Dirt Late Model Chassis by decade.........

[HoosierDirtFan]

After reading the "Mark Richards Copied Bullit Chassis" thread It made me think a bit of how many different chassis have there been over the years since the early - mid 1970's and decide to try and make a list by decade as to when each chassis came into existence and each builder(s).


Dirt Late Model Chassis by decade

1970's
Barry Wright Race Cars
CJ Rayburn Race Cars
Bernheisel (1978)


1980's
WRC - By Rodney Combs
American Made Racecars
Bullit Chassis
MasterSbilt Chassis
Custom Chassis
Rocket Chassis (1986)
Swartz (1987)
Warrior (1984)
Lazer (1988)
Zippo Chassis
Port City Race Cars


1990's
FAST by Jeff Treece


2000's
Bob Pierce Race Cars
Trak-Star (2006)
Victory Circle (2005)


2010's
Longhorn Chassis (2010)
Capitol Race Cars (2011)
Killer Chassis (2011)
Black Diamond Chassis (2013)
Dominator Chassis by Schlenk (2018)
Punisher Chassis (2018)


2020's
BMF (2022)
Double Nickel (2022)

- - - - -


What year did these chassis officially come out?

American Made
CJ Rayburn Race Car
CVR Race Cars
Dominator - Schlenk
Kryptonite Chassis
Longhorn Chassis
MB Custom
Pierce Race Cars
Sniper Chassis
Team Zero Bloomquist
Howe Race Cars
Bopp Race Cars
Jig-a-lo Chassis
Southwest Speed
Tri-City Buggy
TNT Race Cars
Larry Phillips Race Cars
Larry Shaw Racecars
GRT Race Cars
Buschwacker - Walter Newman
Stinger Race Cars
Club 29 Race Cars
28 Special Race Cars
Scorpion Chassis
Roughrider Chassis
Cheetah Race Cars

ect.....

[SLlDlNG SIDEWAYS]

Rayburn did it right, first. Not sure when though...


Im thinking this may or may not be fox approved.

We'll see.

[HoosierDirtFan]

Rayburn did it right, first. Not sure when though...


Im thinking this may or may not be fox approved.

We'll see.



LMAO. That is laughable. I just enjoy talking racing with others.

[foxfire2dirtracing]

SS- it’s okay with me 😀!

[SLlDlNG SIDEWAYS]

Ok, you have the go-ahead HDF. So, go ahead!

[Highside Hustler25]

Pierce Race Cars > early 2000's.

[t4g2]

Masterbuilt 1982 per their Facebook page

[foxfire2dirtracing]

Who was the very first late model Chassis fabricator ? Seems like I heard years ago it might have been Boscoe Lowe??

[Highside Hustler25]

Who was the very first late model Chassis fabricator ? Seems like I heard years ago it might have been Boscoe Lowe??

Something most don't know. Barney Rubble.

[SLlDlNG SIDEWAYS]

GM, Chrysler, Ford and a few other were the first.

[lurker]

Nathan, add these to your list.

Howe
Bopp
Jig-a-lo
Southwest Speed
Tri-City Buggy
Larry Phillips Race Cars

All from the late 70’s early 80’s and all made dirt cars at that timeframe.

[lurker]

American Made Racecars - 1989 I think.

That is if we are taking about the same one (Joplin Mo.) brothers Denny and Danny Felker. Dad had a salvage yard. Denny was working for Larry Phillips in 1988 and Danny started building chassis in 1989 if my memory is correct.

[lurker]

GM, Chrysler, Ford and a few other were the first.

Mopar did have Volare full tube frame kit car specifically for oval racing in the late 70’s.

[lurker]

Add -

Black Diamond
Capitol

[lurker]

Longhorn Chassis - 2010

[lurker]

Add-

Larry Shaw Racecars
GRT

[SLlDlNG SIDEWAYS]

https://www.motortrend.com/features/remembering-good-old-days-racing/

[Highside Hustler25]

Black Diamond around 2013

Capitol 2011

Dominator 2018

[Henry Every]

Barry Wright, est. 1977

[Henry Every]

CJ Rayburn was 1977

[Henry Every]

Custom Chassis (Frank McClendon was early 80's)

[zyoung25]

https://www.dirtfans.com/JonOsman.html

The story on the first Rayburn car ever built is at the bottom. Jon is a personal friend of mine.

[Morgs153]

Right around 1980 there were still guys running chassis brands that were also selling to asphalt racers. There was still just a little crossover going on but that was pretty much gone by 1982 and the specialized divergent pathways were shaping up.

Howe was a very big seller both ways. Ray Dillon built the Tri City Aluminum cars that were run by Buck Simmons and Larry Moore besides a whole slug of asphalt cars (many in ASA). Mike Randerson had success with his Randercar chassis with Pete Parker. Dennis Frings was a low volume but very meticulous builder of asphalt, dirt, and even Trans Am type cars back then. Bill Beminster had the BEMCO brand cars. Boyce Trackburner Chassis was popular in the Illinois region on both surfaces as well.

Around that time as well, WRC by Rodney Combs.

