Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

I grew up in the 70's and was a big fan of Modified. Class was gone by the time I started racing. How did Modified work? Handicap start with each class having an index. Was is similar to Comp with no breakout but if you run X number under you index, you would reset the index of that class? Thanks. Great pictures. Makes me remember the times watching Modified at Green Valley and Dallas International Motor Speedway.

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

In the early days a Modified car ran off the National record, then later off a Nat. index, in both cases it was flat out to the finish line. IHRA Modified, I believe was the same in the beginning then changed to the index system with no breakout.

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

modified ran off of the national record then later on off of an "index" type of racing--there was no breakout flat out first guy there wins---NHRA are you listening???--it was **x** number of pounds per cubic inch classification-- It was modified production/gas classes--any way a few guys me included figured that some of the Gas classes had either a better record(softer) to run off of and the weights/pounds per cubic inch might be more favorable to them--Modified production cars could cross over and run in the gas classes but a gasser could not run as an MP because of the rules limitations---287 CI to 339 inches-- 4/5 speed trans --600/717 geared rear ends --3200-3700 pounds --flat out from the water box to the finish line---NO BS racing --you had to live it and see it --nothing like it exists today

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

If I recall correctly, back when the cars ran off the national record, you had a .10 of a second cushion, i.e., if your car ran one-tenth of a second below the record during eliminations, you lost except in the final round where it was an all-out run where your ET became the new national record in your class.

Or did this apply only to Stock and Super Stock Eliminators? I'd have to dig out my old car mags to double check something I'd don't feel like doing at the moment 'cause I've got my feet up on the edge of my desk and relaxing. :)

Pete

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Looks fantastic! Congratulations on a top-notch restoration/resurrection!

Pete

P.S. What was Butch's reaction? Any of his comments you'd like to share with us?

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

D-Gas 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona. A very heavy and unusual car for this class. I have no idea if its an original Hemicar but for sure it had a 426 HEMI under the hood.

https://image.ibb.co/c56JQU/d_gas_daytona.jpg

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Speaking of very heavy and unusual D-Gas cars, check out this parts breaker.

https://image.ibb.co/i6juzp/black_sabbath.jpg

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Thanks Pete!

Butch had the best time from the minute he arrived. He even stayed into Sunday. I heard him telling people several times that the right guys got the car and he was extremely pleased with the result. He has called every few days since and we have some deals cooking where show promoters have offered to help out with expenses if he comes out again. He really wants us to bring the car to SEMA which means a tow to Vegas so that is still in the works. He had quite a few friends stop by and Gill Kirk sat down beside him for a couple of hours on Saturday. Carroll Fink stopped by to visit and promised to bring to his SS/EA Hemi Cuda convertible next year. He joked that it's only 20 minutes up the road and that he ought to just drive it there!

Ever since we started putting up the Nat's tent (40 x 120) I have been on a mission to get all of the Missile cars there at the same time. We have had Arnie's Challenger and his Wire Car brought by Joe Pappas every year, Ben Donhoff's original Missile Duster two years and E.B. Merritt's Missile Cuda one year. It's like herding cats though and the best I have been able to do so far is three at once. Mcgrath Kean was going to bring his Fon's Missile Duster this year too but the truck driver was tied up (he did manage to bring a Billy Stepp Duster). We shall redouble efforts for next year!

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...6e&oe=5C2152F1
https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...2c&oe=5C26712D
https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...7f&oe=5C21133C

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

That car is truly a work of art from the heart. Hope to see it in person someday. Congratulations!

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Thank you Charlie. If we get out somewhere next year I'll try to let you know.

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Ditto!

Pete

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Raceway Park circa 1970.

https://image.ibb.co/f8KasU/d_gas_1957_corvette.jpg

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Does anyone know what the weight break was for G/MP ? Would a 1955 Chevy have been able to compete with an approx 292ci SBC ?

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Almost sure G/MP was 12.50-13.49 Pounds per Cubic Inch car would have had to weigh 3650 MIN with a 292 CI---We ran F/MP with 287---11.5 x 287 and min was 3300 if I remember and we always weighed 5-10 pounds over min
FED 387

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Ok, thanks. Did you campaign a Nova by chance ?

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

no ---1967 Camaro----287 CI former RMS engine reworked even faster-one of the first car to have a Nash 5 speed---one of the first cars to have a 9 inch Ford with 6:50 gears-one of the first cars to have a Holley Pro Ram--car was stupid fast at the time

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

FYI the Duster will be at the PRI show in Indy in two weeks displayed with Leah Pritchett's Challenger.

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Wish I could be there!


Post some pictures when you can.


Thanks for the heads up!

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

What is the booth number?

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Booth 7032 and thanks for stopping by Frito!

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Had a great time at PRI Indy. We were placed right beside the stage and it was a great spot
to see a lot of famous racing personalities. Many people stopped to look at the Flash and it
was very apparent that it brought back special memories of a time a lot of us miss.

https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net...1a&oe=5CA7CFB7

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Saw the Duster at the PRI show. Fantastic job. That car is better than new.

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

RESTORATION LOOK BACK

The Flash - with pristine acid dipped front inner sheetmetal structure ready to be installed to
replace missing components that had been removed during it's Super Pro career.

https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net...26&oe=5CAC6671

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

On Friday, I was told Harry Curtis had passed away. Harry ran MP, in the 60's and 70's, with a black 55 Chevy called Classical Gas, and with the Cayce, and Curtis Camaro. He will be missed.

