60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds

Oops cant seem to get the picture on here.

 

Email it as an attachment to [email protected] and I'll host it on my webspace for you.

I'll post it here as soon as it shows up.

Also, Happy Birthday America!

 

Just want to comment on post #10493 (pg 525) from Bigfeet13:

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of Richie Evans on dirt, but I do remember that he participated in the Oswego/Syracuse Challenge.

For those of you that don't remember, there was a asphalt/dirt challenge series in the early 80's to any driver to race in the modified portion of the Oswego Classic and also the (then known as) Schaffer 200 Dirt modified race at Syracuse. Any driver from the opposite discipline (dirt on asphalt or asphalt on dirt) would win not only the purse, but a big bonus as well.

As I recall, there were several pavement guys (Evans, Cook and Bodine) who put a dirt setup and some grooved tires on their asphalt machines and raced at Syracuse, and some dirt guys (Lou Lazarro comes to mind) who did their best to put an asphalt setup and slicks on their dirt machines to race at Oswego.

A great idea, but one that lasted only a couple of years as the two different technologies and disiplines grew further and further apart.

If anyone has any more information and/or photos on this series, please share them if you would.

 

ParkFan, I know there are pics out there of Cook's car and a couple drivers from the old "Bear Grease" Beech Ridge in Maine including Ralph Cusack in the famed orange and white Coutermarsh #61 and Jim McClure, but as far as I know I don't believe Evans attempted it in the early 80's.

The Coutermarsh #61 was always orange with a white roof.

 

I remember the supers running at Syracuse (the car my Dad crew chiefed was the first super to run on dirt with the URC sprinters), but I really don't remember the modifieds doing it. I know Geoff drove a dirt modified in the Schaefer in 79. That's embarrassing that I don't remember since I live three miles from the "Moody Mile". In my defense, when my Dad left racing in the late 70s, I stopped following it for few years. I'd love to see pictures of that. It might even jog my failing memory.

In the late 80's maybe early 90's the DIRT cars ran some paved tracks. I do remember that.

 

Evans drove a Statewide Racing dirt Modified at Syracuse in 1976. He was a guaranteed starter by virtue of winning the Modified Madness event at Stafford. (Yes, the open competition race recently discussed on this thread thanks to the wings on Richie's and Maynard Troyer's cars.) I don't remember him ever running his pavement car at Syracuse, although Jerry Cook did that at least a couple of times. I also recall Gene Bergin running Syracuse in one of Bob Johnson's purple #17 Pintos. Both Gene and Jerry, of course, were pretty accomplished on dirt. Geoff Bodine finished fourth at Syracuse in that weird 1980 race in which, in reaction to Gary Balough's Batmobile, several teams (including Geoff's) radically altered their cars overnight, widening the bodies and raising the roofs to create downforce.

 

Don Diffendorf – New York State Fair 1971
“The Flying Cockroach” S/360, with Diff at the wheel, sprouts a “wing” on its roof, on the way to winning the N.Y. State Fair championship title on the mile at Syracuse…


More pics and info found here. http://raceny.com/cgi-bin/discus2/discus.cgi?pg=next&topic=128316&page=91881

 

I have a picture wich I can't download of Richie in a #3 dirt modified at Syracuse maybe Billy o's car?

 

Here is the picture of Richie in the Statewide car. We pitted near them that year and I believe he crashed in warmups and invited the whole crew to his place to fix the car and have some fun! Richie also ran his coupe at the Nazareth 1 1/8 mile dirt track during an all star race. Many asphalt cars attempted to qualify at Syracuse in the 70's as well as Bentley Warren and a few others running their supers with the sprinters if I remember.

 

Orange Crate super. 1979 ?

 

ParkFan-Regarding Lazzaro running a dirt modified on the asphalt in 1980....I don't believe it happened .I will ask his Son Lou tonight.I'm not sure if I'll get a reply tonight but maybe I will.I followed Louie pretty closely from 1975 forward & cannot remember this.

 

Hey ParkFan, I remember some of the drivers from that series.How about Jim Shampine,Dutch Hoag,Chuch Ciprich,Benny Stephens and some others that I don't remember at this time.

 

Jimmy and Chuck were real versatile drivers. They both ran pavement and dirt almost every weekend. And won on both pretty regular. Both were Weedsport and Rolling Wheels regulars in the 70s.

edit: And you can add Lou to that too, especially early in his career.

