Foreword
This is a brain droppings piece on the development of modified stock car racing in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and a couple lessons that can be learned from it. My family has been racing for three generations, and it is without a doubt my biggest hobby and passion. Hopefully, the lesson is clear: without the guidance of a Top Man, people spontaneously created a sport that still thrives almost 70 years later.
Early History
In the late 1940s, much of the young male population returned from war with a decent education in mechanics. This set the stage for a transition from the special-built race cars of the past, to racing stock cars. In the northeast, the coupes and sedans of previous decades were pulled from junkyards and put to work on the dirt ovals as racing machines.
Over the first few years, innovation was rampant. Each week the coupes and sedans would become more modified. First went the front fenders, to allow for bigger tires with more turning radius. Then the engines were altered, custom building parts and boring out the cylinders to make the biggest (and fastest) motor. They went from being stock car races, to modified stock car races.
The Golden Age
By the mid ’60s, the cars followed a basic formula, a ’55 Chevy frame, a ’40s truck solid front axle, a classic coupe body, and a 427ci Corvette engine. Most of the parts were gathered from junkyards, stripped off of old cars, or custom built. This is where the spirit of small time dirt track racing lies. A driver or mechanic could come up with something in their garage, build it themselves, install it onto a car, and win.
As 1930s coupes and ’55 Chevys began to transition from junkyard jalopy to collector’s item, the racers had to seek out a new body and chassis design. Enter the subcompact car. Turns out those cheap Pintos, Gremlins, Pacers and Omnis might not have race car hearts, but they did have the skins. The small, boxy style was easy to recreate with a sheet metal brake and some elbow grease. The bodies were made as small as possible, with the driver going from the stock left side of the car to the center, running the driveline directly between his legs. The modified stock cars began to stray further from their stock roots.
Super Dirt Car Big Block Modifieds
The innovative minds of the day took racing from junkyard cars racing for a couple hundred bucks, to highly tuned machines running for purses in the tens of thousands. The northeast touring series, which still exists today, brought regional and national sponsors into the fray. With more money available, drivers were willing to spend more to have a better chance at the prize (incentives and all that). Enterprising and successful drivers began to build their cars for other people. Speed shops began popping up to sell custom parts. The days of winning with a home built car began to fade.
The stock car moniker was finally dropped in 1981. At the end-of-season race at the Syracuse Mile, a driver from Florida and a car builder from Missouri showed up with a car that looked nothing like anything on the street. The rules of the time prohibited bodies that were too narrow to reduce weight and drag, but they made no mention of a maximum width. This was exploited by the team of Kenny Weld and Gary Balough, who showed up with a piece holding F1 inspired aerodynamics, with wide wings and louvers that sucked the car to the ground. The car won by a lap. Teams scrambled in the off season to imitate the aerodynamics of what became known as the “Batmobile” and the rules were altered to become far more restrictive. The sanctioning body vowed to never let this happen again, as the racers all deserved a fighting chance against such innovation. And so the cars went from varied bodies and individual pieces to uniform cars bought from a few dealers.
Modern Era
This year, one of my local tracks (Orange County Fair Speedway) will host the 57th annual Eastern States Championship weekend in October. Older than the Super Bowl, this race is a remnant of days gone by. It once hosted over 150 unique and homemade modifieds and packed the house with close to 10,000 fans. This year, 2018, it will still pack the house, with a weekend full of camping, racing, and general redneck debauchery. But the cars will be towed there in stacker haulers, they will all look exactly the same, with components that can be bought from two or three different suppliers. The car counts will remain strong; 60-70 will try to qualify for 40 spots. But the sport has definitely changed. If someone comes to the track with something new, it is more often called cheating than innovating.
How this connects to Glibs
You might wonder what this is doing on this site, as opposed to some blog. In my opinion, this was a description of what a completely unbridled marketplace can create. Rules were not developed before the class, but afterwards to fit what already existed. Many of these rules were misguided attempts to keep the sport safe and inexpensive that often had the opposite effect. The biggest rule, a mandatory 467ci big block engine, has priced many people out as these engines become antiquated and harder to find. If the rule was not in place, bored out small blocks would easily surpass the big blocks in use and efficiency, but a bureaucratic series that has the philosophy of “it has always been this way” will not allow it. After all, they collect the sanction money.
Many tracks operate independently with open motor rules and see good car counts and better competition. However, these small budget drivers are unable to run for the large purses that the series offers, hamstringing them from being able to grow their team. Almost as though having more restrictions gives the established, higher dollar teams a better chance of remaining dominant…amazing.
