I'd like to share a story of one of the great icons of open wheel racing, considered by many to be his finest hour.
In 1979, the track known as the Steel Palace - Oswego Speedway in Oswego, NY - was in one of its golden eras. Competition and innovation ran rampant, and no man more symbolized both spirits than Mr. Supermodified, Jim Shampine.
Jim Shampine was the man behind the offset roadster, the first to put the engine far outside the framerails for maximum offset and maximum cornering. It was in 1976, with this car that rewrote the rulebook for how supermodifieds would be built, that The Pine set record after record, including the unmatched feat of ELEVEN feature wins in a row in 1978.
For 1979, though, Shampine would debut a car so radical that it practically made every supermodified built to that point, even the previously built rear-engine cars, obsolete. Others, most notably Todd Gibson and Bill Hite, had experimented with the rear engine layout so popular at Indy, but it never quite worked on the short tracks.
But Shampine saw the potential and combined the rear engine layout with his radical offset ideas, and created a car he dubbed "The Green Machine".
It broke Oswego's record, it won straight out of the box, and - with Warren Coniam driving as Shampine felt more comfortable with his "traditional" car - came within 15 laps of winning the Oswego Classic 200, the most prestigious race in all of supermodified racing.
Faced with the unstoppable Green Machine, and the fact that Shampine's offset roadster was already responsible for obsoleting the 1976 garage, causing the majority of car builders to invest heavily in new chassis to match that machine, Oswego - and supermodified racing in general - decided to ban rear engine cars to protect the existing fields.
Shampine was infuriated. He sat out the majority of 1980 in protest of what he felt was an unfair rule change, choosing to run with the then-new World of Outlaws sprint car series. But when Labor Day weekend rolled around, The Steel Palace called to him. It was Oswego Classic time, and Jim Shampine and the radical offset roadster answered.
His trusty 1976 creation, the 8-ball, the radical-offset roadster that shaped all of supermodified racing, was unbeatable. In a display of driving skill and automotive supremacy never repeated, never even imitated, Jim Shampine and the 8-ball led ALL 200LAPS of the 1980 Oswego Classic, a triumph that vindicated Shampine as a builder, a driver, and as wearer of the title Mr. Supermodified.
He said simply in victory lane "This is my happiest win. Ever."
Two years later, in a modified crash the night before the Classic, Jim Shampine lost his life. He will forever be remembered as supermodified racing's patron saint. A man of immeasurable talent, skill, and craftsmanship who employed all to win.
Today, Jim Shampine's spirit lives on whenever the offset outlaws take to the pavement. Whether wingless at Oswego, winged in the Midwest Supermodified Association or International Super Modified Association, or by the wholly unique west coast rules of the Western States Supermodified League, each one of the world's fastest short track cars wears the stamp of The Pine.
At Oswego Speedway, the Jim Shampine Memorial has risen to prominence as one of the holy grail races for a wingless supermodified driver to win, and the town of Oswego, NY celebrated the man by naming the road leading to the track Jim Shampine Drive.
In 1979-1980, it was one man, two cars, and 200laps that shaped the future of supermodified racing. Truly, Jim Shampine's win in the 1980 Oswego Classic is one of the Greatest Moments in American Motorsports.
http://www.syracusehalloffame.com/pages/inductees/1992/jim_shampine.html
