Let me apologize, I obviously didn't pick up on the sarcasm but we both made what I consider valid points and they coincide. Money rules the world of sports and the less important take a kick to the jewels. I can easily go the rest of my life without seeing another NHRA national event and Toyota bodied funny cars.
I've said this before, and searching classes and rules for racing are like looking at a phone book, BORING, but I'd like to see some focus on these old classes. So much attention is paid to fueler Cackle Fests, gasser shows, and made up gigs like Supercharged Outlaws. Those are great, I like them too, but I think a Nostalgia Modified Production class (N/MP) would be a viable show at a vintage drag race. Clearly they'd have to be bracket raced but maybe indexed would be better yet. Head start only, no break out, nothing newer than ________ (fill in the blank). Vintage speed parts are less than new stuff, internals don't matter (who gives a shit if it's got vintage rods or new ones), wheels, paint (no wraps), safety equipment per E.T./MPH wouldn't muller up the looks much. How kool would it be to see an army of vintage class real racers pulled out of their tombs and put back into action. Maybe it's just me but I think they'd belong and be welcome at nearly any vintage or specialty event. Hey, IHRA, are you listening?
I like it. Though IMO the hay-day of MP was a little post Hamb, I think it would fly. On my yearly trips to the Spring Nationals, I always looked forward to Saturday morning for all the door slammers & especially the screaming MPs.
Right on! One of the most exciting category to watch, especially when a big lumbering tri-five Chevy launchs off the line. We had a pretty good M/P contingent here in Div. 6. One of my first experiences when I was about 15 years old (1969), a neighbor raced a 56 Chevy two door sedan called "Hard Come'n" ? Spelling?. Two brothers, they had a 56 GMC ramp truck with 389 Pontiac power, took me with them once to Eugene Oregons' Balboa dragstrip. I was hooked.
Boy do I agree with Highlander on that score. Some of the best racing IMO in the 60s was the Modified production cars. Albeit the time I remember the best was starting in maybe 68 thru the modified eliminator of the mid 70s, so it may not be HAMB friendly especially with the Camaros etc. Some great Corvette though in the modified eliminator runs. The gasser craze is really good but it does get a little much with some of the clown stances with the obligatory Moon tank and white wall pie crusts. Modified production was a down stance with light weight wheels and crazy launches. As much as I enjoyed the gassers in the 60s the modified production cars and run offs were some of the all time best drag racing that ever was. I wish someone would recreate it or at least give it a try.
Modified Production, late 60’s thru 70’s was drag racing. 3 pedals and weight to cubic inches. Never been the same since NHRA and cubic dollars killed the class. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Wow, thanks for the support. I thought I might be in low company with that idea but not now. "HAMB friendly" doesn't matter. It's about the racing. Shit fellas, the heydays were 50 years ago! Sure there might be a Camaro or even a (gasp!) Mustang racing, but I didn't box the idea into HAMB-ONLY land. I'll go out on a limb and say that if there did happen to be a mega event featuring N/MP as a revivial class the mods and our fearless leader might make an exception for race day coverage. Yeah,I think it's that appealing, AND important. Now how do we give it "traction"?
I have been collecting parts for an unfriendly Nova to mimic what one would see in 1970 all be it with an automatic for the time being. And yes the gassers have become boring IMHO.
Not sure how we could get a class going other than by posts such as this and some of us grey beards continuing to spread the gospel. I think there may be some hesitancy with it due to the age or era that it occurred. Some are hung up on the mid 60s which is a great era for sure but that great era evolved and more great drag racing was commonplace for a period into at least the mid 70s IMO. I run into guys that simply do not like super tricks for instance. Some guys don’t like the down stance and rake. I really like both the upstance and the down stance-two different deals but both great racing. Then there is the whole deal with a negative sentiment about Camaros and Mustangs, and I realize there are bunches of them. They did run the numbers though and that is not deniable. Not HAMB friendly but then again there is a world out there beyond the horizons of the HAMB, which we all understand. As to the Meltdown I do not see where it is broken and I do not believe you tamper with success. That is not to say that there is not a place for an event that includes the MP era of the late 60s and early 70s and include all of the appropriate cars including the MP cars of the mid 60s. They are all good. I would hope that the powers to be figure out there is a whole other lucrative market (or relatively so) to tap on. The Meltdown has added a pie crust event for this year and has added a fallout as a last great event before the snow flies. If someone would add an event that included to the mid 70s including the whole MP group and the wheels and God forbid the whole contingent of cars that ran would be a good thing,IMO. With Denny’s statement on the millennials, that is a topic that sometimes strikes a nerve. I believe some of these guys that were never there in the 60s and 70s and tell us that these great high revving MP cars were simply not turning the RPMs plus other achievements we claim, need to go back to their desktop dynos. Some of the big boys did use chassis dynos but many of us used a combination of seat of the pants common sense and practical experience to turn some great RPMs and some impressive numbers (at least for the era). If these young guys would only look at the brain trust that were with Dart (for instance) in its inception, they should realize that we had some really smart and talented technicians even back then. Great improvements today for sure, but pretty good back then IMO. Not sure the sticky tracks could go hand in hand with some of the high RPM launches of the bygone era (without a high incidence of breakage) but I would still like to see some resurrection
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