other Charlie Jarzombek / Jarzombek family team cars. As you already know he owns the Jarzombek (offset) coupe.

I'm told that in "hard core" vintage midget races he can more than hold his own, as a hard charging chauffer.

He certainly knows more about that Offy engine than many who currently own them .. probably more than many who owned & raced them back in the day.

Talk to him about todays stock &/or open cockpit cars .. their chassis techology, their engines, etc. and he's current - up to date.

As Spike Gillespie (a former open cockpit hot shoe of note) recently said on another H.A.M.B. thread .. "Harold is the second most enjoyable guy I (Spike G.) know." ...... (Spike himself "probably" being the first .. LOL!!)

Oh!! .. He's a retired IBM high tech guru too.

That probably only skims the surface of Harold Seaman & his knowledge, talents & abilities.

 

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I do believe it is Marty Himes in the X-50, there was a mustang after that car if I remember correctly.....it didn't last long, think it was destroyed after very few races........ I can read Lowell Shell on the rear of the roof, mMarty worked there, the owner Frank (forgot last name) ran figure 8s

 

Another thing .. and "maybe" it's only me (but some how I don't think so) .. but as I think back 40 or so years .. the shows put on by these home engineered, low tech (in comparison), shade tree built machines were also more competitive, there was more passing, the show contained more entertainment value than todays modified stock car shows do.


No question about it. Looking above this post and seeing Billy Spade's coach reminds me of one of the best races my wife and I ever saw at Islip. Charlie J and Billy running door handle to door handle for at least 6 laps and neither giving an inch.

The place was going nuts, half cheering CJ on, the other half, the underdog in this battle, Billy. I believe it was Charlie that won. he was on the outside and they ran up on lapped traffic and Billy got stuck but got right in behind CJ.

Does anyone recall that race? Charle was running the Harley 1 Coupe. I'd say aroung 1974?

 

Don't forget his Terraplane street rod.

 

I think the biggest difference is that back then, everyone was trying very hard, and learning at whatever pace they could muster, but no matter how much money you had, no one could do it for you.

Now, things like shocks and chassis design have been optimized by people who have spent their lives doing the development work.

To tap into that knowledge base, one need only produce the requisite number of dollars.

Thusly, everyone ends up using stuff just back off the cutting edge, which is very very expensive, but ruthlessly effective. So much so, that if you aren't running the nearly cutting edge stuff or are smart enough to develop your own actual cutting edge stuff, you get left in the dust very badly.

You guys saw how fast the backmarkers in that Super Modified YouTube video got swallowed up by the leaders. THAT is what happens when you cannot afford the cutting edge in a class that doesn't limit technology.

Back when the technology was relatively primitive, many people were capable of innovation, and being three steps behind wasn't a deal breaker.

Now a days, the technology is highly refined, and only a very few are sharp enough to hone the edge any finer. Being a HALF step behind is a deal breaker. Look at Formula 1. Cars go obsolete four races into the season, and even multi-hundreds-of-millions can't buy success without the absolute best people (see Ferrari after their chief boffin and Schumacher left).

Also, I'd wager the main reason that the new cars are just a fuzz faster than the old ones is that the rules people decided that going much faster was going to kill a lot of people, so they started pulling back the yoke on offset and engine HP, etc, until the speeds got back down to the livable range.

Since you're limiting the speed via the rules, everyone will bump up against the same barrier eventually, which means nearly absolute parity between cars.

Exactly even cars always sound like the panacea of racing, but in reality, racing exactly even cars ends up being pretty boring (like the last Cup race at Talladega).

I think that's where a great lot of short track oval cars are right now. The rules have them bound down for safety's sake, but that makes the racing crummy.

Unleash them, and people start to die racing cars, just like they did forty years ago, only now a days, people are so risk averse that congressional hearings will immediately be called to find out how men could get killed driving 3,000# cars around inside small concrete enclosed asphalt circles at 150 MPH.

It sucks, and I don't have a solution, but that's where we're setting right now.

 

sad to have to report the passing of Ernie Gahan. He was one of the true pioneers of early modified racing. I can still remember the #50 of ernie`s parked at the top of the drive entering Longy`s garage in Beverly Mass. Another pioneer of early day races. Ernie was nascars modified champion in 1966 and ran 71 races during that season.......71 races sure must have kept them busy! Ernie`s son Bobby followed in his dads footsteps and won many,many races in his own race cars.........will be a sad day in the Dover NH area with Ernie`s passing but there will be alot of racers welcoming him to racers heaven...........RIP

 

Cool Hand, I think you nailed it on the head. Especially if you saw the offset on the Jarzombeck coupe.

 

I just heard of Ernie's passing, too...Sad day...Neal

 

Harold also amazing when he's behind the wheel of the rebuilt coupe.

One thing about that coupe most of it came from Grummans!!! lol

 

I was talking with Artie Tappan Jr. last week, he and someone told me it wasn't Tyler nor Harbach. He and other person thought it was Butch (La France) not sure if that was the last name he gave me...does this ring a bell with anyone???

 

I am new to this forum (thanks Peter) and he told me to add a few pics, so here they are...

My dad's first modiifed

 

Here is my dad's 2nd modified. He raced these two at Waterford Speedbowl in Waterford CT.

 

Here is my dad's 3rd and final modifed that he ran at Waterford Speedbowl and Thompson Speedway in CT. Sorry about the longways post, but no time to fix it.

 

This is one of his cars, but not sure when or where he raced it.

 

Here are a few others who raced at Waterford Speedbowl and Thompson Speedway


Moose Hewitt (I think)



Mike Beebe (I think)



Eddie Bunnel (I think)



Punky Caron

 

Art Moran



Maynard Troyer (I think)



Jerry Pearl



Fred Fuzzy Baer



Bugsy Stevens

 

Some accident types...this was my dad trying to go into the pits the hard way thanks to Johny Savage (I think) in the J-7. No clue for the 110 and I think Don Kibbie in the 14.



Maybe Dick Watson in the 716 and Mike Beebe in the 09



Dick Dunn in the Buda #3



A wreck by someone unknown to me at Waterford Speedbowl with what looks like Don Collins on the track...

A story...

 

Muffy, Awesome Waterford Speedbowl shots of your Dad and others. Keep posting all that you have from the Bowl, makes for many fond memories for many of us.

 

It was Cliff Tyler in the 18 under Artie Tappen in the 14!

Butch LaFrance drove the 10 Pins.

 

george, I know about the 10 pins car, sweet car.

I was just passing along info I was told, Tyler was lucky as his roof was shredded.

Wayne, which car was that with your pops? Car looks to be done.

 

Welcome Muffy. Punky Caron was driving Pro-Stock circle track cars last I knew. We raced with him in Canaan NH on the asphalt track a couple times. My car was one of "Stub" Faddens former Bush North cars.

 

Another car my dad drove --- it was his first ever race car.

 

I heard this car was still on Long Island Somewhere anybody Know ?