30 years ago at Indy

[Jason]

I can't believe its been thirty years. Like they say, time marches on.

[MEMORIES]

The sixth car in line in that photo, with the off-center hood scoop, is Cotton Perry from Ringgold, Georgia. Cotton won that race. I saw him race through the seventies at my home track, Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip, in Ringgold, Georgia. He was rarely beaten.

MEMORIES.

[Ed Wright]

I never did understand why NHRA did that. Around here we had more Modified cars than Comp cars. I would have expected Comp to go before Modified.

[PONTIAC'S REVENGE]

Most people dont really realize or just forget what really happened in modified. It really was just was split in two. We had just finished our 69 TA in 1982. Marty Barrett said the split would be better as we had a break out class. It would give us a place to cut out teeth until we were ever fast enough to run with the big boys in Modified. We spent tons of 1982 dollars for the best stuff from the Pontiac camp and trying to learn.

What destroyed Modified for many was the alum SBC head being legalized at the same time. No one had anything for that! We had a 3450 lb 440 inch cast iron head 69 TA which was right on the mph record. We were learning how to hook that puppy! We used to call it, "Stacy turning on the spin cycle" (being the washer salesman)

However, Harold Stout's new 82 firebird with the 392 (I think) cu in SBC and alum heads at a much lighter weight bombed the record from 9.41 or so to about 8.92 in the flash of the pan. (Mike McKinney driving) It was a killer combo no large cubic inch engine could compete!

We were told that the alum heads was so much........a disadvantage yawn, but if we couldnt run with it.........build one! Our combo with cast iron heads and 440 inches was dead! It rusted in the cornfield for 20 years. Oh well rules change so we found something else to play, but not really quite as fun.

That is where we learned that racing has a big stroke of the pen and hard work with tons of money is sometimes marginal. So, we started working on some of those pen strokes for ourselves! I am so glad that many other brands have gotten into the picture like the Fords and Chryslers with those killer small blocks, but it did take awhile.

Lynn McCarty

[larrylomascolo]

i was their that year and remember that ordeal,146 mods for a 48 qual, field wow,you could get real close to tree and see some tachs during qualifying for modified,that class planted spectators in their seats,what a shame,,,,,,,,,

[A100]

Originally Posted by Jason

I can't believe its been thirty years. Like they say, time marches on.

Seems more like 29 to me.

[Alan Roehrich]

It was not just split into two classes. Some classes were eliminated, Cotton Perry's car was in one of them, and he couldn't just move to the next class or two up. Putting Modified cars that ran off their indexes into Super Stock with slower and more consistent automatic cars running off of dial ins made them uncompetitive. It also diluted the traditional Super Stock class, they just arbitrarily "stuck" some cars in Super Stock, none of them actually fit, nor were they in keeping with the spirit of the class. It was a truly stupid and short sighted decision.

[PONTIAC'S REVENGE]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

It was not just split into two classes. Some classes were eliminated, Cotton Perry's car was in one of them, and he couldn't just move to the next class or two up. Putting Modified cars that ran off their indexes into Super Stock with slower and more consistent automatic cars running off of dial ins made them uncompetitive. It also diluted the traditional Super Stock class, they just arbitrarily "stuck" some cars in Super Stock, none of them actually fit, nor were they in keeping with the spirit of the class. It was a truly stupid and short sighted decision.

Alan explain further cause I dont really get your point. As far as I knew it was all just weight per cubic inch. When you say eliminated was it like us just made obsolete?

Lynn

[james schaechter]

This was the first Indy I ever went to and I was a kid spectator. What I remember most oddly enough was the many racers back at the motel that were pissed off and sad at the same time. I didn't really know all the history to it at the time, but that stands out. We stayed at the Old Capri Motel that year and for many years at Indy. Bob Gipson had purchased Stan Stripe's A/MP car as a roller and had been holding off whether to build it as a modified or a SSer. This clinched it and it became a SSEA 427 69 Camaro.

As far as Stout is concerned, I think he beat most everybody in class. Except Willie Devore. In 1986 I was racing Bob Gipson's 81 Camaro SSAS. I thought I left a mile ahead of Stout's SBC Camaro and he passed me in low gear! LOL. Willie Devore out ran him for Class Honors with his SSAS stickshift Olds powered Olds cutlass. That was pretty cool too.

[Alan Roehrich]

For example, in the lower MP classes that NHRA completely eliminated, if you were already at minimum weight, and could not remove more weight, or build a bigger engine with the same HP per cubic inch, you were pretty much done. And even if you had to build a new engine, that means your current combination was done.

If you had a 300 cubic inch engine, were running in a lower class that NHRA completely eliminated, couldn't build a bigger engine, and couldn't take out more weight, that was the end of your combination. You could change to a different engine, but that wasn't the same combination.

As far as moving to Super Stock goes, remember that was back in the day of (at least supposedly) unported heads and such, among other limitations in traditional Super Stock classes. So, moving a 276 cubic inch, 11,000 RPM powered 5 speed car intended to run off the index, into a class full of comparatively mild automatic cars running in bracket mode was sort of like pushing a rope. Uphill.

A lot of people who were running Modified around here used up their engines, and then their transmissions, and went bracket racing or .90 super class racing. That's what we did. First the little 260-290 cubic inch engines went, replaced by a mild bracket big block, then when the Doug Nash stuff got tired, it got replaced by a PowerGlide, and eventually the stock front clip gave way to a tube chassis and a glass front end. Eventually, it was a Super/Pro and Super/Gas car. And then came throttle stops, delay boxes, and air shifters. By then, I hated all of it. I quit for nearly 15 years.