The story of modifieds is also one of order arising spontaneously and not from the might of a sanctioning body. Competition normalized, cars became safer and faster, all without the guiding hand of a Top Man. The track was a safer place when a wild driver would be taken care of in the pits by the team whose night he wrecked, as opposed to a he said/she said scenario arbitrated by a track promoter and sometimes the local police.
Afterword
Hopefully you enjoyed this and learned something. Racing has been in my family for generations, and I tried to keep it as brief and true as possible. The links to libertarianism may be tenuous, but they are sincere.
As a parting word, I would ask you to go to your local dirt track. Bring the family, it is happening somewhere close to you (unless you live in Massachusetts; I have yet to find a dirt track there). Not all racing is the glamour of F1 or NASCAR. The top billed car classes may be pre-built, but most tracks have beginner classes that are pulled out of used car lots. Plus, the drivers are still the same old blue collar guys looking to have a good time on a Friday or Saturday night by participating in a sport they love.
Any Glib that lives around the NY/NJ/CT area, try to get to the Eastern States 200. The racing is better than any major series, and the beer is cheaper and cold.
Thanks to Tundra for getting me off my ass to write this finally.
History Sources
Superdirtseries.com
Orangecountyfairspeedway.net
Comments
170 responses to “A Quick History of Northeast Dirt Modifieds and The Lessons it has to Teach”
Wow, a great redneck pasttime! I had buddies that did dirt-track racing back in the day. I wasn’t even really aware that it was still a thing.
Still going strong. Car counts are lower in some states, but every track I’ve ever been to still has the strong center of people who love the sport.
WANT
WANT WANT WANT WANT
*ACCESSORIZING CAN WAIT
*hides awkward erection*
I hear ya, bro.
He was a dirt track demon
Huh, there’s a generational divide. For Gen Xers.
Dog will hunt.
Nevermind, Chipwooder got it below.
I really need to start thinking outside the box.
As the racers got older and had more money did that help lead to the changes?
Instead of having to build everything, now they could afford to buy it?
Cool topic, I love me some dirt track racing and demolition derby.
The speed shops chased the money really. Once bigger sponsors came to the sport (note this is a regional class, they developed much differently outside of the northeast) guys who sold parts to hot rodders realized there was a market of people who had a 30% chance of bending something every week. It grew from there.
Can’t beat a dirt track Saturday night!
Can’t read this without hearing this in my head
Or this…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXCh9OhDiCI
Or this…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtCgG2Han8U
Gibby Haynes!
Fun fact that many of you probably already knew, but if you didn’t….he was a basketball star who played in college and was an accounting honors student.
One of my slightly older friends got to see the Surfers live in the eighties. The only part of the story he regaled to me that I remember was Gibby wearing a dress that his balls kept popping out of.
This is an awesome article. And dirt track racing sounds fun. I wonder if it would even be possible to start this from scratch in the modern day? Would it ever even get off the ground because of the safety mania and regulatory fetishism.
it is also a dangerous post as I’ve wanted a track car for a long time and this adds to the temptation.
Starting from scratch would be far more difficult than it was at the beginning. Because of the redneck air around the whole thing, it pretty much flies under regulatory radar. Unfortunately, certain classes still have 2-3 deaths a year nationwide, which always gives us a negative spotlight. In New Jersey, there is a division of the state police that only concerns itself with dirt racing. The laws they have imposed are ridiculous.
That being said, there are still a bunch of people that knock the windows out of an old Chevy Cavalier, weld a frame in, and go racing. They may not go as fast as a track car, but it sure costs less when they total it.
I imagine it does draw negative attention, but it sounds like this an activity where the people that engage in it know that’s a risk and are okay with it.
What’s kind of the bottom end for getting into it? North or south of $5k to do dirt track racing?
Depends on the class. True entry level cars like I mentioned can cost as little as $1000 or $2000 depending on what part of the country and who you buy from. Those are mostly modern stock cars (4 cylinder, FWD)
To go a little faster, there are sportsman classes (sealed Chevy crate motor, custom built car) that you can buy into for around $6000-$7000. It’s a pretty expensive hobby, but if you hang around the pits of the local dirt track, every driver and crew member there will give out tips and encouragement. We’re always looking to add someone to the group. Until you start winning, then we accuse you of cheating.
I’d imagine that networking also applies to obtaining parts and equipment. Knowing a bunch of people in the field can make the overall cost drop rather significantly.
