60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds

Nice Bodywork ! Nice car!

 

Sutcliffe At stafford

 

Tommy Sutcliffe at West Haven


Bob Black at West Haven


West Haven was the best...It's where I got hooked.

 

Here's another of Tommy at Stafford Springs with a newer version of the 32 around 1971 or '72. I remember seeing Tommy crash this car hard in turn one. It was a beautifully constructed car.

 

John,
Is this Cramer's car that he destroyed against the first turn steel wall at Oswego warming up for the 1981 Bud 200?

 

Lou Toro At Thompson

 

Ron Bouchard At An All Star Show At Riverside Park

 

A little change of pace for me....a few shots I have of Dirt Modified legend Emil "Buzzie" Reutimann...although some are from when he ran on the asphalt as well...

early Buzzie...not sure who is in the sedan behind him....











autograph I got when he ran the All Star 300 at Islip Speedway....










with injectors....








I believe the car Buzzie is standing next to is a vega, the old reliable coupe and the asphalt camaro....







asphalt camaro at speed at Islip during the All Star 300...without the full front w/fenders

 

and some more Buzzie and the famous #00....


the camaro during the All Star 300 again at Islip Speedway circa 1974...





the asphalt camaro again....





another shot at the All Star 300 at Islip...Buzzie was actually leading the inaugural All Star 300 at Islip in his dirt track coupe, in the closing stages when he ran out of gas with less than 5 laps to go...he came in for a splash and lost the race to Jim Landry form NH...unless my memory is failing me and it was the second running of the 300 when he ran out of gas and fellow dirt track driver, Lou Lazzaro won it in the Jerry Rose #93...after Jim Landry and Lou Lazzaro won the first two All Star 300's, it became Richie Evan's race, as he won it 5 or 6 times in a row....




At speed on the asphalt at the Trento Roc with fellow dirt tracker Gerald Chamberlin....





an asphalt vega I believe.....





on the dirt with what looks like another vega in the "narrow car" era...





ashamed to admit, but a JBUll original on the pit ramp at Islip in the asphalt vega for another All Star 300...




a pair of Buzzie's vegas in the pits: the #00 and #00 Jr.





the man himself....





mid seventies dirt track pinto....





in color

 

now thats what I'm talkin bout...................!

 

and back to LI and the charging one, Charlie Jarzombek....


Charlie J at Islip taking the high road around Jim Hendrickson in the Ferrente x3 camaro as both close in on the Z1 of George Wagner....




Charlie Jarzombek and Jim Hendrickson at Islip, the media hyped the rivalry but they had a mutual respect for one another...





Charlie taking the high road again around Jim Hendrickson...Charlie finally dethroned Jim in 1972 winning the first of his Islip track championships....Ed Appoldt photo





Charlie and Jimmy again...





a lynchmob photo....





stacking them up at Pocono with Ron Bouchard, Dick Clark in the 16x and Leo Cleary sliding in with the Garbarino #4....






Charlie J on the outside of Gene Siuzdak in the Pal Pools #25, notice no window net and no firesuit...







Charlie coming out of the pit ramp at Islip...

 

Buzzie At The Park

 

and some more of the charging one...

in the pits at Islip next to the #18 Camaro of Butch Meceika...I believe a Len Calinoff photo...a grooved left front...




in a scramble at Islip with the #747 Falcon of Tiger Tom Baldwin bouncing in the air of the tire of Frank "Mississippi" Curtis, Cliff Tyler in the #21





A Len Calinoff photo next to the 3K Mustang of Mousie Kempster in the pits at Islip...





in victory lane...





in a skirmish at Islip with the #42 of Bill Marino, the #19 of Bob Park and the Z1 of George Wagner....




in another melee at Islip with Gene Siuzdak in the #25, Fred Harbach in the X89, George Wagner againn in the #Z1 and Artie Tappen in the #14...







another 100 lap victory at Islip with Big Bob O'Rourke and promoter Dick Corbeil....a $1000 back in 1972






one from the Himes Museum...not sure who the #2 is,the V9 of George Wagner, The #1 of Charlie J and the #18 w/Fred Harbach at the wheel....











the coupe restored today....

 

Post 11147, I think the driver outside Buzzie is Bob Pickell

 

I believe the # 2 might be Ed Doty??

 

Art Tappen At Stafford

 

I think the last color shot of Buzzie Reutimann is a Chevette

 

I watched the mod. race from N.H Sat. hands down best race of the weekend 25+ lead changes then the truck race with 1 guy leading 165 laps.When will someone televise mods on a regular basis at least we can watch a few on Versus.

 

So now nothing from the '70's? The thread is "60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds"

 

There will obviously be a LOT of people upset over this latest threat to this group. One occurred earlier this year and another administrator stepped in and gave this thread his blessing as long as it stayed in the pre-Cavalier period (If memory serves me correctly his words stated not going past the Pinto/Vega period). AND IT HAS!

