60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds

Some More Charlie Jarzombek. Again I believe the color photos were purchased many years ago from a Fred Smith.

 

And a few more of Charlie Jarzombek









And an action shot with Tommy Baldwin's 747 Falcon bouncin in the air amid Frank "Mississippi" Curtis #65 I believe, Cliff Tyle #21 and Charlie J. i don't know who the #5 is (Dennis Shiner)

 

hugh m, that is one rightous doodlebug

 

That's a 1932 Worthington golf tractor. Genuine Ford parts including the grille, rails etc. My buddie has several of differing years, make great stock car tugs.

 

It seemed there was a time there in the late 60's early 70's (before the "pinto revolution") when some of the drivers were starting to move away from the coupes and the coaches and going to the late model bodied cars. Jim Hendrickson had a nearly full bodied mustang and camaro. Al Deangelo in the Scibelli Bros $7 was a nearly full bodied mustang as was Mousey Kempsters 3K (partially seen in the Jarzombek photo). As was the Meceika 18 camaro (also seen next to Charlie's coupe in the photos) driven by Fred Harbach.

I also believe Martinsville mandated the late model bodied cars for one year at the track for the modifieds. 1970? Of course the Tant/Mitchell/Hendrick Camaro.

Fred Harbach's X89 Camaro as well as Dutch Hoag's #7 and Brian Osgood's #09 were open wheeled cars. In fact those three camaros in particular appear to be narrower than the standard camaro body. Don't know if you were allowed to do that back then?

Just some food for thought.

JBull

 

That 3K Mustang of Mousey's was bought by Gary Molnar and raced it one season as is. The next year we put a Vega body on it and an independent F/E with Wiggins bars. That car was built like a tank it took lots of abuse.

 

I've always said none of these photos are mine, we share photos on a hot rodding website that we like and we bring back the memories of years past, keeping the history alive! If someone has a problem, watermark your photos, it's simple. I don't like people making money on ebay off photos either! I've said in the past that photo id's don't have names of photographers or collections!!! Just names mostly of the track or driver. Back to photos!

Mac McDougal

Gherzi

 

MacTavish

MacTavish

MacDonald

 

Malletts Bay

 

oh a photo id, it was in the photo information!
Marc Rohrbacher photo

Manny Silva was okay

Mallett bay

 

I have a full set of Stock Car Racing Magazines going back to '66. Apparently, in the years around '69-71, there was a big movement pushed by NASCAR for the "late model Modified" type car, which apparently was a full bodied car on a Modified chassis. One such car was a '69 Roadrunner with the engine mounted in the middle of the race car, in the passenger seat area. The LM Modified thing died out pretty quickly, but it looks like the compact car half-bodies then took over. Supposedly Duffy's #30 coupe was the last coupe to run a NASCAR Modified race.

Coming from the Midwest, where we didn't have those kinds of cars, I've just always been blown away by how aggressive the Mods looked, particularly the mid-70s cars with the Pinto/Monza/Vega type bodies and the steamroller tires, not to mention the big-blocks.

When I was a kid, we went to Speedweeks every year. The Mod 200 was always my favorite race just because it was so unpredictable. As an adult, I was able to write about those races for Speedway Illustrated, still one of my favorite works.

 

Some more LI Modifieds:

George Brunnhoelzl Sr in the #28, Joe Hassan in the #74 and Jack Duffy #30 in one of the last coupes left running of that era. A former Buzzie Reutimann car.







Lew Hennessey again in victory lane at Freeport

 

A few more:

Lew Hennesey #23, Artie Tappen #14 and Gary Winters on the outside



Lew Hennessey #23 and Ed Flemke #2x actually at Stafford



Lew Hennesey #23 and Herbie Hulse



Lew Hennessey #23 and George Brunnhoelzl

 

Thank you for sharing that with us Kris.

 

This was known, or as I have called it, the transition period when you would still see coupes, coaches, Camaros, Mustangs, then the Pinto revolution with the Vegas, Gremlins and so on, all on the track at the same time.

The funny thing is, the mid size cars in most cases were gone before the coupes, the coaches had pretty much been phased out by this time.

 

your welcome, thanks for taking the time to check it out!

 

JBull, the Jarzombek pictures are fantastic! It brings a smile to my face to recall seeing not only his cars, but of everyone who ran at Islip. Makes me want to return to my youth when as kids we would wave to Charlie on the pace lap before the feature knowing that he was one of the best and then wave to Lone Star Jimmy Reed because our dad knew him (I used to hang out at the shop sometimes) and would give us a ride home in his white jeep after the races. Wonderful People with wonderful memories.

