[WestCoastChris]

This is a great discussion. I helped my dad build the first Super Modified Maverick. The first year there was just the one class (A/SM), 3 cars showed up at Pomona, Vogelin & Maherson won class. Jimmy Stevens was the first Super Mod to win Modified Eliminator, he did it at the 1975 High Desert Spring Regionals at LA County Raceway. We tried to build that car cheap and it was competitive on a budget the first year. The Boss motor had a definite advantage, then the Chevrolet contigent convinced NHRA to split, so B/SM became the Boss Class.

I remember Arlen Fadely calling dad at least a dozen times when he was building his car, he would pick dads brain for hours. We had not really heard of Arlen out west. He would call our house like clockwork, I remember answereing the phone "Jim Stevens Racing", because I knew it would be him. Of course he was calling our house and dad did all his work in our attached 2 car garage!

Arlen built a real fast car, as guys like him and Don Bowles started builing these "high dollar" cars, the class became more expensive. Ultimately, Tires & Valve Springs were good for one race. Had to get a Doug Nash over the toploader.

Dad really relished the opportunity to run heads-up in the IHRA. If I remember correctly, the single carb was 1150. Dad took his NHRA legal car with a borrowed carb down to Amarillo and runner-upped to Ricky, Jack Roush et al. He could not fit as big a tire as in Fowlers' car, but was competitive enough for dad to take a month off and head east to go head to head with Jack & Tricky Ricky the summer of 76.

We borrowed an enclosed trailer and hit the road. Our hopes were dashed within an hour, as a semi-truck & strong cross wind jack-knifed us and destroyed the car just outside Rosamond CA.

The car was not back at the track until the Fallnationals, and went a couple rounds. In 1977 he really got that car hauling again. Ran good enough to win the 77 Cajun Nationals, but in the rain delayed 2 AM final, turned on the red light against the late great Lee Shepard, who happened to have a broken rear-end in the Modified Production Camaro he was driving during his Pro Stock hiatus. I remember Lee had a crash and did not want to get back in that Pro stocker.

Dad was on his way to the Division 7 Championship, the car was flying. As I remember most of the divisionals were running eliminations at night, and when they did that car was tough to beat. A trip to INDY that year resulted in a class elimination loss to Arlen who went on to win the Eliminator. We could not make that thing run in the heat & humidity, but Arlen could. We were dry icing the manifold and had a cool-can as an air-cooler, aside from being on the fringe of the rules, it did not really work!

At any rate, by then the class was already too expensive, it is just too hard regulate these classes. The little things, like the valve spring life and track rentals for testing drove the cost up. We were lucky enough to have a silent sponsor for 77-79, and dad held & reset the SM record more than anybody else from 75-81.

Mike Edwards, Ron Anderson & Jim Ehlen all put together some good running Fords. They were good friends and stayed with us when they came out west. Dad won the 80 Winternationals and retired from drag racing after blowing an engine at the 81 Mile High Nationals. Modified was dead and the Super Modifieds were soon to be "re-defined".