"Somewhat" Super Modifieds

"Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee" does not describe the Super Modifieds with Hawk 7 motors in them.  It is more like, "Fly like a bat out of Hell, hit like a ton of bricks!"  Unfortunately there are those who don't want the challenge to drive a car that is so hard to keep handling well at those speeds.  At their best these little cars go faster than you would expect and are on the edge of losing control most of the time.  If anything goes wrong with the cars they become flying bricks.  These cars are great for a racer who wants a serious challenge.  Personally, I like the speed and the handling of them.  I like the challenge of racing them and then putting them back together for the next race.  Did I mention you need to tear down the car and rebuild it after every race night to make sure it will finish the next race?  Oh, and then there is no guarantee it will finish.

There it is, a two edged sword against the running of Super Modifieds.  A lot of racers don't want to race a car that is as twitchy as these are.  A lot of racers don't want to race a car that takes that much control to finish the race.  A lot of racers just don't want to work on their cars as much as these require.  The result of this is we have seen a reduction in the Super Modifieds that are racing at Charlie's Garage in Pearl, MS.  A lot of people bought these cars, but only a few are willing to put them on the track as they are afraid of destroying their cars.

An answer to this has been proposed and apparently is going forward.  Where we had an open motor rule before, they are looking at changing that rule.  As the rule stands you could run a Hawk 7, Retro Hawk, Falcon 7, Super 16d, Group 20 or any motor you are brave enough to race with.  The new rule would limit these cars to a Hawk 25 motor.  This would take the cars from a 50,000 rpm motor to a 25,000 rpm motor.  The old rule allowed the cars to turn 2.10" laps on a 70' tri-oval.  Testing of the the same cars with the Hawk 25 motors showed laps of 2.97" laps.  The cars were much easier to drive and the wrecks would certainly be less destructive.  Maybe this will bring some of the racers who are more faint of heart out to race.  Maybe this will prevent people from dropping out of the class because they are tired of rebuilding their cars every week.  If it takes slowing these cars down to get more racers, or keep the ones we have, I guess that is what we have to do.

As for me....I will miss the insane speeds and temperamental handling.  If this rule does go through, and it looks like it will, it will not be an easy class to win or be in the top three of all of a sudden.  The people who like to work on their cars will still do so and will find ways to make these "Somewhat Modifieds" faster than they should be.  After my second adjustment to this slower set up my lap times are down to 2.68".  Personally, I plan on totally re-engineering my car to gain more speed.  I will be shooting for a 2.50 lap and being forced to let up in more than one turn because of too much speed.  I plan on working on my car until it deserves the title of "Super Modified" again.