It helps. Get in with a couple swap meets and Facebook groups and you can normally find a good deal. For me, building my own body was a cost saver. Would’ve cost 2 grand to have made what I got done with $600 in sheet metal, a jigsaw, and a case of beer.
Until you start winning, then we accuse you of cheating.
Ric Flair is my hero, so I’m cool with playing the heel. 🙂 Sounds like it isn’t really that much more expensive than motorcycling as a hobby.
Oh, so you want me to start bitching about my Cobra pipes?
I can sing that tune pretty well myself.
I’m supremely jealous of people who grew up working on cars and developing these kinds of mechanical skills. I’ve often thought about trying to get into that type of thing, but expense, not knowing where to start, workspace and general inertia has always stopped me. One of my friends from high school restored a ’65 Mustang with his Dad growing up and now he spends weekends tinkering with his car, not only routine maintenance stuff that saves a ton of money, but performance enhancements and fun stuff.
The one thing I did grow up doing was shooting and now I’m a pretty damn good marksman, so I guess I have that going for me.
workspace is the hardest part.
where to start? there’s really nothing out there easier to work on than a 90’s civic.
There were two dirt tracks near me in Indiana. One was on a site I can see if I look out my office window right now. They had races on Saturday nights, which by local ordnance had to end at 10pm. I lived about 3 miles away and I could hear the engines. To me, it was one of the welcome sounds of summer. But unsurprisingly, as new subdivisions went up the residents complained about the noise and it was shut down, about 10 years ago.
The second track is about 10 miles west of here. It featured dirt track racing and a figure 8 demolition derby with school buses. That one also shut down, maybe 1-2 years ago.
Sounds like dirt track racing is still going strong in other parts of the country, though.
That’s very disappointing to hear. Indiana is a huge hotbed for racing, Kokomo speedway is one of my favorite tracks.
It is still alive across the country, and with the upturn in economy (contractors make up a lot of local racing sponsors) we have seen a good increase in car counts lately.
That’s good to know. This reminds me of roller derby, another ground-up sport, which my family is involve in. I really like niche sports/activities like this. I think it’s a unique part of American culture.
Also, I think that this part of Indiana is just becoming more developed with planned, slightly upper scale subdivisions full of soccer moms. But a majority of the state is still very redneck.
It’s all that money from the guns funding the development.
Y’know, if Indiana were really smart, they’d also be investing in mortuaries and crematoria and undercut the rates in Chicago.
Similar to NY then. Development always seems to encroach. I grew up in what used to be a farm town, but has turned into a long distance (around 2 hours) commuter town for FDNY and NYPD. It’s one thing if the people move in and interest in the sport wanes to let the track die a natural death: that is just sad. Worse is when the soccer moms don’t want a bunch of rednecks and their hot rods disturbing their country home, so they sue. that is wrong.
This is Lake County in Northwest Indiana, which really is just suburban Chicago. There are a lot of commuters, but there’s also a lot of people fleeing south from the towns next to Gary for obvious reasons. If you go one county south or one county east it’s all rural.
I just did a google search, and I found plenty of dirt tracks. None of them are in Lake County.
Our area still has tracks:
http://rockfordspeedway.com/
https://sycamorespeedway.com/
Lived down the street from this joint – http://www.colonialbeachdragstrip.com/schedule/ – but never really felt inclined to check it out for the 2 years I was in the area (probably should have put in the effort to look up the schedule sooner).
I haven’t seen any commercials for Lebanon Valley Speedway in years, but apparently they’re still operating.
Still thriving up there. Great track.
as new subdivisions went up the residents complained about the noise and it was shut down, about 10 years ago.
One of the things that really grinds my gears is when new people try to change what was going on there before they moved.
That bothered me too. That race track had been there for decades and it was on a main road. It’s not like people had no idea it was there when they moved in.
That seems a rather severe way of enforcing a curfew.
Look, do you want results or don’t you?
Great article. Thanks for sharing.
why the ’55 frame specifically? was there something different about that frame that made it desirable? or was the rest of the car bolted to it garbage so they wound up in junkyards quicker?
A graybeard at the track could answer that better than me. Most likely it was a frame that one of the dominant guys of the time got to work well, and so people started copying it. Pretty soon you have a couple years of notes on it and it becomes too valuable.
Most of the bolt ons were throwaways, but if you can keep getting the same bolt ons you know how they’ll work in conjunction with the frame.
