60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds

Would somebody explain why Bodine was hated so for his driving style when it was so similar to Earnhardt Sr.'s and he was wildly popular.

 

Geoff driving style was never as aggressive as Sr. He did hold his own with Dale when he had too. Geoff was disliked because he was arrogant. Dale was only popular later in his career.

 

I think Geoff Bodine was an awesome driver and an innovator. The guy won in everything he drove in. His own cars or any car he jumped into was successful. Did Armstrong win 50 races in one season before or after Bodine? Lee Allard? Billy & Phil Taylor? I remember when Geoff was in between rides in the late 70's and early 80's when he jumped into Allen Whipple's car (from NH I believe). He won in that too. And he won in all divisions all the way up to Sprint Cup and the Daytona 500. You don't get that far and accumulate as many wins as he did by spinning everyone out in front of you. That can only get you so many wins and so far. Some drivers are more aggressive then others. What I saw in Bodine was someone who was very focused, very smart and very driven....to win and be successful in the highest form of racing he could be in. He even contemplated Indy cars when he was younger. Being that focused and that driven may not have made him as fun to be around as Richie Evans, Dutch Hoag and others. And may have contributed to the perception that he was arrogant and not a nice guy. Everyone is different and in Bodine's case, I think he was one of a kind. And one helluva a driver(like him or not).

 

To add to what Moselli said, Richie had lots of natural talent but he also was mentored by Eddie Flemke. Eddie would advise...Go fast, Put on a show for the fans, Be a clean driver, Be humble, Be ready to help your competitors. Denny Z

 

A few leftover photos I found while going through my scrapbook/files...

Jerry Bartlet in the coach




Jerry in his pinto at Islip i believe




George Brunnhoelzl Jr. in his Mustang II at Islip




George again not sure where?




George in an early vega in the pits at Islip





George Brunnhoelzl Sr in his mustang early 1970's at Riverhead





Lew Hennessey in his coupe at Islip





Ed Brunnhoelzl Jr. I believe in the Ira Bromley Dodge Colt at Trenton or Pocono

 

If a guy is constantly rubbin on your rear bumper, it must mean his car is faster than you. If you continue to block that faster car by backing into it, somethings gotta give.

If your car is faster and you are the better driver, then folks can't come knocking. Holding your line is one thing hogging the line is different, and probably gets challanged at all levels ad types of racing.

 

OK...last comment on Bodine....I never said he spun everyone in front of him out, I merely said he never hesitated to use his bumper. And just because Earnhardt and all the wannabes that came later did the same thing....THAT DON'T MAKE IT OK, in my book. I'm not talking about having someone in front "hogging" the track either. There were plenty of times a guy was just holding his line / staying in his lane and they got the chrome horn anyway. I personally am sick to death with this "rubbin' is racin'" attitude. It's just a sorry excuse not to learn how to pass with finesse. Speaking of Earnhardt, I never like his style either, although he did have more personality than Geoff (and I don't care what anybody says about his ability, ad nauseum....he WAS arrogent). Anyway, maybe I'm just old school that way, but just cuz a particular tactic get's you more wins & fame doesn't make it right. If that were the case we might just as well celebrate robbers & bandits if they take risks, don't get caught and subsequently gather lots of money. Then any means can justify the ends. I always said I never went to the racetrack with the goal of making friends, but I sure didn't try to pizz off the other competitors either by driving with my bumper. Sometimes chit just happens and it can't be helped, but I just hate how the Bodines & Earnhardts of the world have made everyone think it's OK to use up everyone else's equipment. Hey, I know it's not Cricket, but there there should still be a place for courtesy and manners in a racecar. Guess most people don't think that way though, so as usual that's just MHO.

 

Grand National and Cup racing (in the Earnhardt era) was a different world than Modified racing. When you raced for a living in modifieds your car had to last through 4 or 5 events over four days. Fixing crash damage would ruin your chance to make $ the rest of the weekend.

If Earnhardt wrecked a car they just unloaded another one, most modified racers didn't have that luxury.

Bugsy mentions in his book that one of the big reasons he was successful was his ability to avoid wrecks, another thing he said was if a guy was faster you let him go by, next time you are faster he will do the same, unlike the attitude of too many of today's fans and announcers, if the guy in front of you is faster your job is not to wreck him to win, you worked on your car and beat him next time and didn't have to spend your winnings on repairs.

A big difference between Bugsy, Richie and Bodine was after the races. Bugsy and Richie (and other racers) would pull their rigs into the track parking lot and participate in clam and lobster bakes, and down copious amounts of adult beverages with other racers and fans, at daylight they would head for the next track. Geoff would head back to the shop. Somewhere I read that Geoff said he regretted not spending more time with the fans, but he was focused on making his car faster.

