Root, Keep an eye out for a Texas chapter I keep hearing about.Supposedly a few cars are being built right now.I know of one 56 Chevy that's gonna be baaaaaaaad! Scott Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I would like to build one also...but the 4 gear is not in the budget for now. My plan is to build it with a auto with hopes that someday the 4 gear will happen. I miss rowing a 4 gear.
You are correct on the blowers being ok, but, they ran in their own respective classes against each other, i.e A/GS, B/GS...etc. So, if you can get a group of guys to build those cars to Quain's and the SEG standards maybe they will start a class for you to run in. Also, automatics had their own classes as well, until `59 I think.
Quick, I was doing the cross ram thing and then saw that Bill Thomas out in CA was putting two air meters on top of a 64 corvette fuelie doghouse. The corvette f.i. would handle about 600 cfm, he said... so 2 was 1200, enough for some serious hp. The f.i.pump wasn't quite up to it for drag racing but Bill was a road racer. So, I got a couple of pop top vette f.i.s and decided that 2x409 AFBs would get the job done. When I told Jack Muldowney about it (the mechanic at Northeast Speed in east Schenectady), he said a guy named Ralph Ridgeway from CT had already done it. What he didn't tell me was that Ralph had spanked his wife Shirley's vette with his homebrew tunnel ram. I was really sure I was onto something, but a robbery at the speed shop cleaned me out of M/T aluminum rods, heads, cam etc., so my dragrace build came to a stop. Then, the Vietnam war was going... so I stopped, 16 credit hours worth of liberal arts crap I had been putting off, short of my degree in physics. The M60 I'm using in my avitar was at a machine gun shoot I sponsored in Vermont in the '90s, when I was a 7FFL with a II tax stamp - machine gun manufacturer. Google Knob Creek, too. But all the really strong Gassers I knew about used mechanical F.I. A few of the GS cars had carbs on the blower, though. And GAS was GAS from the Sunoco 270 blend pump tank, or the airport. (grin) I already mentioned that the avgas would destroy non sodium-cooled exhaust valves in a short time, maybe a dozen 'races'. Street racing is illegal, especially on Rt5 between Albany, NY and Schenectady and I deny having ever participated in any illegal activities.
You're right, 68 was a bad year for heads up racing because the future - christmas tree handicap racing - was arriving at the NHRA. I was at a big party overseas, known as the TET offensive and missed all of this transition. Quain Stott says his pick of the year 1967 was designed to showcase what a lot of us thought was the pinnacle of real heads-up drag racing. What followed was technology - auto trannys became unbeatable in the classes they ran, which killed the starting line excitement of 4 speed cars wheelstanding unpredictably off the line. It sorta became like fishing in a stocked pond vs a wild river.
oj, I did the 360 sprint car thing in the late 90s. You're right, engines ran with frost on the intake, even on a hot night. Engines love meth and it has 150+ octane. Had to add Marvel mystery oil to it so that if there was a fire during daylight, you could see some orange in the flames. At night, the crashes could have those scary blue, dart everywhere flames. And because of the popularity of the World of Outlaws and other sprint car groups, alky injection for SBC was highly developed. Gas runs hot, have to watch out for spark timing and mechanically a lot of stuff is different. Quain Stott's absolute requirement of GASOLINE for GASSERS will hopefully lead to lots of new developments in gasoline fuel injection. One of the Southeast Gassers sponsors is Alky Digger, an F.I. engineering shop in Nashville.
Root, there's a group in the Republic of Texas that calls itself Southeast Gassers Texas Style. They have a facebook page I think - I don't do suckerburg's basebook, try looking it up. My wife has basebook and says she saw that they were going to have girls driving, though.
I think Gene was one of the last winners in the gasser wars to actually run a 4 speed! He's listed at the top of his class, but almost everybody else on the list is running automatics by then. He had to switch to keep up. If you read Quain Stott's rule book, you'll see Quain is adamant about NOT letting transmission technology force the 4 speeds into obsolescence... along with tubular chassis, coilovers, 4-link, etc., etc. Preserving the history of Gassers at the peak of their game is the whole idea. The crowds prove it!
Salt, you and I have seen a lot of each other for the last half year that I've been a member here -started for me following the Southeast Gassers. You know, it would be great if you could swap your way into a 4 speed setup.......... That way, you could run (sorta gently) with the club. Make whatever races you could. The fans love all the true Gassers! I bet there are members of the Southeast Gassers who would get a bundle of parts for you to run, just so you could run with them! Quain Stott, the busiest race promoter in America, does tons of help for folks wanting to come race with the Southeast Gassers.
Just got an email from Quain Stott - at 4:30AM...! Does he ever sleep? Hard to realize how much time and planning goes into running the Southeast Gassers!
