60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds

Good to see Ricky around the 1.

Also read the Denny Zimmerman ran a Dirt track midget sat 5-19-2010 an finished 5th

 

Anyone remember "Spud Murphy" who passed away last year? Trying to find a pic of His 18 Coupe he ran at Middletown NY in the 50s, Doing a model build and need a picture to refresh the old brain.

JIMMY X3

 

OK, if my recollection is correct, the 17 with the red and gold stripes on the rear is an earlier version of the 17 than the shovel nosed version at the top. There are a number of differences, both in the shape and rake of the body as well as in the nerf bars, but the clear difference is in the cage. The red/gold striped car has more vertical down tubes on the A pillars that indicate it's a 1980 Troyer, while the shovel nosed car has the raked downtubes that Troyer began using in 1981.

I'm pretty sure that the earlier of the two cars ended up in the Kelly stable in NJ the following year, as I've seem a pic of their #31 (or was it 34?) with the same body hang. The shovel nosed car retained its unique nose tin throughout its life, starting with its black 17 guise and then as a Statewide Racing 3 car, when it received a Cavalier body as ugly as the Pinto was sleek. Thankfully, someone found the car and has restored it to its proper Pinto bodied glory.

 

A person I had much respect for Mr. Raymond Parks of Atlanta Ga passed away sunday.. He was 96 years old .. He made NASCAR and racing what it became. The last pioneer .. RIP>>>

 

The 17 with red/gold stripes ran in 1979.The stripes were only on the right side and roof.

 

He was mentioned prior to the race coverage Sunday. I believe he had passed away early that day. Our condolensces to his family. R.I.P.

 

Hi y'all, I have been monitoring this site for some time and love the nostalgia.....Just wanted to chime in on the above Soucy "Bandit" cars.......Bakes has it correct, the car with stripes was run in 1980 and the scoop nose car was run in 1981. On an interesting side note, Maynard came within 9 laps of winning his 4th Spring Sizzler in a row in the 1981 vesion when the clutch burned up. These cars were only run part time and I don't believe either won a race with MT driving.....................kt

 

Thanks for the thread and clarifications on the Soucy Bandits.

Is "kt" Ken Troyer?

JBull

 

Dr. John,

Thanks for posting the Lancaster Program photos. This must be the Valiant of Bobby Krull you mentioned in an earlier post?

JBull

 

I was wondering why there were a lot of full bodied mods popping up in the early 70's. It appears as if it was an experiment of Clay Earles at Martinsville. A little research says that the 1970 race was dubbed a "Late Model" Modified race and only bodies from 1963-1968 were allowed to run. Here's a few shots from Martinsville:

Max Berrier #12 and Ray Hendrick #11 (race winner)





Fred Desarro in the #00 Mustang



Jimmy Hensley's camaro



Disastrous results for Leo Cleary and the "Logroller" of Sonny Kozella

 

And a few more traditional shots from Martinsville in the mid 70's...

Geoff Bodine in the Armstrong Mustang II leading Satch Worley and the pack





Bodine in the pits



Radford and Worley leading Evans and the rest of the pack...



Starting line-up led by George Kent in the Cal Smales #41 and Mark Newton in the #55

 

Yes JBull it is I.........On your other question about the full fendered modifieds, Lancaster made it a rule also to have full fenders in an effort at product recognition I suppose. I believe the year was 1972. I don't think it lasted a full season but I could be wrong. Some of the cars looked pretty neat but ofcourse it made it nearly impossible to draw any outsiders............................kt

 

Maynard,as I recall, disliked the rule,and refused to paint the Pinto front fenders and hood, and kept them "factory black".

 

Thanks for the clarification Dr. John..............

Maynard......quite the rebel he was.....lol.......How goes it Brian?...........kt

 

Some more from Martinsville....

The first 3 a bad day for RogerHill

 

Jamie was never that young, was he? <g>

Doug's #52 Bobcat ended up with Eddie Steffenhagen in the Rochester area as his #03. It was still around as of a couple of years ago. Doug was one solid driver and knew set-ups like you couldn't believe - he retired from racing and headed south after Richie was killed and ended up crew chiefing on a number of cars including some Winston Cup cars.