1970 Gremlin Modified Special

By the end of the 1950s, the once-ample supply of inexpensive, pre-war used cars was rapidly declining - and even as their numbers dwindled, surviving cars were increasingly chopped and narrowed to become the first fenderless 'Bugs,' then '30 x 90s' (for their 30-inch roll bar and 90-inch wheelbase). At some tracks, they became Super Modifieds, open-wheel racers which resembled sprint cars wearing only the remnant of a stock-car roof. Often, Super Modifieds competed against pure-bred spring cars with full roll cages.

Anger factory that made this new type of modified or 'jalopy-style' stock car racing so popular was the increasing costs associated with fielding a competitive car in the other divisions. This was particularly true with the midget, where professional quality Kurtis and Offenhauser racing equipment came with a professional prize.

By the early 1970s, that class had split into winged sprint cars and Modifieds like this Gremlin, which combined proven 'jalopy' known-how with more modern sheet metal. These cars might have a tube frame or, like this one, a cutdown production-car chassis. Its tubular front axle, guided by four leading links and supported by coil-over-shock units, derives from racers' and hot rodderes' long experience with lowering solid-axle Fords. Simple parallel leaf springs hold up its quick-change rear end, itself designed for relatively easy gear-ratio changes to suit different-length tracks. A Chevrolet big-block delivers 650 hp from its stock 454 cubic-inch displacement.

Bobby Gerhart drove it in its heyday, and it is now owned by the Gerhart Family and can usually be found on display at the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing in York Springs, Pennsylvania.

Source - AACA Museum