Looking back, I’ve come to the conclusion that guys doing this out of their garage through trial and error, with only handwritten notes and a bunch of theories, were at worst very smart people.
I think the dumb ones would be weeded out.
One of the area dirt tracks was featured in a video game around 2000. It’s quite big around here in the summer, though not my thing.
Also, when the dirt is covered by snow, they just race on the ice.
Love the ice races. And I bet I had that game as a kid. Just called Dirt Track Racing if I remember. Only video game I ever played.
Yeah, that’s the game.
Thanks for this. When I was a masshole my son and I would go to Epping NH. A fun Friday night.
A quick “dirt tracks near me” search and I discover one here in the Big Sky with racing every Friday night. On my calendar. Thanks for the nudge.
I’m more a sports car guy, but dirt track racing is the best racing.
Glad you’ll get to a track! If it is the Big Sky I’m thinking of, it’s a good time. Gallatin Speedway (if I’m in the right ballpark) I’ve been to a few times while visiting family. Hands down best atmosphere I’ve seen at a track.
Dirt Cars are much slower and take less precision and skill ,but that’s what makes them fun.
Gallatin it is. Only about an hour away.
There is a female driver there missing a tooth or two who will invite you back to her shop as soon as the checkers fall.
I do not recommend it.
Enjoy.
Dirt tracks always remind me of Dave Edmunds when he was Slipping Away .
I’m quite pleased to live near enough to Eldora Speedway that its worth catching a couple races in the summer.
Nice article.
Eldora is a bucket list track. Tony Stewart considered buying Orange County Fair Speedway, but bought Eldora instead. He made it a mecca
Yeah, I avoid the big events like the world100. Its a real pain in the ass when you get crowds like that.
Here in Iowa its Sprint Cars, though most tracks host features for both Modified and Sprint Cars.
It kinda seems like almost every other town has a 1/4 to 1/2 mile dirt track (I know of 3 within 30 miles of me)
Reminds me, I need to make it to nearby Knoxville Raceway to catch the Nationals someday.
I’ve been there once for regular feature racing but I took my wife and 4 year old girl. The wife went because I asked her to come at least once (having a pair of free tickets helped her agree). The 4 year old got bored after the heat races.
Some of the local tracks also do amateur racing that requires bone stock 4cyl compact cars, and the only mods allowed are strictly for safety (removing the glass, chain/weld the doors shut, install a bar over the driver door, remove seats, upholstery and almost everything flammable). Its not a demo derby though contact is expected. I’ve been tempted to buy a $500 near junker to drive a few times for kicks.
Do it! Those factory stock classes do still thrive across the country and should get a little more respect in my opinion.
Knoxville during the nationals is a whole different feeling. I’ve been there for them and for a weekly show and it is no comparison. The whole town goes all in for the races and welcomes everyone.
Before I can realistically do that I need to move outside of town where I can keep a beat up crap box on my land for a while and not incur the wrath of my neighbors.
The #1 reason I haven’t made it to the Nationals (or the Marion County Fair) is parking. I just have no idea what I would do to park. For the regular weekly races its no biggie because they have enough on site parking. I live close enough that I can hear the Sprint Cars running, though it does require the wind to be blowing the right direction.
Open header 410’s…the noise definitely travels.
It was for the 50th nationals, my Dad and I happened to be in Wisconsin and decided the 5 hour drive was worth it. Drove down, paid 20 bucks to park on a guys lawn (everyone in town seemed to turn their lawn into a campground or parking lot) and enjoyed.
It sucks having nosy neighbors.
Thanks. The AMC Gremlin always reminds me of growing up. My uncle was a senior exec at at AMC so between his family and mine I think I was in just about every model of AMC made the mid 70s to the early 80s.
It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized the northeast even had a dirt track history. Always assumed that it was in other parts of the US.
They definitely inspired some classic racecars.
The dirt tracking history of the northeast is very unique. The cars pictured are not raced anywhere else in the country, and when we do travel for select big events, we are an oddity using technology that is very dated.
My parents were friends with the AMC dealer in town, and mama Tres sported a purple gremlin, only to be replaced by the Pacer when she crashed it.
My grandparents had a Pacer Wagon in an orange / brown metallic with a tan interior. Has to be one the the ugliest automobiles I’ve ever seen.
The wagon makes the regular Pacer look good.
Tangential, but AMCs are some of the most under appreciated examples of industrial design in all of American history. Richard Teague was an absolute master, and his genius shines through in even his more quirky designs. The Pacer is thought to have heavily influenced the design of the Porsche 928.