[dirtcrazy4u]

Martz chassis out of bedford, pa. Zemakis, east coast builder. I no I have that name wrong hopefully someone can correct.

This exact reason is why I give a tip of the hat to that little shop up on the hill in W.V. The guy keeps putting out cars year after year. He has definitely been doing it longer than anyone.

[dirtybird73]

A few more to add to the list:

Buschwacker/Walter Newman
Trak-Star(2006)
Swartz(1987)
Stinger
Club 29
Warrior(1984)
Victory Circle(2005)
TNT
BMF(2022)
Bernheisel(1978)/Lazer(1988)
Punisher(2018)
28Special
Double Nickel(2022)
Killer Chassis(2011)
Scorpion

[EvelB7]

Midwest had Ed Sanger in the 70's; also (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word) Schiltz (father of Dirtwrap owner Jimmy Schiltz) built chassis as well. 80's had Zip Lekander building Zippo Chassis (Johnny Johnson set fast time in Florida with one).

[ride height]

Wasn’t there a Jig-A-Lo chassis ? I want to say in the 70’s.

[84wedge]

Early 80s Jr. Hanley was making them as well.

[over4T]

Casey's Auto Salvage, in Iowa, built some pretty nice cars in late '90s-early 2000s.

[PAR]

Add:

Roughrider out of Southern Ohio, if memory serves, believe the Cline family??
FAST by Jeff Treece, late 90's early 2000's. The one I had was around a 2001
Port City Race Cars was doing a dirt version of their chassis in the 80's, and early 90's. Pretty certain none ever went out of the state of Michigan. My dad drove them, and I took one to rookie of the year at my home track in 1993.

[zyoung25]

Cheetah Race Cars.

MB_Racer might be able to give the story on those. I think they got tangled up in a lawsuit with one of other chassis manufacturers. I was too young to remember what the rise and fall of those were.

[HoosierDirtFan]

Original post has been updated.

[bleedblue55]

Rocket Chassis was started in 1986

[LugNutz]

Gary Oliver Tri-City Buggy

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

Cheetah Race Cars.

MB_Racer might be able to give the story on those. I think they got tangled up in a lawsuit with one of other chassis manufacturers. I was too young to remember what the rise and fall of those were.

I don't really know a lot about that deal. They tried to get me in one, but I bought the proprietor's mastersbilt instead. They started out buying unfinished chassis from Rayburn. I'm assuming that arrangement went south.

[Morgs153]

MB Customs came out in 2008

[foxfire2dirtracing]

Still hoping someone will post who the very first custom ( non-factory) Chasis builder was?

[TowerView]

Tucker 1980/81 started

[Henry Every]

Still hoping someone will post who the very first custom ( non-factory) Chasis builder was? When you say "custom", do you mean just a modified frame or a full tube chassis? I think either Ed Howe or Rayburn were the first full tube, but I'm not sure. Jig-A-Lo by Jimmy Thomas was pretty early with his chassis, 76 or 77.

[KTMLew]

When you say "custom", do you mean just a modified frame or a full tube chassis? I think either Ed Howe or Rayburn were the first full tube, but I'm not sure. Jig-A-Lo by Jimmy Thomas was pretty early with his chassis, 76 or 77.

Believe both Rayburn and Howe were building Asphalt chassis first and don't believe Howe ever built a dirt specific chassis. The OG Howe were designated as X-design. 1/2/3 were cages built on Chevelle stock frame. 4th design was what is now basically a mod chassis but used Camaro front stub. 5th was optional fabbed/Camaro front clip. 6th was 100% fabbed. Last one i am aware of, that followed that path, was 6th design. Once Rodney Combs moved South, taking Mark Richards with him, WRC was the "dirt division". And I haunted the WRC shop a ton back then.

[foxfire2dirtracing]

I was referring to full tube frames. I am thinking I was told a few years ago is was Boscoe/Roscoe Lowe or could have been Smith. I just remember it wasn’t Rayburn, Ed Howe, Jig a low or those names more recognizable. I have slept a few nights since I asked him. He’s 87 and in the Hall of Fame at Florence- but I am really curious as to the correct answer.

[Morgs153]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1112656272094601/

The link is for the old Bemco Engineering Chassis of Wausau WI. If you check it out there's a lot of great photos of old late models. Now there were a lot of asphalt customers for BEMCO for sure but there were also many dirt late models built by them back in the 70s and there's some photos of them in the link (Pete Parker, Tom Steuding, Darrell Dake, Roger Regeth and others). I know BEMCO was building a full fab tube chassis (not based on a stock stub) back in the early to mid 70s when Ed Howe was still building off a reworked stock stub.

[KTMLew]

If this link works some info about Howe from around 1977-80.

https://public.fotki.com/outlaw-ford/howe-racing-enterprises/howe-2nd-design.html#media

[KTMLew]

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/racingjunkgallery.internetbrands.com-gallery_site/600x337_85-1/phpbngv5z_8aefc09e9ab0e60575dee987fae3c95ec1295101 .jpeg

Wild looking "J-bar".

