Alky. Not sure how traditional it is. I'm sure some of the guys were using it then Not sure why someone said gas runs cooler. Alky by nature is colder when it is sparyed. Don't believe me? look at an injection hat or hilborn stack on an alky car and you will see frost on them at times. We have seen a 20-25 degree drop in operating temps on alky as apposed to gas. Besides, it smell good when it is burned!
I think that bean mentioned that the 10 second and faster cars run on methanol (alcohol), now I am making an assumption that no one is running ethanol which is low grade in the world of alcohol. I got a ride in a nine second car, a gasser, when I was in high school, and it ran on gas. That was what the rules stated back then. It didn't make a 9 second pass with me driving it. But the fella that raced the car took me for a 9 second ride just so I could see what it was like. This was prior to computers. So yes 9 second gas passes are more than possible. T-man mentioned E-85 which I think is interesting. NASCAR which is little more than a flying circus these days is using ethanol. I think that if one of us showed up at an NHRA event in a gas class car with E-85 we would probably have to drain our tank and pass tech again. Maybe not, I do know that they actually check your alcohol when you race and there is a specific blend of alcohol that you are required to run. it stands to reason with E-85 available at the pump that they will probably be checking gas as well. No one has yet mentioned match races. Back in the day it is said that the match bash racers ran on alcohol. Which may very well be true. The cars they were racing were considered to be "gassers" and when they were class racing they ran on gas and they were "gassers". Match racing was window dressing for lack of a better term. The cars were normally paid to show up and they were there to draw a crowd. There were big rivalries as well as big sponsors (like cam shaft companies). One may even call a match race a grudge race. Match racing is not class racing. There is a score to settle and whatever it takes. There is no real prize other than bragging rites and pleasing the crowd. No different than bringing in a wheel stander in, or maybe better said not much better than bringing a wheel stander in. I think that if one is going to be running "gasser" races with some running on alcohol there should be a distinction made. A gas class and a fuel class in "gasser styled" cars. If the modern racer cannot get a car into the 10s on gas then there must be an awful lot lost to today's tunners. The old fellas did it in their garage without dynos, they maybe had a sun bench. Edit damn it: Larry mentioned match race cars while I was typing. Alchol runs cooler than gasoline. Even when you run it through a carb. It just burns cooler. One old trick that the blower guys used to do was spray their fuel charge with alcohol. it did two things it cooled the fuel charge on the way in and I effectivly cooled the combustion chamber. Some fellas mistakenly believed it was to boost octain but it was actually used as a coolant.
Prior to funny cars which became the demise to gassers they ran on gas and were a draw to the ticket gates because they were cars that the general public could identify with. Early on the class was called gas coupe/sedan. It was a step up from stock class. You were allowed to set the engine back and run whatever engine/transmission combo you wanted. Minor suspension upgrades were allowed etc. They were actually a street legal class. They ran on gas because that it what Joe Public ran in their car. It eventually became a pro class and more modifications were allowed but it was still a gas class, at least in the NHRA it was a gas class and was accepted as a gas class by most sanctioning bodies. Some sanctioning bodies from what I have been told eventually allowed alcohol. The NHRA never made it a fuel class. Perhaps the modern day equivalent to what we know as a gasser is pro-mod. I believe it is a gas class but I can't really say that it is. Maybe one of the still active NHRA racers can step up on that one.
or someone who likes to google...from the wikipedia entry for Pro Modified: "Both nitrous and turbocharged cars use high octane racing gasoline as fuel while supercharged cars use methanol as a fuel."