Here’s my favorite:
https://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z1750/amc-amx-ii-concept.aspx
And incidentally, many of the Gremlin’s styling cues originated here:
http://oldconceptcars.com/wp-content/uploads/amc_amx_gt_concept_1.jpg
I’d love to find a totaled AMX someday to build a clone of it.
Fin-bodied Mercedes of the 60’s borrowed from Ramblers. The succesor was even more heavily “inspired” by the Rambler American.
oooh. pantera-meets-miura nice.
This story made me think of this
the premise seems a bit ridiculous, but it actually gets worse only 2 paragraphs in
for clarity: teen being chased by cops. cop on foot is killed by cops chasing teen. teen charged with *felony murder of cop as adult*
*this may have been shared this AM. apologies if so.
are your nuts still tender? let me play some soothing mood music and offer you some ointment, only to
WHAMMO NO YOU LOOKED DOWN RIGHT UNDERNEATH THAT STORY OMG KNEE TO THE GROIN
Officer won’t be charged for fatal shooting at wrong address
I’m sure it was the shortage that led to the shit report.
Lopez’s relatives are saddened and confused by the lack of criminal charges
They must be new here, I’m saddened and pissed off, but not confused.
Also, the DA speculated Lopez may have been turning around when he was shot.
He was shot in the back of the head, but it’s a good shoot since they all got to go home.
There was something in the air that night,
The cops arent bright,
Hernando!
Thought cops thought they could never lose,
there’s no regret.
If they had to do the same again,
They would, my friend,
HERNANDO!
*narrows gaze…and applauds*
Mild anti-nut punch from the other side of the world.
I think tasers are like the Drone Warfare of policing: by making them ‘less risky’ (in theory), and you get a much lower threshold for use of force.
then there’s the fact that they don’t work all the time, which means once they’ve been used (and if they’re not effective) it tends to precipitate immediate escalation, because now you’ve got someone freaked out that you’ve just tried to shoot them with a stun-gun. MUST NOW BLUDGEON INTO SILENCE.
I think the temptation to taser hysterical screeching women would be too much for me. I could never possibly be a cop.
Or, as we’ve seen many times, tase someone repeatedly an unnecessary number of times until their heart explodes.
It goes like this:
Cop: Obey!
Citizen: Hesitates
Cop: Uses taser
Citizen: Goes into convulsions from being elecrocuted
Cop” OBEY
Citizen: Convulsions continue (couldn’t obey if he wanted to)
Cop: Uses taser again
Repeat
You forgot to yell “STOP RESISTING!”
If the cops were following procedures, then it can’t be their fault.
OT: Save trillions on healthcare with this one weird trick!
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/this-one-weird-trick-will-save-you-trillions-on-healthcare/
“So the Sanders “Plan” is going to save money. And all we need to do to get to that happy state of affairs is:
• Force every doctor and hospital in America to accept Medicare reimbursement rates for all patients — these are 40 percent lower than the rates paid by private insurance — while assuming that this would have absolutely no effect on their capacity or willingness to provide services
• Raise taxes by 10 percent of GDP — overnight
• Explain to the 150 million people with private insurance that the rules have been changed so dramatically that (a) they can no longer keep their plans, and (b) henceforth, tens of millions among them will be paying more in taxes than they were previously paying in both premiums and out-of-pocket costs
Easy!”
That just about sums it up; but sadly these progs are unpersuadable on this point because their religion demands single-payer healthcare. When a group is 100% convinced that the second coming of Jesus is in Central Park next Tuesday at 1:37 pm there is absolutely nothing you can do to convince them otherwise.
Yeah just posted this in the early morning thread Q, but I thought it was hilarious that it called this shit out. At a minimum it is a huge change from the sale pitch they made for Obamacare, and if they come clean should be an eye opener for people. Especially all the woke fucks in the medical profession now slated to take a 40% pay cut…
Is that what you posted? It was SF’ed
Force every doctor and hospital in America to accept Medicare reimbursement rates for all patients
what is with Leftists and price controls? how many real world examples do they need?
This one’s different, because they already accept those rates now!
*ignore the fact that providers can currently try to make up for that by charging patients with non-govt insurance more and that that subsidy would instantly disappear
*ignores the fact aht some doctors don’t accept those rates.
“what is with Leftists and socialism? how many real world examples do they need?”