 

trenton

 

If memory serves me right, and it may not. Bodine walled Kenny Bouchard pretty bad during a race. Both cars were crashed and Bodine showed no concern for a fellow driver. He was more worried about his car than anything else. For him, it was a fulltime occupation as stated already. Some people dedicate themselves to something and miss out on lives pleasures. I have a manager where I work that is the same way. It's work, work, work 24/7. For the record, the Allen Whipple car was a former Bodine driven car. So it's not like he jumped into something unfamiliar. I am a Red Sox fan and I certainly hate it when the Yankees come to town. Local racing fans felt the same way. Believe it or not, I was a huge Bodine fan and my brother was a Richie fan.

 

The 009 is owned and was restored by Jim Torok out of Norwalk,Ct. Jim drove at Danbury in the late 70's and also raced at Waterford prior to Danbury. He got the 009 from Lou Funk back in the early 90's. The car was about a mile from my house. Jim and I became good friends when I was restoring cars and we towed together on many ocassions. He also spun me at Thompson one year. He never let's me forget that. Jim also own's the Corky Cookman 04 Pinto. He is probably up at the Vintage Festival at Loudon this week. Getting wet I guess.He takes the 009 to Hersey every year. He does alot to keep the memories alive.

 

From Bones's book, an anecdote from Ron Bouchard:

Circumstances were a race at Thompson, Eddie Flemke in the lead:
"I'm sitting second...Geoffrey (in Armstrong Pinto) gets inside me in the corner and gives me his usual shot to the nerf bar, and grinds his way past me."
Ahead, "Eddie's driving smart, holding his line."
Many laps later:
"Now it's getting close to end of race, and things start to get serious. We come down front straightaway, and Geoff's got his right-front tire up against Eddie's left-side nerf bar. Well, Eddie's already outside against the wall, so he's turning a little to the left, trying to move Geoff over to where he's supposed to be....
"Another lap...down the front straightaway, it's the same thing: Geoffrey's got that right-front up against Eddie, grinding away again. I'm thinking, 'Well, this ought to be good!' I could just see Eddie getting madder and madder. He kinda nudged Geoff over, but that didn't work, and finally, just past the start-finish line, Eddie just hung a left."
Both ended up in 1st turn sandbank.
"I come around next time, and there's Eddie, standing right by Geoff's window, madder than hell. I thought he was going to punch him! I raced with Eddie Flemke for years and years, and I never, ever saw him get that mad."

Earlier in this thread, were there not some reminiscences about how the term "weaselize" was coined to describe the pattern of behavior of a certain driver?


I hear what you're saying about his equipment's being "within the rules". Also earlier in this thread, there was discussion about when Modified racing went from something like a "fair" competition (based largely, although of course not exclusively, on talent and hard work) to something in which money, which had never been entirely irrelevant, became decisive. As I recall, people who were involved at the time opined that the crucial development was the availability of very trick, very expensive tires. If you could afford to get the right tires, and to have enough new sets to change to fresh ones whenever that would help, it made a big difference in your results - just like today.

What GB achieved in Modifieds reminds me a bit of what, in their various series, Dale Sr and Michael Schumacher, and even T. Christopher, achieved. Very talented, committed guys, all deserving winners, but their results were inflated by their having access to the finest equipment, and making use of it in an unsportsmanlike manner.

 

"As I recall, people who were involved at the time opined that the crucial factor was the availability of very trick, very expensive tires. If you could afford to get the right tires, and to have enough new sets to change to fresh ones whenever it would help, it made a big difference in your results - just like today."

What New Britian just said really resonated with me and brought back a memory from 1971. My father (who was barely hanging on at that time to being competitive as the money was really going up to field a modified) went to the Gene White Firestone distribution center on Eads St in W. Babylon to pickup two tires for Saturday night. When he got there he was informed by the manager, who will remain unnamed, that the tires that were the hot set up at that time were not in stock and would not be available for that weeks races.

When we got to the track there were plenty of sticker tires on the cars driven by the "top dogs". What a crappy deal to pull. For ever after that whenever my father heard the song "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry he got pretty jawed because that song was playing on the radio when he was at Gene Whites.

 

Some pics from vintage celebration at New Hampshire Motor Speedway today.

 

That was one of the good things about Southside being my home track when I was growing up, seeing drivers come in from all over which at time included Bobby Allison and Red Farmer. Both of them won this event, Allison in 1960 and Farmer was 65 if I remember right driving a William Mason owned car that night.

