Out in New York State and other parts of the country (Ohio, some parts of the west coast), a special-performance oval-specific low-slung, usually winged vehicle serves as the fastest short track car in existence today, exotic and obscure all at once:



However, years ago, the term "supermodified" came to refer almost any winged open wheel short track car, such as the one driven here by Howard Kaeding in the 1970s:



The latter car eventually evolved into the modern winged sprint car. However, as late as the early 1980s, many west coast tarcks still called those "supermodifieds," such as Placerville Speedway

Here's another supermodified-ish vehicle from the 1960s, driven by Gordon Johncock (who, in addition to being a true legend in USAC/CART, won sprint car events as late as 1978, when he took the National Open, an event at Williams Grove that has been occasionally under World of Outlaws sanction), which seems to be closer in spirit to the Kaeding car than the modern supermodified, yet clearly is a pavement vehicle (like the modern supermodifieds) -



More examples of Michigan-area supermodifieds of the early 1960s can be seen here
http://journals.aol.com/redw492070/midwest-connection-/

really, the main question I have, other than to show the obvious - that the term "supermodified" has evolved over the years - when did the supermodified heritage really start to diverge from that of the sprint cars, to the point that today's winged sprint would not be mistaken for one at all?

Here in Oz the supermodifieds evolved from heavy stock cars to sportsmen in the 60s to Super modifieds in the late 60s[as in pic2] to modified sprintcars in the mid 70s to just plain Sprintcars from then to now.
The cars followed I believe more California type regs as they evolved from the 60s to the 80s and ofcourse these days are the same as US sprintcars.
There is quite a lot of restored classic Supermods here in Australia including some that were brought in from the US. In the last few years at the Riverview National Speedway Classic there has been as many as 32 Modifieds at the one event from OZ wide. Power ranges from Holden, Chysler and Ford 6s to Y block Fords, Windsors,Clevelands, saw tooth Chryslers, A blocks, Holden V8s to ofcourse Chevs and the Wigzell car with L88 chev. Diffs range from Halibrands thru Austin, Morris, Vanguard and some home made quick changes based on Ford V8
The term Supermodified also relates to drag racing classes.
I have seen those offset engine, big block cars on Fox. Look like fun but also a bit scary

You might find what your asking in this thread .

http://forums.autosport.com/showthread.php...rint+car+racing

Thanks for the link, I'm perusing it right now...as a Sacramento-area sprint car fan, the stuff on West Capital and early World of Outlaws is extremely fascinating. Interesting to note that the Mini Gold Cup spring event at West Capital was a WoO show - the 2009 Mini Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico will be the first World of Outlaws edition of the event since 1994.

I crossposted that Mini Gold Cup set of photos to the Hoseheadforums sprint car board:
http://www.hoserforums.com/forum.cfm?threa...FTOKEN=66646435

Don't know if I've posted this link before but here's some 1960s supermodifieds from the New York/Ontario area:
http://www.theracechasers.com/scrapbookmain.html

Some of the cars in the Oswego photos are former Indycars, mostly roadsters.

TheStranger
I remember attending the West Capital 4th July Week End sprint car / super modified races when I visited the US in 1977.Found it very enjoyable. If I remember correctly in was called a "Open Show"
Peter
Ex super modified & sprint car racer from New Zealand

I think the term "open show" has been, ironically, less "open" lately - last year, Petaluma held a post-season open show for anyone running a 360ci winged sprint car.

Which isn't quite as "open" as "supermodifieds vs. sprint cars" in the 1970s though back then the definitions were muddier obviously.

There's quite a few youtube videos of San Jose super modifieds. Here's one link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4GX9mFJ9hE

And here's the uploader's space at youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=kscruton1

Kearney Bowl on the t.v. with commentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y21dPDuzeY&feature=related