FIFY.
price controls is specific policy that is a guaranteed failure and it’s easy to show why supply decreases when prices are held artificially low. socialism is this nebulous concept that’s all about “the people” controlling everything and somehow that brings prosperity to poor children.
I knew it would be Charles CW Cooke, it’s very similar to his piece on gun control. I wish he’d run a bit further with this one than he did, he didn’t touch on wait lists, death panels, or a bunch of other things that people would have to “just accept”.
Thanks for this article, Desk Jockey.
A trip down memory lane for me. I spent many Friday and Saturday nights at the dirt tracks in the Finger Lakes as a teenager. Not much else to do in small farming communities!
Seemed like every other farm kid had a car they worked on with their buddies. These guys had practical skills like welding and wrenching that translated easily to recreational pursuits.
Enjoy your upcoming trip to one of my old stomping ground tracks!
Hopefully, the lesson is clear: without the guidance of a Top Man, people spontaneously created a sport that still thrives almost 70 years later.
Paging USAC. USAC to the white courtesy telephone…
This is what I get for fucking around and not refreshing the front page.
OT: What are the moral implications if ICE just started gunning these people down? What about the legal implications?
http://dailycaller.com/2018/07/30/portland-police-ice-911-calls/
“We feared for our lives”
Guaranteed good shoot
If ICE isn’t under attack then it’s murder. If they are then it is self-defense. That we are having this conversation is a sad tribute to Portland PD’s willingness to bend to their mayor’s agenda rather than, in some meaningful way, enforcing the law.
I’m still thinking about trying to coordinate a Glib meet up at the indy 500 next year. Those who are interested, keep it in the back of your minds. I’ll probably talk with the admins and start coordinating things in October or so.
Back in college we would go to a buddy’s cabin in Camden, TN to go fishing and drinking. It was way out in the boonies and one night we turned on the radio to get some music on. We found live dirt track racing being called on a Saturday night. All the racers had awesome southern names like “Billy Joe”. We laughed ourselves sick.
Camden is also the home of the Wismer Hotel, Supper Club and Lounge. After a day out in the cold boat, we ate there and they had an all chitlin buffet. Of course, I had to try it. How many times in your life do you get an opportunity like that?
Much different story than if it had been Camden, NJ.
OT: Looking through the ballot choices for the FL primary. One of the Atty General candidates has a serious case of five head. Maybe six head. Jesus, where’s Pam Bondi when you need her?
What a shit stain, he’s a recovering alcoholic so we should sue the drug companies.
GENIUS!! Why has no one thought of this before?
Nobody beats Don Roberts in the massive noggin game.
It’s so big they have to cut it off in his portrait.
SN: Jesus – he looks like he could be a character on Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
ron: when your only tool is a subpoena, everything looks like discovery.
I’ll trade you my attorney general for one of your candidates. Couldn’t be any worse.
Speaking of shit stains, he’s definitely one.
I came to VA in part because of the gun laws and the last two governors have been anti 2A.
Herring is horrible.He’s only exceeded in horribleness by Lt. Gov Justin Fairfax, who is remarkably quiet for a raving prog. I assume the party told him to shut his mouth after the election.
exactly. he’s not allowed to speak any of his crazy ass communism.. not even after the mid-terms.
What ticked me off about all of that was that if a GOP fundie loon had won the primary for LG, the media would have been on him non-stop. They ignored Fairfax and his insanity.
Herring is the fucking worst. I’ve really grown to hate Virginia. I expect to be looking to move on in a couple years.
Yeah, that’s pretty stupid, but not uncommon. The gun grabbers are totally ignoring the practical problems with 3D guns, as well as the potential alternatives available.
Considering FL will probably wind up with one of the R AG candidates (both of whom at least claim 2A positivity), we’re probably going to be better off.
i heard their latest effort, after getting shot down by that judge in Texas, was to get a Seattle judge to review. talk about forum shopping.
WHOA!
I could iron a suit on that guys fo’head.
It would probably be the most productive use it was put to in years.
Anti nut punch: Two men who stepped up when they were needed.
The (a href=”http://www.telcomhistory.org/vm/miscVailMedal.shtml”>Vail Medals, now Vail Awards have an interesting history. They’ve been awarded for almost a hundred years, starting with the Bell System and continuing through successor companies.
Whoa.
I miss the USAC Silver Crown cars. Non winged long(er) wheelbase 360s. Elbows flying.
They raced Silver Crown cars in Syracuse during the modified end of year championship race. Those cars and drivers make us look like kids on tricycles. I found myself surprised their balls fit in the cockpit without getting pinched by the steering wheel.
