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Ever wonder why we've used some of the same terminology for race car classes for many years even though they are nothing like what they were intended to be...
You have Sprints, Midgets, TQ's and the like which are still really pretty much the same since their inception back as early as the 1920's... Types of engines, safety equipment and tires are really the biggest changes to these types of racers...
How about "Sportsman" and "Modified" though.... These terms were actually originally used for the same type of race car, the only difference being a "Sportsman" car used everything from the same manufacturer... ie: Chevy chassis, engine, body, parts - if it was a Chevy, it really was a Chevy... A "Modified" was a car that used whatever was available to make it go fast... You could have a Chrysler frame with a Ford body and a Chevy engine... Hence a "modified" version of a "stock" car... NASCAR used this format for two separate divisions up through the mid '60s... You can still see photos on line of the old Modified/Sportsman races at Daytona - both the beach and the big track - where the cars were ID's as either Modified or Sportsman... Many times they ran in the same races, but points were awarded to each type of car separately... Here in FL, the situation took a turn in the late '50s when the cars were essentially the same, only the Mod was V-8 power and 6 cylinders powered the Sportsman cars... Supermodifieds at that time were quite similar to today's Modified car... A very sleek, chopped-down car with the biggest engine you could find to put in it...
How about Late Models... With the popularity of the NASCAR Strictly Stock, then later Grand National cars and the shoot-off groups within AAA, MARC, IMCA and USAC (plus later ARCA), the short tracks started classes for cars with "later" model bodies on them similar to the cars most people were driving to the race track... Somebody going to their short track was probably not doing it in a 1932-40 Ford or Chevy in the early '60s, so the newer-bodied cars quickly became a hit and mixed in well with the other classes...
When I first started going to Orlando Raceway in 1963, the rule for "Late Models" were cars built from 1949-56... Again, if it was a Chevy, it had to be ALL Chevy, same thing with a Ford, Plymouth, whatever... Each year, the track would add another year to the rules, thus the 1957 models became the rage in 1964, 1958's were added in 1965 etc.
With the older cars bodies getting harder to find, most of the tracks adopted the Chevelle and Fairlane bodies (at least here in FL) in 1967 and allowed them to be fitted on the older 1950s chassis. The first one at Orlando was Don'l Burkhalter's Chevelle which is still one of the prettiest race cars I ever saw... Some of the guys still wanted to run the older-bodied cars, so the "Early" model class was started - the only difference being they were powered by 6 cyl engines... While Late Models have always kept their name - mainly because the cookie-cutter bodies are at least of the "latest models", the Early Models evolved into such classes a "Super-Sixes" etc. until they went completely away by the mid '80s....
You have Sprints, Midgets, TQ's and the like which are still really pretty much the same since their inception back as early as the 1920's... Types of engines, safety equipment and tires are really the biggest changes to these types of racers...
How about "Sportsman" and "Modified" though.... These terms were actually originally used for the same type of race car, the only difference being a "Sportsman" car used everything from the same manufacturer... ie: Chevy chassis, engine, body, parts - if it was a Chevy, it really was a Chevy... A "Modified" was a car that used whatever was available to make it go fast... You could have a Chrysler frame with a Ford body and a Chevy engine... Hence a "modified" version of a "stock" car... NASCAR used this format for two separate divisions up through the mid '60s... You can still see photos on line of the old Modified/Sportsman races at Daytona - both the beach and the big track - where the cars were ID's as either Modified or Sportsman... Many times they ran in the same races, but points were awarded to each type of car separately... Here in FL, the situation took a turn in the late '50s when the cars were essentially the same, only the Mod was V-8 power and 6 cylinders powered the Sportsman cars... Supermodifieds at that time were quite similar to today's Modified car... A very sleek, chopped-down car with the biggest engine you could find to put in it...
How about Late Models... With the popularity of the NASCAR Strictly Stock, then later Grand National cars and the shoot-off groups within AAA, MARC, IMCA and USAC (plus later ARCA), the short tracks started classes for cars with "later" model bodies on them similar to the cars most people were driving to the race track... Somebody going to their short track was probably not doing it in a 1932-40 Ford or Chevy in the early '60s, so the newer-bodied cars quickly became a hit and mixed in well with the other classes...
When I first started going to Orlando Raceway in 1963, the rule for "Late Models" were cars built from 1949-56... Again, if it was a Chevy, it had to be ALL Chevy, same thing with a Ford, Plymouth, whatever... Each year, the track would add another year to the rules, thus the 1957 models became the rage in 1964, 1958's were added in 1965 etc.
With the older cars bodies getting harder to find, most of the tracks adopted the Chevelle and Fairlane bodies (at least here in FL) in 1967 and allowed them to be fitted on the older 1950s chassis. The first one at Orlando was Don'l Burkhalter's Chevelle which is still one of the prettiest race cars I ever saw... Some of the guys still wanted to run the older-bodied cars, so the "Early" model class was started - the only difference being they were powered by 6 cyl engines... While Late Models have always kept their name - mainly because the cookie-cutter bodies are at least of the "latest models", the Early Models evolved into such classes a "Super-Sixes" etc. until they went completely away by the mid '80s....