Interest in Modified?

[Scotty D]

there was alot of people that lost interest after the demise's of modified,and also i think in the last few years of modified there were alot of auto's,but every time i read about the class there was quite a few stick shift chevy2's and camaro's that where competitive and going rounds.as far as attacking people for opinions,wouldn't be great to have fans coming just to see the cars again.herbjr i would love to see you do this for everybody's enjoyment.but mostly for the racers like joey's dad and my dad who raced modified production in the early 70's,and partnered up with my cousin to build another one in the late 70's.by the time they got the car done it was 1981 and we all know what happened then.

[herbjr]

Originally Posted by mloboda

With all due respect, Herb. ( and I mean respect- it can't be easy to run a drag strip and put up with racers),
I believe this thread was started with the intent ( correct me if I'm wrong, Joe) of resurrecting a semblance of the modified production class car that was so popular in the 70s-80s. A high winding small block 5 speed car. Adding open body cars and automatics to the idea kills it with me before it gets started. The only reason people long for the "modified days" - it was a stick shift only class. Wild, unpredictable runs were the norm. To me, allowing an automatic car run in a modified class is blasphemy.
Herb, make it a REAL modified catagory or don't bother.

With all due respect and having a race with as many cars as possible would be nice lets allow only TRUE 4 SPEEDS none of these trannys we have today.........with that being said no we cant do that...if they fit the old rules from 2000 they can race. Wt break for auto and everything.....No heads up runs.....I have been talking to a few people already, we have some big ideas for this and we cant exclude anyone.

I can put you guys in front of 4000 spectators if you can race on Friday July 3rd, and if you have never raced at a local track on a Thursday or Friday night in front of a packed house you dont know what your missing.

Ok so what about July 2nd and 3rd, Ill do a Stock SS combo on Friday and a Modified only race on Thursday July 2nd.

Feedback Please....

Herb jr

[mloboda]

Originally Posted by herbjr

I can put you guys in front of 4000 spectators if you can race on Friday July 3rd, and if you have never raced at a local track on a Thursday or Friday night in front of a packed house you dont know what your missing.

Feedback Please....
Herb jr

We DO race at local tracks in front of a packed house EVERY time we race - UMTR stick shift ONLY races.
Yes, spectators will PACK THE HOUSE to watch JUST stick cars.
I think you are not giving the potential draw of a stick shift only modified production class race much of a chance before automatically (no pun intended) thinking you need automatic cars to make it a show.
Trust me on this one, NOBODY is interested in watching automatic cars. It's like going to a "gasser reunion" and discovering most of the "gassers" are just powerglide posers. Spectators are confused because, while the cars still look cool, they just don't seem exciting like they remembered it back in the day. Why ? Because instead of seeing a bumper dragging stick shift Willys, they see a powerglide that just sort of scoots off the line and doesn't bounce all over the track like a stick car does. BORING.
If you do decide on a manual transmission modified production race, I and several other UMTR racers will tow 8+ hours to be there to support this great idea ( if it doesn't conflict with the regular UMTR schedule- July 3rd is a conflict for us).
On the other hand, I have zero interest in racing against automatics. 10 stick cars racing side by side are more exciting to watch than 200 automatics. Make that 500 automatics.

[buzzinhalfdozen]

Mr. Herb, I can only speak for myself it would be more beneficial for me at least if tis race was ran maybe just prior to a Nat. or Div. race in the same area, I've not really had a chance to look at all the schedules yet. For some of us "up north" 10 maybe 12 hour drive this would be like killing 2 birds with one stone. I've also seen some conflicting ideas as to how this should be ran, can't say I agree with stick cars only,even though for over 20 years that's all I ran, there just aren't enough competitive, and by that I mean able to run under the index which is what mod. in all forms was designed for. I could really bring either car the Stick or the auto so it really isn't a deal breaker for me, however we have to face it the number of stick cars that could run "under" is pretty low.Me personally I'd like to see it run ALL door cars, mainly because the average spectator identifies with the door cars they've all seen a camaro, dart, mustang etc. To me one dragster pretty much looks like all the other dragsters,not putting anyone down, I've seen some dragsters that really impressed me a 4 cyl. 5-speed going low 8's I don't care who you are that is impressive. But for the most part when we ran Mod. it was big block and some small block chevys, I hope you get the point.I guess you put it out there when asking for suggestions, these are some of mine. Thanks Joe Buchanan SS/AX SS/BX 3117 First I think the racers would have to agree on the format and other considerations, heck heads up runs that was alot of the appeal of Mod. go fast or go home, believe me we were on both ends of that one.

[herbjr]

Its real simple....get me 20 cars.....I can put on a race. as I said in my origional post. If 20 dont show up then we will fill the field with LEGAL Modified cars that have automatics. So you telling me a SSC nova that can run CMP, in IHRA can run but Jim Reynolds SSAM 57 Chevy cant run. I think you need to crawl before you walk and telling people they cant race when they ran Modified for 20 years isnt fair either. Besides how many track operators have come on here and said "GIVE ME 20 CARS AND ILL GIVE YOU GUYS A PLACE TO RACE".......


Herb Jr

[buzzinhalfdozen]

Man I'm sorry if I upset someone, It's not my place to say who races and who doesn't, I'm just voicing my opinion, of how "I' would like things to be. I know trying to get 10 people to agree on the same thing is pretty hard to do much less 10 dragracers, we all seem to have our own ideas as to what is ideal, I'm not trying to sway anyone to my way of thinking, heck that would be scary Anyone who knows me can atest to that. I'm reminded of that famous phrase" can"t we all just get along?" and as usual the answer is a resounding"NO" I would however like to read anyones ideas of how to make this work be it short term as in the race at piedmont or long term as in IHRA evaluating some sort of revival of this class in some form. THanks Joe Buchanan

[randy wilson]

pick specified heads for ford chevy and mopar, big and small block, very few mods and run off an index.

[randy wilson]

i for one respect what herb is trying to do. i also run a strip at bethany mo. www.headsup-racing.com. you not only can not make everyone happy, you usually can not make anyone happy. that being said i for one want to run off of an index. i can bracket run at eddyville. if we wanted to run just manual cars in bracket form we could run with the super shifters. good group, just not my cup of tea.