TEAM SWN Story/Photo by Tom Baker 

OSWEGO, N.Y. -- The 2023 season of Supermodified racing, by almost every measure, was a rousing success.  

The 2nd Annual Oswego Supermodified Challenge Series that saw three "top-wing" races and two "tail-wing" races put on by a team led by veteran car owner John Nicotra to a unification of the International Supermodified Association (ISMA) and the Midwest Supermodified Series (MSS) with zero conflicts on the calendar, saw increased car counts, new faces at Oswego and a noticeable uptick in fan enthusiasm.  

Otto Sitterly was crowned champion of the 2023 challenge series.  

Mike McVetta scooped up the ISMA/MSS championship crown.  

Dave Shullick, Jr. won the Oswego Speedway track championship.  

Dave Danzer finally got a Budweiser International Classic win for the Danzer/Sharkey family after decades of support for racing at the "fast 5/8-mile" oval. 

The New England Supermodified Series (NESS) ran ten races throughout New England for a group of local teams and drivers who have the smaller "Butch Valley" style wings atop their cars. The concept of a crate motor was toyed with briefly with Rob Summers running one for part of the season, but lack of availability seems to have slowed that initiative a bit.  

Danny Bowes was crowned champion of that series for 2023 after winning three of the ten events.  

Six cars started all ten races, with 12 different cars seeing action throughout the year.   

The first ever John Burr Memorial ISMA Classic was held at Evans Mills Raceway in Northern New York a month ago.  Jeff Abold picked up a huge win in front of a packed house and over a nice field of cars for the first ever "big block" Supermodified show at the track. 

It didn't take long for Nicotra and officials from Oswego, ISMA, and MSS to agree on the five race 2024 version of the Supermodified Challenge Series.  

Next year there will be three "tail wing" events (Jim Shampine Memorial, Mr. Supermodified and International Classic) and two "top wing" races in the series.  

Graphic courtesy Slide Job Racing Podcast

Everyone is excited to build on the success of the first two years of the series, and this year's expanded race count from three to five. 

Shoot, even the West Coast got excited about Supermodified racing again, with several shows featuring 14 or 15 cars each popping up and a lot of optimism going into 2024.

All of this is why I say that the 2023 "big block" Supermodified season has been a success.  

Now, here comes the monkey wrench. 

Star Speedway announced the return of the Star Classic last week, which will be sanctioned by the NESS group with their rules.  This means that if any of the Oswego/ISMA/MSS teams want to compete, they'd have to buy an NESS-approved wing, but I was excited to see it back on the schedule.  

The 2nd Annual John Burr Memorial ISMA Classic was announced, meaning the return of the methanol monsters to Evans Mills again.  

Awesome, right?  So, what's the monkey wrench?  

Both races are currently scheduled for the same weekend, on September 13 and 14, 2024.  

Supermodified fans all did a giant facepalm when announcements came out almost simultaneously about those two major events.  

What could have been (and still could be) a "super" September for a division that needs more big shows now ends up being a bummer for fans who won't get at least the opportunity to see all the cars and stars at either race.  

The Wing-Ding 

The Star Classic will feature probably less than 15 cars, not exactly a stellar field for a 100-lap "classic" event.  If the track and NESS would open up the rule to the ISMA/MSS wings, and if we could get the two races to not be on the same weekend, I'd bet Star would get 20 or more cars for their event. 

Frankly, I don't understand NESS and this wing rule.  I was told earlier this year that it was about concern over two of the bigger ISMA/MSS wings hooking together, but I don't think that's ever happened and it seems highly unlikely.  

If those in charge think that the Valley-style wings are that much of a disadvantage to the ISMA/MSS wings, why can't we come up with some easy way to equalize?  Weight? Gear? 

Why would you want to run an entire series with 10 or 12 cars when you could add more to your field?  

Why wouldn't you want as many cars to be able to come to your track and race as are available and willing?

Crate motor rule

In terms of the crate motor rule, I don't see why ISMA/MSS and even Oswego couldn't put that into the rule book, and again, use gearing or weight or whatever to at least make it plausible in case anyone wants to try it.  There's so little innovation anymore in the division that I think it would be interesting for someone to try if they want to.  

It seems harmless to make it legal, and let the free market do what it will.  

Call to action

We are within a whisker of having a totally unified schedule for "big block" Supermodifieds across the Northeast and Midwest.  I would respectfully call upon Bobby Webber at Star, Tom Mayberry at NESS, and the folks from ISMA/MSS and Oswego to all come up with ways to overcome both the wing and crate motor issues and get Evans Mills and Star on separate weekends so we can continue to show potential sponsors that the division is trying to provide an easy path for fans and teams that allows all teams to run all shows.  

This should be about the fans, and right now, in Mid-September, fans at both shows both lose because of the conflicting shows.  

The conflict is counterproductive to all the good work that stakeholders have done in the past two years in other areas to build the division back up.  

350 Supers In Florida?

I've heard some talk of some potential for a 350 Supermodified show or series in Florida as part of Speedweeks in February.   I don't know too much about this, but I think it's fair game to share some thoughts on the concept, and how it could work. 

I think the idea of running this class in Florida could be a huge smash and great advertising and promotion for the division.  If you could get, say, 14 cars to go down and run two or three nights, I believe the fans would love them, and if it were livestreamed, you might just nab a bit of sponsorship for it to help cover costs if it got organized quickly enough. 

The obstacle that would need to be overcome is the same as with the big block supers.  This event would need to be an "open" event where cars from the SMAC Tour could compete evenly with the non-SMAC cars, in order to allow all cars to be able to race if they chose to. 

I don't believe the supermodifieds have raced in Florida since the mid 70's, and I think the 350's are portable enough and less costly to run, so I surely believe it could work. 

Would there be enough interested cars or teams?  I don't know. 

But, if there is any validity to the rumors, this could be a huge win for all types of Supermodifieds because they are just about the only significant short-track division that is not a part of what goes on every year in Florida, and the opportunity to attract new fans and new interest would surely be big.  

What do you think? 

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