QuickVic

I raced a supermodified at Arena Park during the time that it was paved. I have quite a few programs , pictures, and newspaper clippings. I'd be interested in what they are racing there now. Is the track asphalt or dirt?

Yep. The radiator in the later car was about 10" high and 30" wide. Water was routed through aluminum tubing to the back of chassis. Never any cooling problems.

Took some time during the Holidays to dig through some of my long forgotten crap. The second picture is the first Hite rear engine car the Fillips owned. It was #21 when they bought it and it stayed that number as long as they raced it. It was raced first by Marvin and then later by Chet. It is the car they raced at Meyers. In '77 Chet wrecked the old M1, '32 Ford roadster bodied super at Arena Park Raceway in Lubbock and broke his leg on the steering box. Later that year he drove the #21 rear engine car with his leg still in a cast. I know he ran at Meyers and I think he ran with us at Englewood Speedway in Colorado, that way. In '78 or '79 the Fillips purchased what I think was the last generation of Hite car. It could be run 2-wheel drive, or a front differential could be added and run 4- wheel drive. The big block Chevy was so far left that an Olds Toronado drive chain was used to transfer crank output back inside the rear tire to the quick change input shaft. This is the car that Chet spent a season with racing at Oswego Speedway. The 4-wheel drive version was never very successful. Fred Graves raced the Hite house car and it was a bullet, but they could never get the 4 wheel stagger correct and always went out with a broken half shaft on one corner or another, due to drive line bind. The good news is they were usually leading when the parts broke. I raced sporadically as a member of the Southwest Supermodified Racing Association in '75 and '76. During the holidays I found all of the SSRA newsletters for '76 and '77. It is a very sad history of first Gary O'Brian and later David Wolfe, trying to breathe life in to a dying class of race car. They scheduled races at all the Gulf Coast tracks and at places like Fort Smith, AK with ever decreasing support. Finally, the car count got so poor, I guess the class just died. If someone has any interest in these newsletters, I would be happy to provide copies.

Look closely. The 121 car in the is not a rear engine car. It was built by Bill Hite and was certainly one of the most advanced front engined supers ever. The driver was almost on top of the rear axle and it was very low. With not much body work it looked like a go cart. It was only around a short time before Hite started building rear engine cars. The Fillips owned two Hite cars, one of the early generation cars and the one Chet is driving in this thread was one of the last generation cars. It could be run 2-wheel drive, or 4-wheel drive. Chet spent a season running at Oswego, NY with this car. At this point, almost every super modified sanctioning body banned the 4 wheel drive cars, and eventually rear engines as well. I don't know what happened to Bill Hite, but he was probably one of the most talented designers of short track cars in his time.