WiilyB .I have never seen anybody answer their own posts as much as you do. You should run for an office somewhere. Maybe Quain has a spot for you on the Southeast Gasser board if there is one.
well, to the average guy, its to pricey to play by your rules, wheels up every launch, I honestly know quite a few folks with 50's-60's period correct race cars, I dont think any of them can afford a jerico. I think its neat to watch, but definitely out of mine and my 49 fords reach to play with those rules, we are on a B&W super T-10 trans budget. I think the Dirty South Gassers will let me play with all my period correct goodies w/o having to trash my budget to do so. Like everybody else, I do enjoy watching those that have deep pockets bring em up, but cant treat mine like that.
I was told to stop highjacking other people's threads by Quain. Guess the Gasser crowd doesn't write much.. or perhaps they have been told to put me on 'ignore'.
Looks like the deep state is getting a war going in the ME. Is there room in the Republic of Texas for an old guy with some need-to-be restored old vettes?
Chris, Sam Woodard is working on getting a group together. There are about 6 guys working on cars now. Only Sam will probably be ready this season. I am even considering going that route.
I quit NHRA the day they handicapped a Shelby Mustang over my Camaro in '67, running B stock class. Shelby was automatic, Camaro was four speed. They did so saying then national record was quicker in stick class, there for to make things fair and even the handicap. Bullshit, run what ya brung and quit trying to give everyone a trophy because you showed up for the game. If you can't run with the big dogs, get off the porch. Never went back and never supported them again and I won't to this day.
I think if you'll do some research you will find that a lot of the Southeast Gassers are not guys with deep pockets. Many are everyday guys like you and me on budgets. Look up Skull Garage as an example. They are building stuff in the dirt outside. Last weekends D/Gas winner was a young guy and his Dad team. Not arguing that some have expensive parts but I don't think they are necessary.
Sam, Hooley Huffman, David Tanner ( Joplin ) Herb ? ( Too Fat To Fly ) and a couple of other OKC guys that I can't remember now.
There's a real mean 56 Chevy going together in Texas right now too...looks like you guys are gonna have a blast! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hmm, interesting. So, you think handicap racing killed NHRA? There's plenty of heads - up racing still. You can go to The U S Nationals and run heads up in A/Stock, A/Stock Automatic, B/Stock , B/SA and run with the big dogs. Then , just go home Thursday night, instead of the eliminator. Lots of guys just run the Hemi Challenge class run offs (SS/AH) .
For those with finished cars that they're already enjoying, it might not make sense to change direction with the car to make it fit SEG rules. But if you want to build a car and go racing, it may be one of the cheaper ways to do it if you try. You may not win every race, or any, but just getting out there and putting on a show is the main thing. I've got a sparse budget for my falcon to run D/Gas, and so far it's looking doable. To me, at least half the fun of building this old stuff is scrounging for parts, making deals and making new friends. The wheelie rule is for cars that go 6.50 or faster to wheelie 1 foot at launch to make it a good show for the fans. For cars running that kind of ET, thats really not asking for too much. Folks in the stands can go watch footbrake or transbrake automatics anywhere anytime. They come see the SEG for the hard launches, gear shifting, the magnificent noise and for what I imagine is the most authentic 1967 heads up racing experience.
You might be ok on the tires and MkV block. "If you are not going to radius the quarter, the tire can not be more than 1/2” from the quarter panel. Do not want to have the Pro-Street look! " - SEG A/Gas rule book. Rules also say small and big block chevy blocks must be the "old style". No guarantees here, but I have a hunch its talking about no LS style stuff. The MkV is still a traditional style BBC right (I'm not a chevy guy)? For the coil overs, you can run a coil spring, and aluminum bodied adjustable shocks are allowed....just not in a coil over configuration. If you're serious about it, talk to Quain and don't rule stuff out on your own interpretation.
The best advice to all that are considering competing in the Southest Gassers is to talk to Quain. He is very accessible,and he will inform you about all that matters. Snowman
I will SECOND this, as I too, a "nobody" up in the PNW, who has a HUGE interest in the Gasser Wars had some questions and decided to message Quain, and told him to get back to me at his leisure when he had a chance. Not only did he respond whitin an hour or so, he answered every question with ease of understanding and in lay-mans terms. I don't know him personally obviously, but have a huge respect for him and what he is doing and the strict rules he is holding everyone up to (with acceptable exceptions to the guys grandfathered in). I am so hoping that the PNW (Washington, Oregon, Idaho) area follows his lead eventually.
Our country has seen so many 'everybody wins' level(ed) playing fields, especially in the public schools, that the idea of starting off together and first man to the finish wins is totally foreign. That's not fair, he has more/bigger tires, transmission, engine, etc.... isn't what it was in the day. You line up, you run and you take the outcome. You won't win every time! Several dozen cars take time and get into the tree for both A/Gas and C/Gas, with almost as many cars in D/Gas at a Southeast Gassers race. Guess what? Over a half a hundred cars...... Three winners! The racers and the fans love it!
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