This had become (arguably) the best source of information for the participants and fans of modifieds from day 1 through the pinto/vega and with the exception of less than a handful of conflicts has been respectful. It has also been a gateway for many into the other threads of the jalopy journal.

Do administrators talk to each other before nuking threads? If not please make the exception and consult with them. Thank you

 

Part of the dilemma is that, unlike a lot of other areas of racing, there has not been that much attention paid to, or historical recording of, Modified racing. One could be interested in Foyt's sprint car exploits and find numerous internet resources in order to study them. That would be a legitimately separate subject from his Indy car career, and perhaps his sports car or NASCAR exploits would be another subject again.

Most of the greats of the golden era of Modifieds spent essentially their entire careers in the class (this forum's Denny Zimmerman and his friend Pete Hamilton being rare exceptions). Those greats all campaigned in pre-'65 cars ('30s bodied) and most campaigned in late '60s-early '70s bodied cars as well. One cannot very well discuss Ray Hendrick or Bugs Stevens without touching on their late-model bodied Modifieds. On the other hand, there were younger drivers who competed against Hendrick, Stevens, Schneider, Hoag, Flemke, et al, and many of the younger ones probably never sat in a '30s coupe. Perhaps the cut-off should be newer v vintage drivers, not cars.
Exacerbating the problem is that there are not all that many extant images of the older cars, most of which were scrapped after one final wreck, ages ago. Pre-1960 images of Modifieds are like hen's teeth. If this thread were limited to first-time publication of pre-1965 images, it would have atrophied into a coma long before now.

Your point about the resource intensivity of this thread is a fair one.
Another car forum on which I participate had a similar problem with a few popular threads. Their solution was to lock (but retain in accessible archives) the lengthy original thread, and start a new one to continue the discussion. That transition happened without anyone's missing a beat.
Might you consider that option for this thread, rather than terminating what is a popular, valued, and consistently constructive discussion?

Thanks.

 

I watched "historic stock cars" get locked over the same deal and now this one is in danger. I started going through "drag cars in motion" a while back. I'm up to around 900 pages out of around 1500 and it's still going. Pages that were full of 70's, 80's and up to present day stuff. I found it kind of odd seeing that after the "historic stock cars" thread got shut down. Now this one is in danger and I'm a little more than confused.

 

I see the point and since the site does not belong to us (the Modified fans and contributors who are on here every day), we really can't protest. I have made quite a few new friends and had the opportunity to see many photos that I would never have seen anywhere/anyway else. This has evolved into a community where we also were able to share information (sadly, including the passing of oldtime Modified drivers).

We can holler all we want, but if it's "OT" and costing someone else money, then all we can hope is one of us strikes it rich and starts our own site.

It's their site, not ours. We can contribute, but we can't make the rules.

Thanks, HAMB -- it's been fun.

John

 

There is no where else to go in the world of the web to share and see photos and information on vintage modified race cars. I've learned more here than anywhere else about these cars and drivers from around the country. These cars started years ago as 30's and 40's coupes, many of which were too far gone to return to street use. Truthfully speaking, many of these cars are finally being returned to that track in running condition (either original or reconstructed/reproduced). It would be unfortunate to lose this thread. It has also exposed me to the other forums here on the HAMB that I otherwise would not have had the opportunity to see, threads about genuine hot rods from the early days. Our racing 'hot rods' are the coupes and coaches of the 30's and 40's that turn left, and that is our legacy. I really cannot understand why anyone would complain about a few items that didn't conform exactly to the rules.
As an example of interesting content, here's my first modified race car that I built and ran at Plainville Stadium in 1976. It was not a famous car, but if the opportunity arises, I will rebuild/reconstruct this car at some point in the future. I hope this forum is still here to share this undertaking.

 

Ryan, with all do respect..

"Traditional rods and customs"....????...WOW could have fooled me.

The title of this HAMB site is 60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modified.

I went back to the first thread and looked at the pictures, those cars are not hot rods or customs they are race cars that race on race tracks.

Like others on here have stated, this site is terrific. I look forward to checking this site every day. I'm also on the midget and sprint car site. I have met old friends, I have made new friends, I have learned some history, some that I had forgotten some that I never knew, I'm like a kid in a candy store with this site.

I don't think any of us intended to hijack your site so...if you don't want us here, PLEASE transfer all of us (60'-70'sOval Track Modified HAMBers) to a new site, I suggest you call it 50'-75's Oval Track Modified. Please don't lose any of the posts or pictures they are a gold mine of history.

Denny Zimmerman

 

I am also confused. If you were limiting this sight to hot rods why did you let this thread, the funny car,dirt car and the vintage stockcar threads get started in the first place. This one has over five hundred and fifty pages which shows its popularity. You should be proud of what you have. I am sure visitors to these sights also visit the hot rod thread and the used parts and cars for sale. That is the way I found the hot rods. I googled early modifieds and found this thread then started visiting other threads on this sight. Just my opinion. Allstarracing