[KTMLew]

https://www.speednik.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/tech-the-air-force-2018-04-02_16-36-42_868275.jpg

[KTMLew]

https://www.dirtfans.com/RodneyCombs.html

[fastford]

to post 27 , the jig-a-lo chassis was built by the thomas clan out of phenix city alabama , it was basically a copy of howe,s stuff . During that era , there was only a few innovators and not many rules , so these innovators made big changes to there stuff and could a lot easier than today , stumble onto speed , then every one that wanted to build there own chassis just copied them , cars are so similar today , there's not much left to innovate ......

[KTMLew]

to post 27 , the jig-a-lo chassis was built by the thomas clan out of phenix city alabama , it was basically a copy of howe,s stuff . During that era , there was only a few innovators and not many rules , so these innovators made big changes to there stuff and could a lot easier than today , stumble onto speed , then every one that wanted to build there own chassis just copied them , cars are so similar today , there's not much left to innovate ......

To add, Howe had no problem building partial chassis either. Get it without suspension mounting points and do your own thing. Kinda like Bullit did for Mark Richards. I don't know if the Bullit/Rocket stuff was a "complete" chassis or not? Did Mark finish any of the suspension mounts? I had opened my own automotive shop in 1983 and wasn't as involved for 4-5 years.

[foxfire2dirtracing]

Just talked with my Hall of Fame friend: he thinks Clint Smith’s dad might have been one of the first chassis guys??
Anyone else have an idea?

[PAR]

Looking at that Rodney Combs Dirt Fans 101 link reminded me of another one. James Ince dabbled in the DLM chassis business as well, early 2000's.

[KTMLew]

Looking at that Rodney Combs Dirt Fans 101 link reminded me of another one. James Ince dabbled in the DLM chassis business as well, early 2000's.

I know I tend to semi-hijack things but I take info from whatever I see. So I post links to stuff that MIGHT inform someone. May not be 100% on topic but somewhat relevant. Maybe?

[PAR]

For sure KTMLew. This thread is a lot of fun for me. I worked for AFCO Racing from 1996 thru 2010 and encountered many upstart builders along the way trying to break in. Bringing back a lot of memories. I'm sure, dependent on how long this thread lasts, more will come to mind.

And one just did..lol. Lou Fegers Racing built dirt late models, and was a player in Wissota land during that era. Not certain if they are still building chassis or not.

[Jim11h]

Boss chassis late 90s early 2000s.
Proven chassis outta Michigan
There's another one in Ohio currently running outta Zanesville area I believe. He shows up at Attica couple times year

[PAR]

Flinstone Flyer by Mike Duvall
MRE Chassis

[KTMLew]

Boss chassis late 90s early 2000s.
Proven chassis outta Michigan
There's another one in Ohio currently running outta Zanesville area I believe. He shows up at Attica couple times year

Guy from Zanesville had a YouTube Channel and was showing his chassis construction. Channel went dark during Covid. From what I've heard just got too busy with life to mess with the YT stuff. Can't remember name of channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygfRPWF6nH4

[Jim11h]

Toma is Boss I first mentioned. Cool video, thanks.

There's another one though running around, punisher maybe? Thought was Zanesville/ midway area but could be wrong

[jcotton02]

Rocket Chassis started in 1991. Mark Richards Racing Ent. started in 1886 doing Bullitt cars.

[KTMLew]

Rocket Chassis started in 1991. Mark Richards Racing Ent. started in 1886 doing Bullitt cars.

Seems Mark is even older than I thought.

[foxfire2dirtracing]

Still hoping someone knows te “very first” tubular Chasis builder ????

[Highside Hustler25]

^
That's what I thought this thread was about but it has gotten a little out of hand.

[Morgs153]

https://www.facebook.com/people/Dennis-Frings-Race-Cars/100069075159050/

Here's another page to look at for some info. Dennis Frings was a low volume but very particular builder of asphalt and dirt cars in the 70s and 80s (along with Trans Am cars). He maintains a Facebook page with some history of his cars and his commentary. He was building full tube cars in the mid 70s and building coil over cars before most everyone as well. In the photos on this site link you'll see that he built a dirt late model for Delmas Conley in the late 70s.

The car that Dennis Frings built for Delmas Conley was the fast qualifier for the 1976 World 100 out of 134 cars by the way.

[TNDirt]

Sniper came out around 2021

[over4T]

Dennis Frings should be in every Hall of Fame relating to motorsports. The beast he built for the great Larry Detjens in the '70s alone should qualify him. Larry won some 26 races in the first couple of months with it , from the very tough Wisconsin tracks to California where I got to see it. Dennis built LeMans cars, dirt cars, asphalt cars and everyone was a winner. Awesome and innovative builder.

[dirtybird73]

Revelution Chassis(2011)
Viking Chassis(2014?)

[fastford]

^
That's what I thought this thread was about but it has gotten a little out of hand.

there is no one alive that can answer fox,s question , you would have to go back to the first automobiles that raced , which was on dirt , and figure out who put the first roll cage in one , thats where it has all evolved from , call it a late model or what ever .....