Denny, I remember one night Eddie going out of the place at Southside, do you remember and if you do can you shed some light on what heppened

 

as I'm reading some of the post concerning Geoff Bodine.. Well I'll credit him with being very smart when it comes to the car and having things others didn't. However being from Richmond, VA I can tell you he was very UN-Popular as he was responsible for bumping 2 of our legends out of their last top rides. First he manages to get Ray out of Dick Armstrong's cars then when he comes south he and Emanual Zervakis build (Geoff living in his motor home behind the shop) what was the first Late Model in our area with Coil overs and power steering. Anyway, after the first season Emanual drops back to one car and Sonny Hutchins is then out of a ride.. Needless to say it didn't win Geoff many fans down our way

 

This is coming from somebody born in 68 in New Jersey and only got to see Richie and Geoff at the big shows we went to. I was a fan of both but I can tell you even at a young age and always going into the pits after a race, Richie was always there and would aknowledge a goofy, "good race" coming from a kid in awe. I don't have those memories about Geoff, I am sure I looked for him but never seemed to see him.

I also remember going to a race and waiting to see if certain guys were there but no one got me more pumped up to see than that orange 61 and I know I wasn't alone with that thought.

I don't remember seeing Richie dump somebody or be overly aggressive with his bumper but I can remember that Dick Armstrong #1 (that car looked fast sitting still) doing it with Geoff behind the wheel. At New Egypt which was the epitome of a one lane track, Richie was the only guy I saw who could pass a car on the outside even if he was only a smidge faster, other guys (Spencer included) would tap, Bang, DUMP!

At least for me, Richie being approachable and his "smooth" driving style is why he is the best I ever saw in a mod, hands down.

 

I happen to be the same age as Geoff Bodine, live close to his home in Chemung, New York and grew up going to the Chemung Speedrome and watched his Uncle Earl Bodine dominate on the track when it was dirt up to about 1966. I also followed Geoff's career starting out at Chemung and later moving to the Modifieds at Spencer, Shangri-La, Fulton, Pocono and Oswego.

While the Bodine's never won any popularity contest, you could never take away the fact that they had talent, guts, innovation and worked darned hard for everything they got.

We raced against him when we fielded a modified in the early '70's and he was all the competition you could handle on given nights.

I think in fairness to Geoff, he did what he thought he needed to do at the time to succeed. If we are all honest with ourselves as we reflect back at things we have done in our lives, I'm certain we'd all if given the chance, like to go back and do some things differently if we could. I'm sure that Geoff is just like us, he's human, made some mistakes and probably didn't handle some things as well as he could have. Personally, I have many times thought to myself, "What was I thinking when I did that?"

To his credit, he has been very active in working with and providing resouces to the United States Bobsled team, helping them win the Gold Medal at the Olympics in 2010. He also has been supportive of many charities, including the recent Kyle Petty Charity Ride.

He may not be everyone's favorite, and while I respect everyones comments and opinions, as we used to say back in the '60's, "Maybe we need to cut the guy a little slack..."

Regards,

Moselli

 

Brian, I remember a night the throttle stuck at the end of the front strait, he went hard into the first turn wall. The catch fence was the only thing that kept him from going into the stands. It pretty much destroyed the car. He wasn't worried about the car he was just relieved the fence prevented him from going into the stands. Denny Z

 

I own two of Richies original cars, and run them down here in Florida with DAARA. At every event people come up to me and cannot say enough good things about Richie. I have had folks actually in tears as they look at the cars and remember Richie. These are not only folks from the Northeast but also from the south having seen Richie at Bowman Gray. Martinsville, New Smyrna and other southern tracks.

I have never heard one unkind word said about him. I met him two years at Syracuse in the 70's as my car was pitted near his. He talked to me and my crew as if we we were all equals, which still amazes me to this day.

Richie was and is the peoples modified champion and that will never change. He must be voted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. If not, to me it does validate that Hall as legitimate.

 

Modified driver, as I recall in my younger days Geoffs equiptment was not within the rules. For a time he was not allowed to run NASCAR due to something to do w/his rollcage. Just exactly what it was, be it tubing size or design. I don't exactly remember but I do remember a problem there.

 

Richie was awesome. Geoff was awesome. Bugsy was awesome. Ronnie was awesome. Eddie was awesome. They were all different personalities, with different lifestyles, different goals, different daily lives. Instead of getting wrapped up in who was or wasn't a dirty driver on any given night 30 or 35 years ago, I choose to savor the memories of watching them race ... along with Freddy DeSarro, Charlie J, Kenny Bouchard, Maynard, Greg Sacks, George Kent, Satch, and the rest.

 

I just regret that I came along after Denny Zimmerman had fled the scene! But I expect to see him here in Indianapolis any day now, and that is my good fortune.

 

One last thing ... The great Modified owner Joe Brady, when quizzed about "dirty" drivers, told me 30 years ago, "Kid, the great ones all have one thing in common: You won't see any of them at tryouts for the church choir."

 

Seems like you just reinforced what I said before. His car wasn't NASCAR legal and he didn't race. So, he wasn't racing there with an illegal car until he made it legal.