OT: Seems like they could at least leave him some porn in addition to the primitive tools.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6010573/Amazon-Man-Hole-Inside-home-known-survivor-tribe-Brazil.html
OT: Heroes. In. Blue.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/07/31/police-fatally-shoot-colorado-man-who-killed-home-intruder/870416002/
shoot first; call second.
For me YouTube is awash in John Testor ads. Actually, they don’t say anything about Testor. They’re all about how we shouldn’t vote for his opponent who isn’t even a real Montanan and has BILLIONAIR OUT-OF_STATE donors.
The ads feature a series of local (supposedly) farmer/rancher types each with an on-topic sound bite. One of the guys even has a long gun over his shoulder. I thought that was a nice touch.
The is problematic for us libertarians.
See what you are essentially demonstrating is that the regulatory impulse is present even absent government interference. That by doing away with government and government power we do not really achieve anything. Once a power base becomes established it will perpetuate and protect itself from change calcifying what was once a dynamic marketplace into a solidified form that only serves the entrenched interests of those who were winners in the market to establish it.
Something like this is a far more powerful and effective critique of libertariainism than anything the left has ever managed to dream up because it shows that the outcome of government interference is not so different from what an “unbridled” market would produce and that the regulatory bodies are really just an expression of the desires of the people.
This is exactly why I consider ancap to be utopian and unworkable. Though, minarchism never stays “min” and eventually grows into a leviathan also.
Basically there’s no system of societal organization that can last in perpetuity and also respect individual liberty. We’re fucked.
“Something about the Tree of Liberty and its manure.”
-Dead White Guy Slaveholder
“Basically there’s no system of societal organization that can last in perpetuity”
So we’re not completely fucked then. Just a matter of timing is all.
I think it’s an effective critique of anarchism, but not so much libertarianism. This is a classic case of spontaneous order. There is no iron law that says spontaneous order leads to an order that is purely positive sum for all participants. I think the libertarian part is that there was no force involved in the evolution of these regulations. The self-imposed regulations on this class of racing does not prevent others from creating a new class with differing or non-existent regulations. In fact, I’m sure these classes of racing take place frequently out in the boonies on some redneck’s farm.
That’s one reason there are so many different kinds of racing. They’re often like protestant religious schisms. Racers don’t like where things are going so they start another league or create another class.
Except in this case you are technically free to start your own league. Government really doesn’t like it when you do that and has a tendency to put you in rape cages for it.
I’m not disagreeing that the tendency exists.
Except technically free does not equal free.
There are limited tracks, limited drivers interested in pursuing the sport with a limited supply of cars, and limited audiences to pay for the whole endeavor so once a given style of racing takes over in an area it becomes all but impossible to found something new.
Note, I am not saying that government intervention could or should do anything to make it easier just pointing out that saying “go start your own racing league” is hardly an effective response to teams being disadvantaged by the current rules
You could make that same argument about most things. There’s limited land, limited markets, etc. If the market is saturated, then the ones that are most popular will survive, and the ones that aren’t will slowly wither.
Yes you could.
That said no it is not the ones which are most popular that will survive. It is the FIRST popular thing that arises that will survive until some completely new thing comes along to disrupt it. It is much like evolution in a way, the first apex predator to arise in a given ecosystem will prevent any possible competitors from evolving to challenging it from within that ecosystem. They can be unseated by changing environmental conditions to the ecosystem or another apex predator from a nearby ecosystem stealing it’s territory but lions are not going to be overtaken by Hyenas or any descendants of theirs .
And I can’t stress this enough, acknowledging this fact does not mean I advocate for government or anyone else protecting against it or changing it in any way. The point is that in many cases the outcome of an unbridled free market looks no different from a market regulated by the power of the state
Thanks for putting that in a much more eloquent way than I could. That’s exactly the point I was trying to show. I am on a forum for racing and a week doesn’t go by without someone calling for tighter rules and better tech. They rarely question that the increase in regulation chokes off drivers like myself. I can afford a good set of shocks (around $600 for all 4) I can’t afford a good set of shocks that are illegal so they have to be disguised as legal shocks, allowing the company to charge more (closer to $1600 for all 4).
The regulation seems to always be born out of jealousy, which ironically more often than not benefits the ones the people were jealous of.
There were two dirt tracks near me in Indiana. One was on a site I can see if I look out my office window right now. They had races on Saturday nights, which by local ordnance had to end at 10pm. I lived about 3 miles away and I could hear the engines.
