From Deseret News archives:
The super mods
Miller Motorsports Park home to one of most popular races
Gordon Tyler, Rocky Mountain Sprint Car series coordinator, says there is a simple explanation as to why these cars are so popular with fans.
"Horsepower."
The Super Modifieds have up to 850 horses pumping through the engines at any given time. These Picasso-stylized roadsters are not your typical ride. The jumbled up designs are downright funky. The engines pop out the left side of the car rather than the front. The tires on the left side seem normal enough, however the right sides' tires stretch out in Gumby-like fashion. The entire insides of the cars are exposed and completely outside the frame. The drivers navigate the vehicles through an open-aired cage near the engine. Don't try to take a right-hand turn in a Super Modified, as they only turn left. The explanation for these odd designs is pretty basic — it makes them faster.
"You offset the engine to the left to counteract the forces in the turn so it balances out and you can corner faster. You can carry more speed through the turn," said Super Modified driver Lonnie Adamson. "About 68 percent of the weight is on the left side."
To build a Super Modified car, racers must have two things: time and money.
"A lot of them (Super Modifieds) are home built," said Adamson, "That's the way they started out. People built their own chassis and did their own engineering."
There are some builders now, companies that build the Super Modifieds and sell them, but still many drivers choose to build their own, said Adamson. As for the cost, well that can exceed upwards of $100,000.
As for the popularity of the Super Modifieds, the reason kind-of reverts back to the age-old question — which came first, the chicken or the egg? Was this circuit popular before the races came to Utah? Or was it only when the races came to Utah, that they became so popular?
"One of the reasons is that it (Utah) is kind of at the center. You have a bunch of people from California, from Idaho, people from Colorado, so this is the central place to come and meet so everyone doesn't have to travel as far," said Adamson.
No matter the reason for the Super Modifieds' popularity, the fact is they are one of the most popular, if not the most popular races that come to Utah. With that popularity, Utah will undoubtedly remain a main hub for these events.
"Because of the raw horsepower, people have always been attracted to them," said Tyler, "They're wild-looking and when they come up here with 21 cars (as they did this year), people go crazy. You don't get to see them very often, so attendance is always good for that reason."
E-mail: nstorey@desnews.com
