by Skip Wall
Exiting the track at Concord Motorsports Park, one could see Burt Myers, winner of the North-South Shootout, with the trophy on one arm and his lovely wife on the other along with this big sheepish grin. Burt Myers looked like someone who should be a champion. After all he just beat his northern co-horts in a race of the best of the best in modified racing, a feat in six years of tries, that no southerner had done before.

But Myers, like many others, races in the lesser known series (Whelen Southern Modified Tour) under the NASCAR banner. He also races in the lesser known ASA Modified Series.

With the popularity of the Sprint Cup Series, is this series considered too boring or not appreciated? Why don't they draw the big crowds? If you feel this way, look again.

Drivers in the NASCAR modified series are the forgotten dynasty. The modified series helped make NASCAR what it is today.

NASCAR divides it's two modified series into two bunches: the Northern series and the Southern Tour. But the Northern series, races mainly in the northeast and is very popular still today. In the south, the Sprint Cup gets most of the attention.

The ASA races in the south also. But the ASA and the North-South Shootout draw many of the northern drivers and fans south to compete against each other, even during a sluggish economy.

One such place for the modified stars is at Martinsville VA, where no southern driver has won since 1985 under the NASCAR banner. Myers won the September race for the southern, only to have the win taken away some four days later for having an illegal car.

Matt Hirschman a northern driver and star says it didn't have to be that way. He says Myers has paid his dues and didn't have to alter his car.

Myers put that taken away win to rest when he won this past weekends North-South Shootout after six tries for any southern division winner for NASCAR or ASA for that matter.

The bottom line is that there is this loyal following for modified racing even though gas prices are still high and jobs are falling by the wayside.

An after the race walk could find campfires, tailgate parties, talks about the racing and football being played in the fields. It was an atmosphere of the old Modified-Late Model Sportsman double headers from years ago at Martinsville. It also reminded you of a tailgate party at Sprint race, just at a much more affordable price.

Fans don't seem to love or hate the north-south rivalries. They just love to see the action fast paced racing of 600 horsepowered cars racing by the grace of god. They were awed by Ted Christopher, the newly crowned NASCAR northern series champion, who spun out by himself coming back to green. They were amazed that Jimmy "Shotime" Blewett caused a big hoo-hah by hitting the frontstretch wall causing cars to stack up behind him. Other than a few hecklers, no one seemed to care that Myers a campaigner in the south for years just won the race of his life. Now they just want to see him back it up in a couple of weeks when they run the Turkey Derby in New Jersey in a couple of weeks that Myers has committed to.

To be a non sanctioned race at Concord, they drew pretty well attendance wise. But at Martinsville, while attendance is much larger, it's not enough to keep going as far as purse wise. However winning at Martinsville is like winning the Daytona 500 to many. Just to make a race at Martinsville is a feat within itself.

Perhaps Martinsville will take a look at how the North-South Shootout does things. They didn't compete against big college football games. North-South had lesser divisions competing on the same headliner which drew from all over running SK Lite modifieds, Legends, stadium stock and Bandoleros. The weather wasn't a factor nor the heat to go with it.

While the northern tracks do well, so do the drivers that support it. You will see big rigs hauling race cars. You will see more engine builders in the north for these big power plants along with more chassis builders.

The southerners don't do a lot of flashy things. In fact Myers hauls his car in a trailer. Jeff Riggs of Riggs Racing does a lot of in house things along with in house engines.

But one thing that the south has going for it is Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston Salem NC, a little flat quarter mile bullring that packs 11000 fans week in and week out. No track in the north can touch that including Thompson and Stafford Springs Speedway. In fact Bowman Gray outdraws any short track in America. Most of that because of the keen rivalries and keen competition.

What fans are missing from the lesser known series is the level of competition. You don't see a lot of runaways like you see in Sprint Cup. The modified series is for real and at a much affordable price and a bang for your buck.

Modified racers will sign autographs before and after races. You can actually touch the cars before and after the races.

And some drivers will create attitudes which gives the love or hate status on the tracks from the fans. Tim Brown, Jr Miller or Teddy Christopher, you love them or hate them.

Depending on the drivers, it takes a short and long time process to build up champions in NASCAR. Many move up the ladder to the more elite series. In modified racing, many elect to stay just in that series. Some hand it down to family operations and are household names such Hirschman, Pasteryak, Myers and Jeffreys.

In modified racing whether it be NASCAR or ASA, you don't see the big name sponsors though Advance Auto Parts and WISK are becoming familiar names in modified racing.

But the competition is what many fans in the racing world are missing. And that's not been a long process in modified racing. Modified racing is the grassroots of short track racing.

And for the bang for the buck process, many don't know what they are missing in the modified world.

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