 

When I ran Utica Rome and Albany Saraoga (in 63, 64 and 65 I think I have the dates correct) Lou Lazzaro ran there too and did very well in I believe the same car he ran on dirt. Lou was a great racer and a gentleman too. Denny Z

 

I thought it was important to note that Gary Iulg did continue to race after that incident. While I am not sure how much he won afterwords, I know he did win the 1983 Budweiser 200 at Oswego Speedway on pavement. If memory serves me correct he held off some guy named Richie Evans to win.....Gary was a good guy too

 

Gary Iulg ran dirt and was at Syracuse for the October show in a 56 car during the early part of the 80's at least.

Since I was not a Niagara frontier race attendee would someone define
"until he got the big kick from George Treaner #67" Does that mean he got dumped by George Treaner and if so where? Did Ed Ortiz drive the car after it was sold & rebuilt ?

 

Gary was getting out of the car and george kicked him he ended up in the hospital and his season was over but he still won the ransomville points that year. He did do a lot of racing and won a lot of races after that year.

 

This thread is fantastic i look forward to it every day. I grew up in a racing family my father and unucle Larry and Rich Ricci were both dirt modified racers and i raced a small block mod from the early 80's to 2004 Their just doent seem to be any heros in the sport anymore at least not at the short track level The rules with cookie cuter mods took all the inovation out of the sport the tracks are all in terrible condition at least on the ny dirt circuit the cost to maintain a modern car is out of control.It was great to see richie evans make the hall of fame I met him as young kid in the 70's at garys speed shop in latham ny. He was talking to my father and uncle about running a lenco trans in a dirt mod so you could shift depending on track conditions to gain or lose some gear. The heros of my youth Lou lazzaro winning the eastern states 200 by mistake crew guy put the gears in upside down took all the gear out of the car went from the front to the back to the win. kenny brightbuilt wins easternstates in a home built car with quarter eliptic suspension the he made from one truck leaf spring that he paid 14 dollars for.Bill o in the state wide car. Jimmy Horton. Pa guys like Bernie and gary griffin George watson . Chuck akulas at 5 mile point. They all seemed larger than life even when i raced against and beat them they still seemed larger than life. Jack johnson come on. A lot of years ago now i was a t middletown for a big show standing on the back streach watching was Lou Lazzaro, Kenny shoemaker , frankie schnider . and Larry schirder. I was with a few younger guys walked up to them and talked a while as i was walking away the guys i was with said who were the old guys i just laughed. It just seemed like the racer of that era were truly heros. Glad to see a kid from Rome ny who raced his ass off made the hall of fame. Larry Ricci

 

KT, He held off Evans on a restart with half a lap to go. It took everyone by surprise when the Oswego pace car pulled in on the backstretch and they sprinted to the checkered from turn 3.

Wow! Evans in the Statewide car. When I think of that car I always think of Jimmy Horton. Who would've imagined that Stafford's Modified Madness would be a qualifier for Syracuse, but I think Beech Ridge had a qualifier for Syracuse right up until the early 80's. Come to think of it didn't RoC have guaranteed spot qualifiers in the late 70's and early 80's at some dirt speedways too?

 

Wow never heard of the place called "Bear Grease". Learn a new one everyday J...did you attend there? Promoter JB McConnell who promoted several tracks besides Beech Ridge was very aware of dust issues. At the Ridge he used Bunker C oil to mix into the clay. It was a unique surface...on cool nights it was smooth & slick, on hot days it was sticky & very bumpy. Sometimes the track you ran on in a heat was different come feature time.
Used to work on the Coutermarsh #61 Team when Larry Tanguay drove the car. Dave C was always a been open wheel fan & admired Richie a lot. In 85' IIRC @ Oxford Plain's Twin 100's for Mods & LMS, Dave had me re-letter the car from #61 to #16 out of respect to Evans who also ran the race.
Dave would often times put the big block from his former super in the Pinto mod & go run at Thompson or Stafford with Mike Rowe driving.
BRS track did hold a Syracuse qualifier for many years it ran the mods but I don't think any attempted to run there as the cars were more geared to pavement type cars than true dirt cars. Also don't ever recall Evans running there. This is a great thread with a lot of fine folks adding to it..steve pellerin

 

SGP, I'm pretty sure Jim McClure in the M3 made an attempt at Syracuse and it very well might have been 1980 (The year of Kenny Weld's Batmobile). Regarding the Coutermarsh gang, GOOD PEOPLE! Every time my father and I attended Beech Ridge they were always hospitable. I used to sit with the family in the stands. The "Bear Grease" was what some jokingly referred to it as. They gave my father a trophy base with a container cup that had a chunk of the old track surface sealed inside. He still had that on his desk when he passed away in 1995. All of these nice plaques he received and yet the gag gift that contained a nasty piece of greasy asphalt from Beech Ridge was the only "award" that remained next to his typewriter. Still cracks me up to this day. It was truly a unique track surface that made for great racing!