My house in Indianapolis was *maybe* a mile, as the cannonball flies, from Indianapolis Raceway Park. I could always tell when the yellow flag came out, because it would get quiet for a few minutes, then get loud again when the track went green again. The NHRA Nationals were really loud. You knew when the Top Fuel guys were up.
Top Fuel is so awesome; the orgasmic climax of automobiles.
+1 Ashley Force
Isn’t she funny car?
And showing the depth of my knowledge, apparently funny cars are top fuel also, at least at that level.
I thought it was just the dragsters.
OT: Lies of omission are the most pernicious kind.
https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/media-protect-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/
Here is a link to an interview with Peter Thiel that I found interesting. It’s a German mag so the English is a bit off.
https://www.weltwoche.ch/ausgaben/2018-29/artikel/en-hypnotische-massenphanomene-die-weltwoche-ausgabe-29-2018.html
It’s .ch, so it’s not German at all, but Swiss.
Ugh, that’s much worse
*ducks*
what is with Leftists and price controls? how many real world examples do they need?
It worked for Saint Nixon.
Saint Nixon is like Saint Judas Iscariot.
Twitter’s single redeeming quality.
That guy is awesome.
Best response:
“Wow. I never realized that Florida is gun-shaped. Wait til @DavidHogg111 finds out.”
David Burge, evergreen tweeter:
I wonder if his toaster has a black thingy that pops up.
They raced Silver Crown cars in Syracuse during the modified end of year championship race. Those cars and drivers make us look like kids on tricycles. I found myself surprised their balls fit in the cockpit without getting pinched by the steering wheel.
Those guys put on a hell of a show on the mile dirt oval at the Indiana State Fairgrounds the night before the 500. It was called the Hulman Hundred.
My interest in automobile racing starts and ends with explosions and crashes. Presumably with an announcer who goes hysterical Jim Ross style.
Bonus to the video guy that remixed the announcer at our track. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtPbyTy7hXI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGpgdQc4e0c
THE RUSSIANS ARE DOING IT AGAIN!!!! Facebook Has Identified Ongoing Political Influence Campaign
Except they’re not.
Please tell me internet edgelords are trolling Facebook hysterics.
Canada so close to Russia it practically is.
That 3DGUNZ! hysteria is nuts.
It’s like… if the Flat Earth Society tried to get photos of Earth taken from space banned.
Cody R. Wilson
@Radomysisky
This man will pay me
Gurbir S. Grewal
@GurbirGrewalNJ
Yesterday, @DefDist sued me for trying to keep untraceable guns out of the hands of terrorists and criminals. So be it. I’m not backing down on public safety.
8:05 AM – 30 Jul 2018
^Gurbir Grewal is the AG for NJ
Gurbir Baby
Gerry Lopez just Vox-splained it and it’s as hysterical as you’d expect.
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/31/17634558/3d-printed-guns-trump-cody-wilson-defcad
Experts are seriously worried about 3D-printed guns
So how worried should people be? To answer this, I asked four gun policy experts about 3D-printed guns. All of them said they are seriously concerned about these firearms’ potential.
these pro-gun control “experts” from Berkeley, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and the Center for American Progress are not just concerned. they are SERIOUSLY concerned. and they’re not biased in any way so you can SERIOUSLY trust them.
Could a person get a job as a professional pants shitter?
asking for a friend.
Absolutely, apply here
https://www.jhsph.edu/
Oh, that is terrifying. You get a degree with Johns Hopkins attached to it (so people think your a doctor and shit) but you don’t know anything when your done with the program.
Show up to some county health board meeting and “Johns Hopkins this Johns Hopkins that”, the board is putty in your hands.
The whole school is an exercise in bad statistics, courtesy of a large gift from Bloomberg.
Hopkins is my alma mater and I wish they would raze the School of Public Health to the ground. They churn out hordes of little prohibitionists every year.
It is just me or is everything “deeply concerning” or people are “seriously concerned” and then ther’s “unprecedented” and “grave threat”
I got me a new set of KO2s. Only “used” them twice so far.
Thanks to everyone who read and commented.
Thanks to Tundra for getting me off my ass to write this finally.
I’m so glad you did! What a cool sport! Too bad it had to ‘sell out’. The engine size thing is really silly. Displacement is awesome, but so is engineering!
We still have a few dirt tracks around. I’m gonna get out and watch again. Dirt tracks are the punk rock of racing.
Thanks for writing this, DJ!