To all of you who have the pictures and post them, thank you!!

 

Yes, it was Richie Donovan, thanks-first modified I ever saw at Islip, coming thru underneath the grandstands (he was parked at the X), still can see it today.

 

Wow that 14 is wierd.

 

That was great - seriously! Never saw your uncle race (saw Rick race a bunch of times!) but his legacy speaks for itself. The song works great with the video as well.

 

thanks a bunch! your comments are very much appreciated.

 

In a conversation I had with the late Bob Carroll he stated that he paved the track after John Leahy had a conversation with The CT. State Police who would not allow any more racing because of the unsafe condition of the dirt surface. After a little Johnny Walker with Leahy he cancelled all his paving work for the week and Danbury ran the following Saturday on new asphalt.

 

So as to keep the non Long Islanders from getting mad at us here are a few posts of a young kid from Chemung, NY. I definitely put Geoff Bodine in the top 10 modified drivers of all time. Who knows how many more wins he would have racked up if he had not moved on to the full body series. On top of being a good driver he seemed to have the mechanical smarts to go along with it. I am not sure if he built all his own cars or not, but he definitely knew how to set them up. The Valiant was one of my all time favorites. Not sure if he built more than one or he just made the car lower and sleeker as time went on.

photo by Fred Smith

Geoff and the McClure special in the background



Geoff and another one of the all time greats, Ray Hendrick (at Pocono I believe)



ditto





Next to Richie Evans

 

Geoff next to Richie again



On his way to the 1972 ROC win dicing with Paul Radford #26 and Joe Krukowski



at speed



not a good day

 

Geoff Bodine with Dutch Hoag's # 7 in the background



Bodine and Troyer



Bodine and Havens



Bodine with Fred White and Chuck Boos



With Richie Evans at speed

 

Geoff Bodine #99 with Gary Reichert #18 and Dave Nichols #34



Bodine with Ron Bouchard #15 and Don Diffendorf




Bodine with Dave Nidhols #34 and Bryan Osgood #09



Not a good day!



Another Fred Smith photo The Mcclure special in the background again

 

I for one would never take anything from Geoff Bodine. I recall a race down at Dover. Bodine's car was out of the race and Troyer was sick. Troyer comes in with his #6 and Bodine gets in and makes up 6 laps! And wins the race. The highest Long Islander to finish was Bobby Lane in his #4 Pinto, his son and I were best friends, Bobby came in fourth. It was a great day all around. The LI crew knows that Bob was a Figure 8 Champ a few times over and ran modifieds a couple of times over the years also. Heck of a nice guy too.

 

It was good seeing George Meade this weekend and meeting Kris Holmberg. Unfortunately, our meeting came to a short halt, as good friend Wayne Anderson seemed to have suffered a heart attack or carbon monoxide poisoning. EMTs and Ann Young wife of mod driver Chris Young (she is a doctor) were on the scene pretty fast. Wayne is a former Nascar Modified tour champion, Islip, Riverhead and New Egypt track champion. Scary moment was seeing Ann, perform chest pumps to Wayne. All I could do was say a prayer for my friend. The Lord and His angels were looking over Wayne this evening! He was sent to the hospital alert and talking. He wanted to go home a few hour later but they made sure he stayed in, he will be in for tests the next few days.

Wayne set fast time and drew the pole earlier in the day for The Hall of Fame 100 lap race. He looked to be strong the first 20-25 laps before the car faded away. He did finish the race. He showed the old veteran still got the speed under him and he can make that machine dance!!!

I got to know Wayne away from the track always enjoyed the stories from him. Here's to you buddy!

 

Godspeed Wayne. I recall the evenings in the pits after the races at Islip. My daughter was about 5 and Pete was maybe 2. Freddie Harbach gave Jen a T Shirt, Jerry Cook saw it, he used to call her his little girlfriend and he gave her one of his red 38 Tee's. Wayne is sitting there and he says, Hey kid, come over here and get those shirts off, here this is a real Tee shirt for you! All three of the drivers were cracking up and my daugher was beaming like a light bulb.
If Islip was one place, it was a family friendly race track where families grew up together. Drivers kids with fan's kids.
Take care Wayne! Hope to see you again soon. Miss hanging out on Wensdays.