60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds

Here are a couple of pictures of Geoff Bodine in a dirt mod late 70's/early 80's....may be the same car, before and after the Batmobile ground effects everyone tried to quickly copy after they saw the Weld/Balough creation that year....




this one courtesy of lynchmob

 

JBull ... Yup, same car. Geoff went to work overnight with some tin and pop rivets, as did Buzzie Reutimann, Frankie Cozze, Marvelous Merv Treichler, and a few others. They went quicker with the modifications, of course, but Gary Balough was still in a league of his own. A wild weekend at the Fairgrounds, that was.

 

Hey there leadfoot, I recognize Shangri-La in that shot but which of the other 2 ovals nearby is the NEW shangri-La?

 

In order to find the "new" Shang, using that map, scan FAR left, follow Route 17C, and look for Skyline Drive. The oval and dragstrip are located on that road....

 

The 1980 Schaefer 200. The day dirt modified racing changed forever. The birth of the Troyer Mud Bus soon followed. Cozze 44, Buzzie 60, Bodine 99 and Brightbill 19 all made similar modifications. Jimmy Horton's Statewide 3 made panels that flared over and around the rear tires. With Merv's 58 they just extended the roof about 2 feet.

The race was broadcast by ESPN and is actually posted in it's entirety on youtube. Part 7 of 17 is the starting lineup and interesting interviews. Part 9 of 17 is the start of the race. It's amazing. When the green finally drops after the rain delay Balough has half straightaway lead by the end of the first lap. I remember sitting in the gold firebird Speedway Scene pace car on turn four as the Batmobile sped by, then a short pause, then came the rest of the field.

Here's the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6r4ln3RFM0

 

Hey Folks, We need to get Bobby Rossell, Tom Green and Gil Hearn on this board if anyone knows how to find them. What a wealth of information they would add.

 

They may be on the 3 Wide site.

 

Shangri-La Speedway, Owego, New York

September 2005 - No more racing at this famed speedway....

Picture by Moselli

Help!!! How do I make the pictures smaller so they fit?

 

Thanks for the youtube link. I didn't get cable in my area until 1983 or so.

 

What about Shangri La Speedway? What's the story behind the closing? Was it torn down, or does it still exist.

 

Shangri La Speedway, Owego, NY
September 2005
Picture taken from turn four looking at the front stretch, notice the lack of banking...

Picture by Moselli

 

You got it!!!...always fun to see a piece of our past

 

Moselli needs help?......LMAO

Moselli's big picture perfectly illustrates the big picture.

Is that an oxymoron?

 

The Batmobile brings aerodynamics to Dirt Modified racing in 1980.


Maynard Troyer, a man with an 8th grade education, is the only car builder that builds a Dirt Modified with aerodynamics in mind for the 1981 season.

"Troyer and Hutter ruined the Modifieds.".......I don't think so

 

Like many "short tracks", it existed on or near other property that was valuable, for some reason or other. In Shang's case, a gravel company, which started excavations to the southwest of the track, ate it's way east, and chewed up the track.

I don't know anything about the ownership details, whether the gravel company simply made the track's owner "an offer he couldn't refuse', or they originally owned the land, and leased it to the track operator, who built the track, never thinking they'd dig enough gravel to threated the existance of the track. Either way, most, if not all, of the track has been torn up by now, for the stone underneath.

As a side note, Lancaster Speedway, outside of Buffalo, is potentially facing the same situation, although the bedrock east of the track appears to extend much deeper, therefore the excavations toward the track are going at a slower rate. In fact, many people thought that the track would have been chewed up years ago....

 

KT, as we both know, it was simply technological progress, and the lack of foresight on the part of the rules makers/promoters, that crippled the modifieds. I say lack of foresight, because you can't have rules that allow what was basically an "amateur" class of racing, have $20-25,000 engines under the hood. The "average" weekend racer can't afford it, and the car counts reflected that.

 

Shangri-la....Frank Lopke (sp) owned the track & land it was on, including the gravel. Toward the end of the track's life, he (I think) leased it to Andy Harpell and later the Zacharias family, until the lure of his precious gravel became too great & the track closed after the 2005 season. The digging up of the track started shortly after that. I ran my 1st race in a Legends car in 1999 there and was also on hand to participate in the last race date in 2005 as well. I had been going there since 1965 to watch races so it was, needless to say, the thrill of a lifetime to actually win a feature race there in 2000. The 2nd win the next week was icing on the cake. I loved pretty much every thing about the old girl. I sure do miss her!

 

I did not go through this whole thread and will later , Is there any early 60's Freeport . Islip pictures running around ? My Dad was partners in a modified that ran these 2 tracks from 62-65or 66 ,

 

Whiskerz,alot of that era Freeport & Islip photos can be found on thehimesmuseum,vze.com. What car was he involved with?

