IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

OK guys, a friend of mine loaned me an old VHS tape he had of racing at our home track, Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip in N. Georgia. There was footage of an IHRA race run in the mid eighties on there, so I copied it to share with those who appreciate this kind of thing. lol

The concession stand was blocking the view down track so most of the video is starting line shots. The video has lost some clarity over the years but the sound is excellent. Some of these guys are still running in NHRA Comp Elim. today.

Enjoy, Wayne. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kswkSEyOj8

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Those were the days, bad haircuts, 8000rpm, side step the clutch, shift, shift, shift and get your time slip!

Jim R

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Thanks for uploading. I really like watching those gear-bangers from that era (and earlier). I really, really miss the sound of manual shift race cars WITHOUT that obnoxious-sounding two-step rev limiter that absolutely RUINS the cool sound of a stick car's engine as the tree counts down.

M68

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Thank's Memories
That is how cars are still supposed to sound to me.got cold chills from sound you have great videos
thanks for sharing them.
Mike Taylor3601

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

And they replaced that with what? Brake light, throttle stoped, stutter boxed, delay boxed, timer shifted X box games with G forces....

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

8000 rpm is way to low for most of those cars in the video clip. Almost any good small block of the era saw well over 9000 and the real small motors might see 10 grand. The car I was associated with was a C/SM Camaro with motors right around 300 cubic inches and it saw 9200-9300 every run..... It ran as quick as 10.40's at 128-129. Made 570hp on the dyno with a 750 carb and unported 461x iron heads...


And for everyone that thinks they were great...well they were but you couldn't race one by yourself. The amount of work needed to fix stuff and keep the car running when it broke was too much usually for one person. Driveline breakage was pretty bad before they had good transmissions and clutches. Motors took a beating at those rpms.

I'll take modern delay box, big tow truck motor, throttle stopped racing anyday.....Maintenance consists of a wash and wax between races, maybe an oil change and add fuel between rounds.....Way better than trying to change a blazing red hot burned up busted up clutch!

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Ahhh Rich you're getting old.

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Now that was racing....no spectator problem...It's been a long time since I've a crowd like that watching sportsman cars...I wish it could be like that again some day....maybe it will. Anyway, thanks for the clip. You know I like it....check my profile!

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Now thats funny coming from you Ed..... but true....Keep in mind I still roll out of bed about 6 am everyday and go to work......Old bones are getting creaky......

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Thanks for the memories, Memories...Wonder if old Bob Calahand was there in that screaming Vet?

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Cool video!

I'd like to know where all those Corvettes are today...

Jeff Jewell

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

I don't think he was. Some of the drivers in that video are: Dennis Mitchell, Chubby Holmes, Tim Freeman, Mark Osbourne, and Bill Puckett.

Wayne.

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

I can understand it from your perspective but to me that is not real drag racing. And just look at 'all' the spectators in the stands.

Need I say more?

M68

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Some tracks drew big crowds ...and that track was one of them as I recall. There were lots of spectators even at my local track sometimes on a saturday night in the '60s. Those days are long gone. It was a different time and era for lots of reasons. If you view real dragracing as only high reving stick shift door cars..."to each his own" as the saying goes. They were fun to watch and race as I said but those days went the way of the rotary telephone.......

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

"9200-9300 every run" I remember some guys at Marion SD running like 6.50 or 6.17 rear end gears and leaving at like 11,000. Man, my brain can't handle that, but it was sure cool. They used to break rocker studs a lot.

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Over 10,000 was usually reserved for the little destroked motors..........272 cubes was a common one if I recall right......I also think there was a gearset over 7-1

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Rich,

I think you could get a 7:17 for the Dana. You could get 6:20 and 6:50's for the Ford 9". I ran a 5:67 in my Mustang, a SBF w/steel rods and 8,000+ rpm = alot of scattered parts. A crap budget and big dreams contributed to much of that as well. If you weren't breaking motors, you were shelling driveshafts, axles or in my case a third member.

The part about high maintenance was true as well. Even most of the well funded guys had a hard time keeping these things upkept.

That was another time, I can still recall cranking the gears on my Mr. Gasket inline shifter. Those days are gone forever, only to be relived by those of us that experienced them.

Robert Swartz

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Indeed.

I like Stockers and Super Stockers regardless of transmission--even Comp cars--but I must admit, those high-rpm, stick cars are my favorite to watch since day one except not as much as it used to be thanks to the two-step rev limiters that most guys use nowadays.

What I view as not "real" drag racing is bracket racing with its plethora of electronics, virtually all-automatic transmission field, the "let's overbuild it, short-shift it so we can get 1000 runs out of the engine" mentality; driving games and sandbagging of every sort; and in more than a few cases, less than professional appearing/built cars.