I guess it depends on what era and if you are talking class legal. Yea, if you were running NHRA class it was ONE of the points, but no where near the whole point. And as far as gas and fast cars go, gasoline is ONE of the rules of modern day Pro Stock. Although Warren Johnson got his wrist slapped at a fuel check once and was heard to say sarcastically "I guess they want us to run it the way it comes out of the can." I think Glidden was pretty creative too. Most Comp Eliminator classes are restricted to gas too. I've got a buddy who runs a 4.70 (1/8) doorslammer on racing gas. Larry T
I think that bean mentioned that the 10 second and faster cars run on methanol (alcohol), now I am making an assumption that no one is running ethanol which is low grade in the world of alcohol. I got a ride in a nine second car, a gasser, when I was in high school, and it ran on gas. That was what the rules stated back then. It didn't make a 9 second pass with me driving it. But the fella that raced the car took me for a 9 second ride just so I could see what it was like. This was prior to computers. So yes 9 second gas passes are more than possible. ---gas car can run with the alcohol cars it is just that alcohol runs much cooler...especially in blown cars like mine and that's a big deal. My car is actually set up to run pump gas on low boost(6.8:1 static compression) but I converted to alcohol because the car was running too hot for my taste. 230+ at shutdown and then I would need to be towed back to the pits. Now my car runs about 50 degrees cooler and I just drive it to the line and back to the pits. Another HUGE advantage is the cool "charge" alcohol provides. This is so important on the blown cars because they are already making so much heat when you start to really spool the blower. When I get back to the pits my blower is frosted up like as if it had been packed in ice.
Larry T, a well known Fuel funnycar racer friend of mine told Warren Johnson once as Warren didn't care for funnycars, "I've jumped out of burning funnycars going faster than your car will run"
Recently, I have been wondering if it was possible for this place to get any dumber. That question has just been answered...
The question is not what the cars ran in gas class, we know it was gas. This is a traditional hotrod site. I mean my goodness you can't run that oil pressure guage, it's too new, or Those front wheels came out in 66 not 64. Why is the practice of running alky in a gasser race car ok here? I've heard people pick on people for the damndest things here but no one has said anything about this. This is the question I have been asked and I don't know. Falcon George are you serious? Lippy
Pretty simple answer to the gas in gasser question. Yes, if you were running in the Gas Coupe Sedan class at a NHRA sanctioned event you had to run gas up until the class was dropped. Now to prove you can find the "facts" to back up just about any claim about any subject. "Tom Prock and Jay Howell campaigned the F Troop in 1968 and 1969 in an outlaw AA gas circuit formed by the Hill brothers, along with Jim Shores and Chuck Finders. These 99” wheel based “gassers” ran in the mid to low eight second range on as much as seventy five percent nitromethane." Just pick a side and argue until you're blue in the face. BTW, I'm on the side of the class legal gassers definition (at least for today) with black and white rules.
The passion nostalgia racers have is what fuel these cars and not the type of fuel they put in there tanks. Drag racers are crazed by nature but nostalgia drag racers play by a whole different set of rules. The fuel we run may have changed through the years but that lust for speed and danger is still there. I don't care if you're running karo syrup in your gasser just line that fucker up! Viva la Gas House Gang!
Not gonna do it. I've also been thinking about building a gasser with, and get this, no straight axle, and not raising the front end.
We may just be getting old guys. Seems anything goes anymore. I still miss when gassers ran gas and men steered wooden ships. LOL.
You don't know your ass. But that's ok...right now your surrounded by a lot of other folks that don't know any better either.Dragstrip is a different story. Bring your junk, run your car then you can run your mouth. That's how it's done.
You're funny, but it seems that you are the one that does not know their ass. Look in the rules for the Gas class's and you'll see that very first thing is... "Must run service station pump gasoline" Here are the 56 gas rules if you like... http://www.thehemi.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3968 That's how it's done. You can try to rewrite history but it just doesn't work. Maybe learn a little before running your mouth.
And most of the guys bitchslapping you on here HAVE done some drag racing. Some of us have even run tens without alky. Some of us have done it on pump gas... What a complete crock of shit this thread really is. You guys should be embarrassed. REALLY. I am dead-serious.
Lippy, just to confuse this issue even more.... I custom blend a racing E85 for a guy who runs a class that has to use gas. Can't run methanol, but can run an ethanol blend. E85 is classified as gas. He also does not have to have all the safety equipment we run in the alky cars. But to answer your question, methanol.
I am truly sorry for the turn this thread has taken. I started the thread, I'll take the lashings. Lippy