In eastern Wisconsin, there was another type of "modified" when I was a kid in the 80s. Kind of a cross between a sprint car and a legends car. A handful of drivers graduated to the IRA sprints from those mods. They ran at Wilmot, Hales Corners, Manitowoc, and other tracks in that area. Ex-HOSS driver Tim Cox raced them for several years before going pavement racing.

In the later years, some of the cars had bodies similar to the eastern big block cars (a smaller version) and they ran with a wing at some tracks. Just an example of how cars can evolve regionally.

Something like these?

Yep. Some had more creative body styles inspired by 50s era cars (ie rear fins on a 57 Chevy). I'm guessing they ran small block Chevy engines, but I'm not sure. They stopped racing at Wilmot in the early to mid 90s. They continued with wings at Manitowoc for awhile longer.

Apologies for bumping an old thread. I arrived back home from my five day Indiana trip today and had time to look up more on the Wisconsin modifieds from my youth.

The group went by the "MRA" (Modified Racing Association)
A few youtube links below from 1986 and 88. VHS quality, but you'll get an idea of what they were like. Some cars had open cages, some had roofs. Different body styles. In a few of the clips, you can see a few cars emulating the flat-panel eastern modified body style. As a support series to the IRA sprints, they were more interesting to watch than today's brand of modifieds found in the midwest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKz0x-XT7q0 (1986)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ9DsidF99Y (1986)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm75L6mUM08 (1986)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ybDfNX0BtU (1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXtI6vwSEqU (1988)

I love those old hotrods!

Actually they run both big & small block divisions with those cars.
Of course your Indiana "mods" are modified.... very few "stock" parts on those race cars at all, right?

This is what they were calling "mods" when I started watching dirt track in the early 60s, true hotrods, home built, very few specialty parts:
https://www.pinterest.com/denniswink...-track-racing/

I was trying to post pictures from 2nd row, first row has a bunch of "super modifieds" more recent...

tried again... oh well