[BlueOval Ralph]

1976 C/SM there were 39 car fro the first round of class, back then you Had to win cass to run in Elminator

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

If this was answered and I missed it, I appoligize. yes, that is the same Mike Edwards. I'm in Tulsa, Mike's race shop is about fifteen miles from my business. It's located between Broken arrow and Coweta. Two small towns next to Tulsa. My C/SM Camaro was a blast, but as Rich said, it about broke me. I finally had to give up in 1979. I began break parts much faster than I could buy them. If I had any sense, I would have stayed away. Super Stock now is not near as much fun as Modified was then. Unless you luck into a heads-up, it's become basically a friggin bracket race. You had to actually know how to make one fast then, and most guys did their own work. Not nearly as many "check book" racers as now. If you weren't reasonably fast you went home real early. One year at Indy there were so many C/SMs, if I remember correctly, seems like they ran a round of us the day before the other classes to thin us out. I took one of my too-frequent naps in the semis of class. I remember like fifty C/MP, C/SM, and I think about that many F/MP in different years. I remember Dick Moroso in C/MP with his Vette "Spastic Plastic". Very nice guy. More cars than classes then. Nowhere to hide from the fast guys. Somebody fast in every class. Now NHRA has become like the old AHRA, way too many classes.

Btw, Billy Mansell put his on the pedal wood when the 1st amber came on, and held it there until time to go. Billy was one of the nicest racers I ever met. Really a great guy. His mechanical tach's tattle-tail was always past ten grand after a run. Pete Smith's too. Loved to watch those cars. With those 50lb flywheels, some guys might have had a problem with these new three amber trees.