IHRA Modified Eliminator Video Clip - Mid 80's

[Rich Biebel]

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

[Robert Swartz]

Originally Posted by Rich Biebel

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

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

[Tod Lane]

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

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?

[Robert Swartz]

Originally Posted by Tod Lane

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?

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

[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.....

[Robert Swartz]

Originally Posted by Rich Biebel

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.....

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