 

I'm not a driver, no experience there. But I'm a very experience spectator. All this talk of "taking others out" or "doing what you have to do to win" on the final laps really makes my blood boil. Rubbing isn't racing, IMHO, it's rubbing. Not bad by itself, but it often leads to wrecking. Wrecking isn't racing.

Shouldering your way past someone, or rubbing, or "loosening them up" is tolerable to me, but only if the car in front isn't spun out or damaged and the car behind is clearly superior to the guy holding him up. But if the spinee goes around that's another story. And there is only one way to fix it. Put the spinner to the back and, like in USAC, restart the race with the field set from the previous lap and therefore reinstate the drivers spun out to their previous positions. That way there is NO incentive for the driver doing the wrecking to keep doing it. The main reason it keeps happening is that the spinner rarely gets penalized. And the victim, who might have led 499 of 500 laps, is screwed.

If you can't really decide who is at fault, how about putting everyone involved to the back? And put the spinee BEHIND the spiner. That way they can continue their grude at the back of the pack and keep the rest of the racers out of harm's way. And the folks who think that wrecking is racing can have their own little demo derby show at the back of the field to watch, as they aren't really interested in racing anyway. Gary

Earnhart wrecked them the best. He pulled to the inside of the guy he wanted to wreck, placing his RF fender on the other guys LR quarter. That way when the guy in front took his regular line, he "spun himself out" and sneaky old Dale could just say "he pulled down on me!" If he had been penalized for his tricks, he might have only won 3 championships. When you have the line to make a pass, shouldn't you have your nose at least half way up the other car's side? So the other driver can see you - as if he had no mirrors or spotter?

 

As I mentioned before, I had the ability to spend many hours and days with a young Geoff Bodine. We were in the same US Army basic training company at Fort Campbell, KY and then went to Fort Belvoir, VA for our AITs. All this was over a 5-6 month time period during the fall and winter of '70-'71. He was running the #99 Valiant before and after we did our "time" together.

He was quiet, unassuming and above all completely focused on his racing career. He never went out and partied, and I don't ever recall him even having a beer in off duty hours.

Unfortunately much of his being introverted as a younger man was labeled as arrogance and dislike for other racers and race fans. This isn't the Geoff Bodine I knew.

Here's a quick story for ya' about Geoff. Fast forward, 20 years after we were in the army together I got hurt with a life threatening injury and spent several months at home recovering. I'm sitting on the sofa at home and the phone rings. A voice that I thought I recognized asked, "Is Frank there?". I say, "You're talking' to him". He says, "Frank a little birdie told me you were hurt, how ya' doing?" A conversation that lasted many minutes continued.

Mind you, this is when he's driving the BUD sponsored car for Junior Johnson and it's the Friday of the Talladega race weekend. I was impressed that he found time for me.

I never did find out how he knew I was hurt. And later that year, after I got better, he laid out the red carpet for me in the pits when I went to the Darlington Southern 500. I've seen him several times since and he's still the same guy, just more secure, now an extrovert and appears to be having more fun than in his younger years.


So, folks can say what they want about Geoff here, but I had a chance to get to know the REAL human side of Geoff Bodine like no one else here has probably had the opportunity to do so. To me, he was and still is a great guy.

 

This is American stock car racing, not European road racing.

Our racing is a contact sport (so is Europe's, they just don't talk about it), and pretty much always has been.

As a racer, I can tell you that many times, you don't always get the cooperation of the car in front (in fact, you almost never do).

Him chopping across your nose is every bit as effective for causing a wreck as you giving him a shot in the quarter.

Add to that the fact that many short tracks have one (1) fast line, and contact becomes almost guaranteed. If the only way to pass is to move the guy out of the way, that's what you do. Watch a race (even a modern one) at Bowman Gray. It's all single file, and the only way past is to wait for a guy to make a mistake and run wide, or get in there and give him a shot to help him up out of the groove.

Where I raced, if you were blatant about dumping a guy (IE you went in there and hooked him in the quarter and just kept pushing until he went all the way around), you both went to the back, with him still in front of you, but it had to be VERY blatant that you were just taking him out.

Nudging a guy up out of the groove is every bit as difficult and requires as much skill as being fast in the first place.

It's easy to just dump a guy, but to just very slightly move him out of the way without doing any unnecessary damage is quite hard.

You gotta respect the kind of car control it takes to pull a move like that off.

 

Here ares some shots of John Blewitt Jr that I came across....

in an early vega at Islip battling Fred Harbach



in the ex- Jarzombek vega....









in a Troyer built pinto in the pits at Islip...




not sure where?

 

And John Blewitt in my favorite car of his, the gremlin. I believe this was Troyer built as well....





at Islip battling Don Howe (from our friend Rich)....





battling either Gary Balough or Anthony Farioulo (spelling) in the #73





in the pits at Islip




not sure where?




looping it at Martinsville




at speed ?




and possibly his last ride at Islip...