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Can anyone give me a name of anyone or car that ran altered in Modified Elim in the early 70's. A discussion on another forum about different classes in the eliminator and there is some disagreement about altereds ever being in Modified. Trying to get proof. B C D and E altered was in Modified thru 73 but I can't find any pictures or names.

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

In 1976 the following classes were
gas coupe/sedans
street roadsters
modified production
modified compacts
super modified


I do not remember any kind of altered in Modified Eliminator all Altereds were in Comp Eliminator

will check my stuff for 73 but I think they were the same classes with only rule changes for each class in later years up to 81

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Same response on the other forum but as a Div ll tech man I seem to remember them being there and my 71-73 rulebooks show B C D and E altered in Modified and AA/FA AA BB and A in Comp but I can't remember any actual car. In 74 they were moved to Comp. I don't have any rulebooks for 68-70 and that seems to be when the Eliminators were set up. Did notice a pull out form in the middle of my 67 book for a mail in membership to NHRA. $8.
Would be interested in what you find for 73.

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Found a copy of some of the pages of a 1973 NHRA book MODIFIED ELIMINATOR CLASSES---B-C-D-E altered/ A-J Gas/A&B street roadster/A-H Modified production----will look for any entries maybe find an old listing of records that should do it--FED 387

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

D/Altered Thames panel wagon.

https://i.ibb.co/86bdR6R/shroyer-s-shaker-b.jpg

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

https://i.ibb.co/Ptz0n3S/Foxy-Lady-SIR-b.jpg


https://i.ibb.co/m0Y8Sjm/Foxy-Lady-SIR-1-b.jpg

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Anyone on the west coast having pictures of my '70 a/sm black hemi cuda, please post pictures. Jason Bullet was painted on both sides

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

That's Terry Hoard's "Samurai Warrior" 70 cubic inch rotary-powered C/MC Mazda RX-3 SP. It appeared to be a nice, well-built car, and he did have some notable success with it. I think it ended up in Puerto Rico under adverse conditions. I think there has been at least one "tribute" type car built after it.

Although almost all class racers have a lot of...class, Terry was an unfortunate exception.

Right after NHRA killed Modified Eliminator, I switched from bracket racing my street/strip Nova SS, to bracket racing a street/strip Mazda rotary door car.

There was no internet back then, and Terry was the only guy in town involved in rotary performance. He ran a greasy little auto repair shop in a seedy part of Portland Oregon. Whenever I came to him for rotary performance stuff, he wasted massive amounts of my time preaching his Amway cult to me. He was always talking about "dreaming", and making millions of dollars pressuring friends and neighbors to buy strange soap. He had some employees that were fairly helpful, but Terry was just plain creepy. I found out years later, that the success he had enjoyed with his race car, was mostly the result of other people's work, to include a really nasty dispute over an intake manifold.

Initially, I just needed a header. So he welded me up a piece of junk with unequal-length primaries, on the shop floor, with no jig. Then he sold me a "racing" tune-up, with the promise that it would make my car much faster. It was performed out in the parking lot with used parts from a pile in a stolen shopping cart, and included "converting" the stock Nikki 4-barrel carburetor to manual secondaries by wedging a wood screw into the throttle linkage. That "racing" tune up, on my otherwise stock engine, involved setting up both distributors to fire right on top of each other, with enough advance to ensure the demise of my engine on the very first pass I made afterwards. When I told him what had happened, he was all to eager to try to sell me an engine.

About that time, I became aware of Racing Beat out of Anaheim California, and sent away for their mail-order Mazda rotary performance catalog. It had a significant amount of very helpful technical information in it. I was eventually able to put the car in Pro ET with the assistance of Racing Beat's equal-length header, exhaust megaphone, spark plug wires, underdrive crank pulley, clutch, bridge port templates, 4-barrel Holley intake manifold, and the aforementioned technical information.

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

6130,

Nice comment about Terry Hoard. What you've said is pretty much the way I remember his domination of Modified Eliminator. If he was racing, he was probably going to win. NHRA tried altering the Modified Compact index and each time they did it, Hoard would just go faster. NHRA could not keep up.

I happened to be at the Fall Nationals, in Seattle, when Wayne County brought out their B/Gas Opel. The Opel weighed about 2000 lbs. and was powered by a pro stock style 302. A real monster driven by a fellow named, Hutchens. Both cars met in the finals. I think the Opel came out west to end Hoard's domination of the class.

Hoard would leave the line at 14,000 RPM, shifting a Nash 5 speed. What seemed like a "half hour later", Hutchens left and barely caught Hoard. Been to a lot of drag races, but to this day, it was the most amazing drag race I ever witnessed.

I did not know Hoard, but knew of him, also heard he was pretty interesting. I knew a few of the people that provide parts for the Mazda. Mazda also provided some interesting rotary technology.

Someone told me he used a 9" Ford with 7:50 gears, a really short drag tire and an under drive 5 speed to get the car moving. Pretty crazy stuff back then.

Lorenr :D

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Nice picture of the Checkmate 68 Camaro, This is the one I have.

Re: Modified Eliminator Wars in the 70's
 

Butch and the Duster on the cover of the next Mopar Collectors Guide.

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...b9&oe=5D1E044A