 

Neither did I, let alone a station called ESPN? What was that? Seriously, was doing some research on it and found the link a while back. Brought a ton of memories back from that weekend. Still blew my mind when the Batmobile came out for practice. You could almost hear everyone try to wrap their heads around what they were seeing. If you want to see some great black and whites of that weekend go to http://www.ricksweetenimages.com/Au...The-Batmobile/14024950_LAzAo#1032042673_rpUKN.

 

The car was number 33 triangle 33 racing. It was a 6 cylinder modified with over 300 inches that started out as a 170. a hank the crank stroker and a vertex mag. not in a dodge body though. It was either red and yellow or red and Gold. Spike was the driver he owned a junkyard in Brooklyn. I will see what I have in Dad's stuff . Thanks very much

 

There were several mile stones in dirt mod racing. the 1974 tobias kit car, the batmobile in 1980, the 82 troyer mud bus, the 87 olsen tubular ass car. 1996 teo pro car. all the cars built prior to these dates were basically obsolete , Yes there were other great cars and mfg but these are the real stand outs. the rules have now put all the builders into a small box no innovation and no real distinction between chassis types. Engine costs are out of controll and the track conditions and preparation is horrible makes for dusty poor follow the leader racing without a change the modifieds are doomed.

 

You might find these of interest in addition to the HAMB photos...

http://www.facebook.com/groups/193162446375?ap=1


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Freeport-Speedway-Alumni/120679291815

 

Shangri La Speedway, Owego, New York
September 2005 - Track Closed...

Standing on the front stretch looking at the pit area - some of the all time Modified greats parked in this area, (In no particular order): Hoag, Troyer, Osborne, Evans, Bodine, Spencer, Flemke, Hendrick, Wimble, Merz, Osgood, Kent, Shampine, Lazzaro, Kluth, Wallace, Seaman, Clark, Treichler, Kotary, Reichart, Loescher, Nichols, Diffendorf, Hayes, Strosahl, Zacharias, Bolia, Sweeney, Stephens, Reagan, Chandler, Burdick, Miller, Ciprich, Santos, Stefanik, Sacks, Cook, Cookman, Hewitt, Ross, Kotary, Warren, Bouchard, Bugsy, Radford, Chartrand, Bergin, Pieniezek, Silva, Kneisel, Worley.... feel free to tag on those I missed....


Photo by Moselli

 

Technical and parts wanted question: I want to put wide five racing hubs on a '37 beam axle. I'm told Ford 3/4-ton spindles is what I need. I assume 2wd- can someone tell me what year range? Pictures of the setup would help me tremendously.

What rear ends do the rear hubs usually go on? Will they work on a Ford 8"?

Also, anyone have good used hubs (drum or disc brake) for sale or know where I might look for them? I'll go new (Wilwood) if I need to, and they're fairly inexpensive.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

You need a full float spindle either a racing complete spindle with ford king pin eye or a stock ford spindle with a four bolt, bolt on full float spindle snout to go to a early ford axle.As for a rear timken 3/4 ton ford truck rear late 40's to early 50;s problem is very low ratio. could use a quick change or a cutom rear with full float snout and double spline axles.

 

SGT

You got to tell us what your building .

Look @ post 9715 those are the adaptors you need for the front/ with a bushing in the hole to support bigger tube over the stock spindle. an they use bolts thru the 4 holes on the flange.

What kind of brakes you going to use? Drum or disks , If disk what kind of calipers. Heavy car or light ?

If you need Help you can PM me.

 

Say there Moselli, 1 I think you missed is Ken Canestreri. Hope I spelled it right.

 

Well, it's not really on-topic to this thread, so I don't want to stink this thread up too much. It did start with a vintage modified picture- see the "Look what Falcon fenders can do" thread. Then if anyone is interested they can see this thread of mine: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=592210

As for the wide 5 hubs and such, it's so I can use the wide 5 wheels that came with the '37 front end I got, disc brakes, lightweight, and less rotational mass. I may or may not go with wide 5's on the rear, so the front is first. The car should be light- hopefully 1500 lb or less. I don't know what kind of calipers, at this point.

I see the parts on post 9715 (p 486): is that a Winters 5185, as mentioned in the following thread?

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=607033

People mentioned Ford 3/4-ton front spindles as the part needed. Can anyone verify this, and what years and models?

Thanks,
Kurt

 

Lol. She might have run 2 races. Although Terry Kincaid began driving her husband Russ' car that year and had a fairly successful career.

Alan finished second in a feature to Lou Lazzaro (I think) later that season, after ruffling many feathers of the veterans. I think we all know how his future turned out.

Most of my old gater's fell apart. I only have a few that survived.