Race Car Of The Day: March 23, 2012

Today's car of the day is Johnny Lightning's 2011 Dirt Modified (Tim Gilson).

Modified stock car racing, also known as Modified racing or simply Modified, is one of the oldest types of racing in the United States, dating back to the days of the post-World War II coupes. The name for modified racing cars come from the fact that they are not stock but, rather, modified passenger cars. This differentiated them from Stock cars, that were based on production vehicles, in the early history of NASCAR. There are as many different sanctioning bodies for modifieds with each sanctioning body having different body styles and engine sizes.

For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Modified stock car racing

This is an accurate model of a real race car.  Looks very good to me!  I think this casting was formely part of the Ertl Nutmeg Collectibles line.

Modified racing began as race drivers modified their cars to gain a competitive advantage over their fellow competitors. What started out as minor modifications to the cars has now grown to the point that some modified classes are no longer based on any current production vehicles. NASCAR was instrumental in modified racing's beginnings. Some of NASCAR's pioneers were veteran modified racers long before NASCAR's inception in 1949. As time progressed, modifieds grew away from "Strictly Stock" or "Stock Cars", and became akin to both stock cars, and open-wheel cars. Today's SuperModifieds have more in common with Indy cars than they do stock cars.