IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's

[Rich Biebel]

Originally Posted by Robert Swartz

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

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.....