Event Coverage Gasser Reunion 2013, Changes more Hamb Friendly!

Here is an article recently published in Gasser Magazine. I was recently appointed the Race Director for the magazine and am making changes. I would like to hear your opinions!

 

I like!!

 

Congrats on the new gig! Looks like you are off to a good start.

 

Thanks, I think....

 

I like it, especially the heads up round for the show cars! Afterall, heads up racing is really what they did back in the gasser era!

 

Damn so cool. I like that there is someone involved who is into the driver aspect with the old car type mentality.

 

We want you folks to come to the event and see gassers vs. gassers! Saturday evening will be a blast with the street driven cars going at it!

 

Great idea on the axle centerline rule! Not sure if it could be made to work, but I have thought having a oem cast iron head rule and let them go heads up.Should be entertaining for the fans yet keeping with the nostalgia theme.

 

Congratulations and Best of Luck with the new position.

The cream always rises to the top!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jimbo

 

Congratulations Don....Ernest could not have made a better choice

 

Congratulation Don, I hope you don't get as much grief as I have trying to keep every body straight on the rules. let me know what the rules are some of our gassers might be interested in coming if that's an off weekend for me. The AA/gas deal sounds more like us we don't have blowers but might still run against them if they are period correct. Our height rule is 12' at the door jam but I can raise mine up a little if need be.

 

herb65, while I wish I could make the classes the way they were back in the day with all factory parts, and measure cubic inch and weigh the cars, eliminate certain suspensions, inductions, fuel, etc, but there would be 4 of us racing against each other! Our goal is to get the "look" of the race as close as possible.

 

Thanks Jimbo!

 

Thanks bigbob55!

 

Thanks olskoolspeed!

 

The gasser class will be running an index, which means they will be running heads up too! I totally agree too, it is just bracket racing when the bulbs on the tree are staggered.

 

Quain Stott, thanks, I am sure I will get some grief. I go into this knowing full well some folks are not going to be happy. Bracket racers do not get it, nostalgia is more than just driving an old car. I love the HAMB Drags and the Jalopy Showdown Drags, and it is my goal to make the runion a larger version of these! Put the date on your calendar now! June 7-8-9 at Beaver Springs, PA!

 

Was the "rocker above the center of the front spindle" an N.H.R.A. rule from back then?

 

Atta boy Don.......you certainly are the right guy.....best wishes.

 

No, but tires sucked and back then they raised the front of the car to aid in weight distribution to help with the traction woes. The only rule NHRA had about raising the front end was center line of crankshaft to ground cannot exceed 24 inches, and that rule is still used today.

 

Sorry Don but this is exactly what fries some peoples ass, someone making up rules to what "they" think a Gasser is or should be.

I know a guy with a very cool and "traditional Gasser" Henry J that ran in a Gas class at a particular track for years. Last spring he we all went back to the track only to find out that now he can't run with the Gassers because he has no front "straight axle" per a "new" rule.

I'm not sure he's ever going back.

End ALL beefs.... Go by the N.H.R.A. rule book for the cutoff year plus any current safety rules.

 

Not a fan of the front end height rule myself for obvious reasons. Waiting to see how it's going to play out. I can understand not wanting slammed on the ground cars but there are a lot like mine set up out there that will get pushed aside.

 

Mine too

 

Yep!

Here's a popular one that shows up to most events.

 

For the life of me, I can't remember what nostalgia meet I was at, but they did something very similar with the index and it made for some great racing. The cars were broke down into half second ( i guess that's what you would call it....example 11.00-11.50 was one class 11.51-12.00 was another and so on) classes. They used the pro tree so there was no countdown, just basically stage and go, so it was harder to get a jump. Most of the races were very close, but you couldn't run faster than your index or you lost. Just a thought. Hope to bring my Falcon and race it.

 

There are a lot of gasser classes that have started up with the intentions of bringing back things the way they were in the mid 60s and we all love it. The problem is that the racer back then had a lot of room for innovation and it was happen fast, so to try and make a class to mirror the 60s is a moving target. I know what Don is going to go through because I'm going through it now. It seams every body is mad at me but I've watch most all the other deal that started with good intentions lose touch trying to let everybody run that in the end they turned into just another nostalgic body class(super gas) and the fan stopped coming. Lets support Don he's got a ruff job ahead.

 

Don, first of all its great that you are the "guy" that makes the guidelines that racers are to follow, because you are also a racer. On the other hand there are some great cars that are going to be left out of the show....that sucks. There is no way to please everyone but there has got to be guidelines to follow to make this a functional class. I forsee headachs comming on. You are the perfect guy for the job, your calm, cool and collective with a working knowlage of this class. I'll bring a lagre bottle of bufferen to the next race instead of a 12 pack. Good move
AND tell that ol willys guy above me I want him in the 1st round ^^^^ HeHe

 

Guys, nobody is saying these cars ( all great examples) cannot run at the Gasser Reunion! They will just be in a different class. No difference in purse and no difference in the amount of passes they will get to make.

 

Got a picture of his "traditional Gasser"? The NHRA rule book is designed for safety and very valuable especially with the speeds that modern cars are going today. It is written and upgraded constantly for an ever evolving sport. However, nostalgia is about trying to go back in time and get a glimpse of the way it was. I guess you could say we are splitting the classes at the Reunion. The Gasser class is the antique class, and the Hot Rod class (probably will re-name) is the Modified Gasser class.

 

Micky, got a side shot of your car from back in the day? Would the obvious reasons be safety, stability and speed? I am in the same boat with my current AA/GS build but if I want to run it with an organization or at certain events, I have to make it fit their rules.