And don't get me started on all the front wheel drive imports and the baggy pants-wearing, "yo-yo-yo, wazzup" crowd associated with them which now infest drag strips. :)

Believe me, I have no contempt or disrespect for people involved with bracket racing. I can fully understand the reasons from a cost and maintenance perspective. But it's just not my "cup of tea," and like you said: "to each his own."

Unfortunately, you are 100% correct.

Regards,

M68

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Just look at the crowds exactly!!! Stick Cars rule !

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Ernie"THE ANIMAL" Price still lives the dream.

Hammer

PS If you ever get the chance to watch him, don't miss it.

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

You can find Ernie and Mike Price at almost every UMTR race "living the dream" along with 60-100 other stick shift racers. This saturday, August 15, it's the UMTR Stick Shift SummerNationals at National Trail Raceway. Gates open at 8am
www.umtrnorth.com

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

You said it brother... spot on.

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Hey Bob, you know how many years the old white trailer was stained with gear oil from the last nine inch you took out? Trick question, the answer is you can STILL see traces of it, noticed it on the last rewiring job... It bled back through the last paint job ever how many years ago that was... lol

How hard did Ken and Toby twist that poor little 2000 cc Pinto motor in the D/MC car?

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Bob....I started drag racing in 1966 with a jr stocker and a good friend was already a somewhat seasoned racer and had a D/MP '57 Chevy wagon with a 301 and a 4-speed. I helped him a little and traveled with him a lot in 1968. Breakage back then was usually mostly driveline. Engines were still pretty tame. His car ran mid 12's and we set the D/MP record once that year. Fast forward to 1978 and I was working in an engine shop and one of my co-workers had a pretty competetive C/SM Camaro....Same 300 or so cube engine but way more rpm and driveline breakage sometimes was really bad. One race at Maple Grove we destroyed a clutch disc and must have sent shock down the driveline as the trans and rear was also damaged all on the one run. I can recall another ordeal when he turned the splines on an axle and tore up other clutches.....How about a nice "hair ball" from a "rag disc" in the bell housing from a little miscue by the driver......left the line in the wrong gear at about 9200!!! It was his first outing with a Nash trans and he argued with me about how the shift levers were supposed to go...I was right...he was wrong....oops....Burnt clutch does not smell good......

I spent a lot of time in the lanes as Modified eliminator pulled out at some big events around 1978-1980. It was even better than when SS first came on the scene in the late '60's and I was in the lanes for that as well at some events. I have seen a lot over the years and todays racing is still great but those old times were great just to be a part of.....

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Rich,

You had a few real good years on me. I didn't get interested in drag racing until I got out of HS in 1973. The guys that gave me what little schooling they could were just bailing from Modified at that time. My buddies had a 1970 Maverick with a Boss 302. It just wouldn't run. Fastest I think that car ever went was an 11.90 something? That's when they decided to build a stocker, where I spent the next few years.

I attempted to build a modified myself, in my spare time. Only (tried) to race at the local track, it wasn't good enough or legal, to take anywhere. The real truth, I was just a dumb kid with a big dream. Like you've alluded to, learned to break alot of parts. By the time I had amassed some good parts, a couple spools and axles, enough parts to build a couple Liberty 4 speeds. That was late in 1977. All the tracks around here had switched over to bracket racing by then. That was when I decided to go a different direction also. Drag racing was changing and I felt I needed to as well.

It was amazing to see the changes just over those years. After being on hiatus since 1988, this has sure changed a whole bunch more! Can we honestly say, I remember the good old days fondly, they were a lot of work. I can have that old mans lament now. I can look back in time and recall what it was like, two badass cars, smokey burnouts, dry hops, two cars reved to the moon, those hard wheels up launches. It was great being part of that.

Bob

Re: IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's
 

Regarding the old trailer, we need to get a portable blaster and clean that thing, LOL! Like we discussed last weekend. I think I last painted that trailer in 1985-6, something like that. I've had that old thing since what, 1976. Got the wife scared to death, told her, when I start receiving my pension money from Arvin's in November, we may take a trip down to Georgia and buy one of those 26 foot econo enclosed trailers.

That old D/MC car, it went to at least 11K. I know they did alot work with cams and followers, being an OHC engine. As you recall, I was pretty much on my own by then, didn't spend alot of time with that car. On that note, stopped by to talk with Toby a week or so ago, he wasn't at work that day. Haven't talked to him for 3-4 years. My wife has spoken with him, said he wants to give me a hard time for resurrecting the old Nova. Last I knew, he still had both the D/MC car AND the stocker. I believe, his mother sold off the old homestead and he's gotten divorced since then, who knows what may have become of those cars?

Bob