[Mike Keener]

I have been reading this thread with great interest and about all I can add is a word about breakage. Yes it's true these cars would break some parts but if the class were run today you wouldn't see nearly as much because of product improvement in three major areas.

1. First and foremost the clutch. Clutches are so much less violent than the Long Style/Borg and Beck stuff we used to run it's pathetic. Knowing what we know now..man what a difference.

2. Transmissions are far superior today. In the beginning we used to run Borg Warner Super T10 transmissions! Can you imagine how much difference there is between them and todays Jerico & G Force transmissions used today. Hell even the 9310 Nickel alloy geared Chrysler 4 speed, and the 5 speed Nash stuff that we ran in later years of Modified could never stand up to todays transmissions. However, Much of the transmission breakage experienced by most racers in that era was a direct bi-product of "too much clutch" syndrome.

3. Valve train components. Sometimes it is hard for me to imagine what we expected of these engines when I look back at the crude stuff we had to work with in this area. We had a Jomar stud girdle, and some roller rockers, and very breakable valve springs that we expected to twist nearly 10,000 RPM. Oh sure they did it all right, but you get my drift. Jessel Rocker Shaft systems, better springs...man I wish we had that stuff back then.

MK