60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds

Hey Guys,just found these in a box in the basement,and uploade and figured I'd share them with the class.......Rich

 

Here's a few more.....

 

Good thing the books are not pop-up books, he might not have made it!

 

RABs, those were some great photos, some keepers in there for me. Pete, I'll sell you a couple.

Wise Guy.

 

Here is a nice shot of the #99 and the crew.

 

Bobby Holmberg #918

 

Bill Park

 

Tommy Baldwin

 

Isn't that John Berkoski in the 24 ?

 

How many other racing series have fans collecting and restoring vintage cars of their golden era?
What a beautiful time it was for the N.E. Mod scene.
I read an interview with Tony Hirschman recounting the current state of asphalt mods. I had no idea it was so bad. Tony talks about how the costs have tripled and the purses and number of races have shrunk.
He talks how cars are sitting idle for months because it's not affordable to drive them. I can't imagine fields of 13-15 cars for a weekly event.
I didn't get to see the mods on asphalt very often, but I do remember 50+ cars turning up for a weekly Lebanon Valley Saturday night and 100 cars registered at Syracuse.
What killed this once great division? Was it only the commercialization of the three national series?

 

They stopped being backyard projects and started buying off the shelves!! One part would be safety, another would be economy, tracks won't raise purses when people still show and when they don't, they drop the purses! Go look how much a troyer chasis is!!! The tack on a motor! you haven't even put wheels or arms on the machine yet, then there is sheet metal to cover the skeleton......

 

I finally got my pictures back from the other sign guy/model car guy who was scanning them for their numbers for model kits. I am learning how to scan and will be posting more in the future. Here is one for a start. They will be mostly of Bowman Gray Modifieds from the '75 on and from Martinsville over a couple years. Most of the Bowman Gray Stadium cars, I lettered over the years and I lettered most of the Southern Mods that went to Martinsville. Just be patient with me and yes, I did take these pictures and I want everyone to enjoy them for the history, not for the money.

OK, can anyone tell me how to make them bigger for the site???????

 

Looks like Bentley Warren at Syracuse?

 

Definitely not Syracuse. My guess would be Trenton.

 

I was talking with Will Cagle a week ago. We agreed that ya' could build a car back then with a big block Chevy for $8-$10k. Winning paid $500 to $750 for a regular Sat. night show.

Now a big block Chevy costs $35k+ and a rolling chassis is $15k+. Teams now use an enclosed trailer (one of the worst things that happened to racing) and a huge haul truck $$$.

Racing purses have might have doubled at the most.

What's wrong with the entire picture?????

I contend that engine builders and chassis builders have ruined the sport as we used to know it.

PS: Cagle just called. He's going to the bank. He ran 3rd in the Legends Masters Division 50 lap race Sat. at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That paid $20,000 for 3rd place. Winner got $30k. Good pay day for a 70+ year old.

 

In April of '78 at the sizzler when Maynard showed up with that super modified looking offset car and ran away I had the feeling it was just a matter of time. That whole season people were talking about buying a Troyer car. Pretty soon they all were and that was that. Not there weren't cars like that and builders capable like Evans, Jarzombek, Bodine and others but now just by ordering a car you could have one too. Progress? I went to racing SCCA GT 1 Corvettes until that went commercial too.

 

In my opinion, racers are their own worst enemy and the promoters know this.

The fact that it is a technically driven sport in which the search for the "better mouse trap" is never ending, advances come and keep coming. When allowed by the rule book (or not allowed as well) racers will always push the envelope. I'm pretty certain that we all agree about the golden age of modifieds (and racing in general) was much better in most respects, but given the nature of the sport it was inevitable, it's just nobody noticed nor thought it would end up like it did.

I'm just happy that I got to see it when was great. I'm also still happy to still be able see a field of gleaming modifieds exit turn four roaring towards the green rag.

 

Teddy Christopher won $3300 for the tour race at Monadnock. It may sound like a lot but it's really not. Seekonk has a $10,000 to win 100 lapper tomorow ( 7-21-10 ) Hardly any tour drivers showed up last year. Last year it was only Hossfield, Stefanik, Christopher, and Preece if I remember.

 

It's ironic that this post was so close to a picture of Bodine and the 99 car. In my neck of the woods (Thompson Ct) the common belief was that Booo-dine, and his deep pockets owner, with the tube frames, late bodies, and high-dollar motors, were the devils killing the sport. It wasn't that long before when Bugs Stevens won the national championship with a $2500 car built in the junkyard!

 

An interesting story is how Mousey Kempsters nephew (later of C&K Petroleum) bought Len Boehlers Nascar championship coupe w/ a 427 Chevy and injectors for I believe $3,000 in 1967 or so. This was the car that Bugs WON the championship the year before with. Ran the car about 1/2 to 3/4 of the season and sold it for $3,500.

At that time I believe a feature at Islip paid $500 or $600 and tires lasted until they got torn in two.

There was also a minimum of 45+ cars in the pits and (2) consies of at least 12 cars taking 2 from each for the feature.

 

A tribute to Richie Evans by Barry Kashar. 427 BBC. Is it wide enough ?

 

I would say that's Nazareth