Whelen Modified Tour - When No News Is Good News

Cook is optimistic about the future of Modified racing.

"Modified racing was here at the very beginning of NASCAR," he says. "It has always been a part of NASCAR. We at NASCAR still have control over the rules to keep it affordable. We have two goals: to make sure that cars don't become obsolete and to make sure that nothing gets in there that only a chosen few can afford.

"Modified racing is alive and well and kicking. The Modifieds can stand on their own at any racetrack. They don't need to be paired with a Nextel Cup or a Busch race to draw a crowd. They make it on their own. There are plenty of cars at every race, and there are plenty of people in the stands on its own. The folks that come to New Hampshire for a race always stay for the Modified race. It's always the best race of the weekend."

Even though the Modifieds have not spread to the Midwest or west of the Mississippi River, if fans come across a Modified race that they can get to, they should show up and be treated to racing that is really the heart and soul of NASCAR.

Richie Evans' death at Martinsville Speedway during a test session in 1985 sent the same ripple of shock through NASCAR's newly formed National Modified Tour that Dale Earnhardt's fatal accident at Daytona sent through Nextel Cup 16 years later. NASCAR reacted to both accidents in many of the same ways.

Modified racing began with the coupes and sedans from the '30s and '40s. Given the popularity of Modified racing, these cars eventually became scarce. The innovators of the sport-both the backyard mechanics and the specialty race shops-moved on to the next generation of Modifieds. These were mostly based on the frame of '55 and '56 Chevrolets.

More innovations and different body styles came and went, but the basic solid frame was still underneath the cars. At one point, NASCAR offered a little more money to any driver who would show up at the track with a more modern car, such as a Vega, Pinto, or Falcon. A few cars were starting to show up at the tracks with shorter frames and front and rear clips made up of tubing.

Then came 1985. Richie's death in October was followed, over the next few years, by those of Charlie Jarzombek, Corky Coachman, Tommy Drummer, Don Part, and Tony Jankowiak, leading NASCAR to realize that these old-style chassis were much like the Indy Roadster that had faded out of sight in the mid-'60s. They were too stiff and rigid and allowed the energy in an accident to transfer directly to the drivers.

The following year, NASCAR began allowing the teams to phase out the old straight-frame cars, and allowing Modifieds to be completely constructed with tube framing. NASCAR didn't have a direct connection in the changeover, but Jerry Cook, NASCAR's director of the National Modified Tour in 1985, says that teams took the initiative themselves.

"We knew that we had to do something, and we did," says Cook. "The cars were small, and with the frames, they were way too stiff. They didn't give at all. We fixed some places in the tubing, where there was some give. We didn't have all of the engineering help that there is today. We just knew that we had to do something. We built our cars then, much like they are building the Car of Tomorrow now, to absorb energy."

Fatalities in the Modified Tour began to decrease. The addition of SAFER walls and mandating that drivers wear HANS Devices have also added to increased safety, but the change in the chassis was the big step forward.-D.H.