 

The Syracuse-Oswego Challenge Cup title was awarded to the most versatile driver during Super DIRT Week in October from 1979-85. To run for the title, drivers had to compete in at least one feature race at the NYS Fairgrounds and one feature race at Oswego Speedway. You didn't have to compete with the same car. During those years, if a driver had the right equipment, he could theoretically compete in four different feature races that weekend: A sprint car (or super) on the dirt at Syracuse on Saturday afternoon in the Ground Round SuperNationals, shoot up to Oswego Saturday night to race a pavement modified and an Oswego supermodified in their double-header show, then come back to Syracuse on Sunday to race a DIRT modified in the Schaefer race. If a driver had rides in more than one division, only the highest finish on each surface was counted. The driver with the best overall finish at Syracuse and Oswego was declared the winner.

Some of the Syracuse-Oswego Challenge Cup winners were Steve Gioia ('79), Chuck Ciprich ('80), Jerry Cook ('81), Mike McLaughlin ('82), Gary Iulg ('83) and Jeff Swindell ('84). Not sure who won it in 85. I believe the Challenge ended after '85 though. The big reason it ended was that Oswego dropped their October super/mod double-header that used to run on that Saturday night in conjuction with Super DIRT Week. I think it just got too darn cold up by the Lake in October!

Here's a pic of 1981 Challenge Cup winner Jerry Cook using his pavement modified on the dirt at Syracuse during Super DIRT Week that year. He had to raise the roof well above the roll cage to meet DIRT's minimum height requirements. I think he had a seperate car for the Oswego show the night before.

 

I dug out some old Syracuse programs. Jim McClure did capture the Beech Ridge Syracuse Qualifier in 1980. Rick Zemla won the Qualifier at Beech Ridge in 1981. Both races offered "preferred" starting spots at Syracuse as opposed to a "guaranteed" starting spot. I think the deal was a "preferred" starter had to time trial within so many seconds of the slowest guaranteed qualifier in order to make the race (or something like that anyway).

As far as dirt tracks hosting Race of Champions qualifiers, off the top of my head, the Nazareth PA half-mile and Flemington NJ when it was dirt both held RoC Qualifiers well into the 1980's. Albany-Saratoga, when it was dirt, hosted a RoC Qualifier or two in the 80's as well. I think Nazareth and Flemington continued to hold their qualifiers out of tradition more than anything else. There were also a few Western PA dirt late model tracks, like Motordrome 70, that hosted RoC qualifiers back then too which I never quite understood.

 

Here’s a guy, mentioned in quite a few recent threads - Lou Lazzaro at the New York State Fairgrounds, Syracuse in 1972. Don't let the looks of this battle-scarred old coupe fool you. It might have been a little worse for wear but Lazzaro won, and won often, on both dirt and pavement with this machine.
<O</O

 

Al Shutt 1979 Daytona. I've never heard of him, or have I seen this car. Any info ?

 

Al Schutt was a car owner from Corning, N.Y. who fielded Modifieds for several drivers throughout the 1970's and early 80's. Some of the drivers who drove for Schutt at various times were Bob Frisbe, Larry Seargent, Don Diffendorf, Mike Loescher, Dave Machuga, Billy Griffin, and I think Chuck Ciprich was his driver around the time of the photo above. There were probably others who sat in his cars, as well. I don't think Schutt drove the cars himself, however. It's definitely his signature color and number 40 in the photo.

 

Chuck Ciprich did drive it in 1977 at Daytona I believe. He mentions in the interview about running Daytona. I don't know anything else about it though.

 

Don Diffendorf 1974.

 

By 1980 Lou's asphalt years were behind him, 1980 was the year for the "bushey" car followed next by the Dostil p.o.s. ,I think first year without a win at Fonda.