Not starting a debate because I've read so many arguments about what a Gasser is here, but my car is a straight axle car, and I never call it a Gasser. I'm about to start lettering my car and my question is this, if the class was determined by the weight of the car vs the cubic inches of the engine, was it the factory weight of the car at production? Or did they weigh the car in race form? My car weighed around 3600lbs when it was built, and with a 283 that puts it in D gas, if I go by the actual weight of the car at 2600lbs, it puts it in C gas. So how was it?
The class determines the weight A is so many pounds per cubic inch, B is so many pounds per cubic inches, C is so many etc. etc..
Gas class cars were weighed at the track and weight VS Cubic inches determined the class. Gas class meant that you had a non stock for that model engine in the car. it all meant that it was a stock bodied car with fenders. No chop, channel or section. The 52 Ford Vicky hardtop with the 56 Thunderbird Special 312 in it with a 3 speed overdrive that was lowered to the nuts all the way around held the C/Cas track record at Ellensberg Wa in the mid 50's before my step father traded for it. Positively not 95 percent of the Hamber's under 65 years old Idea of a gasser. The jacked up and tube axle stuff didn't come until Ramcharger ran High and Mighty at the track and then guys all over the country started jacking the front ends of their cars. The gasser look is far more of a late 60's mid 70's OT thing with the straight axle setup. As far as gas class goes a guy I sometimes ran around with in the 60's pulled a 389 Pontiac out of totaled early 60's car and stuck the engine and trans in his 55 Chevy that had a rod out in the 235. 300 dollar car and I don't remember what the engine and trans cost but 3/400 sounds close as he got a buddy deal at the wrecking yard. The car terrorized the local 327 brigade but when he took it to Madras To race on the track they stuck him in gas class with real gas cars that were running on the record and he got his doors blown off. Just like showing up at the track with your stock car and getting stuck in a stock class and having to run a national record holder who was two seconds faster than you the cars he ran against were two or more seconds faster in the quarter than he was. The car was a great street sleeper that ate a lot of what the owners thought were fast cars on the street but was way off the record at the drags. He went in the service and sold the car and it left the area after that.
That's requires a long answer as it always evolved. In the beginning it was weight vs cubic in. Your era I believe fell under cubic in vs the cars et.
Pick a year, read the damn rule book yourself https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2006u57wp7sqpxt/AAC9WnRAsXqmyEgvaR8KYSowa
Lloyd, since hamb member Quain Stott started the Southeast Gassers, he has a rule book, check it out, it may answer your questions. HRP SEGA RULES
I was guessing that it was production weight, and then everybody tried to lighten the car as much as possible. Appreciate the info...
Thanks Danny, I'm not trying to compete in any group, just painting my car to look the part of the 60's. I'm gonna run the Straight Axle Mafia race here at my local track in October, but they don't have the same rules as SEGA.
Stock class was shipping weight divided by advertised horsepower, Gas class and all other competition classes were actual car weight, without driver, divided by cubic inches, in the 70's they started weighing with the driver. For instance, when the change was made, a car that ran at 7 lbs per inch, changed to 7.5 lbs per inch. This from the 64 rulebook.
In the very beginning it was Gas Coupe Class (later slang Gasser) factory production cars lightened for advantage. But quickly the rule breakers caused the rules to be changed as always.
That may have depended on if the track had a decent scales or not. Stock classes went by advertised shipping weight vs cubic inches. Gas class went by scale weight vs cubic inches. Every track I went to back in the 60's and 70's had a scale or scale setup at tech. I'd say that in the 60's more guys got a moment of awakening when they took their engine swapped car to the drags and got stuck in gas class against actually built to race in gas class cars. That is what happened to my friend. He drove his Chevy the 180 miles to Madras that morning and went through Tech and first thing he was lined up beside a real gas class race car. His times were more in line with what a 64/65 GTO automatic would run.
Take this for instance. I guy could say he had 283 cu in but used 327 cu in. Reason for the et vs weight change.
First time I pulled out the back seat of my 48 Ford coupe found four 50 lb steel ingots hiding under the seat It had an early sbc conversion with a welded up aluminun adapter bell so I'm thinking it might have been an old drag car Maybe the ingots came out right after the car came off the scale
Yeah I found this on the internet and saved it. I just didn't know if they went on production weight.
The car i had? I sold it to a guy from Cincinnati, but I've been told that it was seen up in Indiana, and a buddy sent me a picture of it for sale at the rod run, so I have no clue where it ended up lol. All I have is the El Camino and Ashley's truck now. Next project is gonna be an FED I believe
Different organizations also had different class rules Just make sure it can at least run the numbers that cars of that class actually ran, nothing worse than seeing A/GS on some 20 second turd.
Lloyd paint the car up nice and leave the lettering off. Or leave the lettering off and put...Lettering by Lippy on the tailgate.
Guys also played with weight distribution. Glass parts on front / ballast weight in rear. The Flintstone Flyer Packard was a great example of that. That is also where the down in back stance came about. Pipe bumpers filled with sand or on an early version of Ohio Georges car he casted a spare tire of concrete! Tech was not impressed. lol I would think yours would be close to D/G. But since its just for show who cares. Just have fun! Larry
I'm hoping that once the big block goes in, it'll put down some good passes, but we'll see what happens.
Lion's Dragstrip tech inspection scales 1964 Weigh-in at the Lion’s Dragstrip scales to be classified B/Gas Coupe Class race car. Hello, The evolution of the Gas Coupe and Sedan class was evident in the 1959-62 seasons. The early streel legal moniker was used but putting it lightly, almost none of the cars in 63-65 were street legal. No bumpers, open headers, slicks that stuck out several inches and the lights did not always work. If the rules were strictly in place, those cars would have been in an Altered Coupe/Sedan Class. But for the name sake, it was still Gas Coupes and Sedan classes. But they added in Gas Competition C/S and Gas Coupes/Sedans to the list of 1320 class record books. At the drags, the white shoe polish still said B/Gas and C/Gas. The new listings were to clarify the difference between Gas Coupes/Sedans and the Altered Coupes/Sedans. It made it clearer that if one forgot a bumper or muffler from the Gas Coupe Class, then the designation on the window was B/Altered or C/Altered, not B/Gas or C/Gas. So, the true Competition Coupes of Albertson Oldsmobile + Colburn Glaze coupes got a new listing. As did the Altered Class, examples by Doug Deverich Willys and Ray Callejo Altered Sedan… By 1964, the change had already started. Some stayed as true as possible with all metal Willys bodies, while others went to the lighter weight fiberglass front end Willys coupes. To add confusion to the class lettering, some had A/GS plus A/G class written on the sides. But the tech committee at each dragstrip used their own measurements and rules as per their tech sheets. Despite what was on the actual door panel lettering, what was put on the window of the car was the actual class in white shoe polish for the day. But the rules were just starting to change as the racers made their cars more for competition and never saw daily driving street cruising as the classes were originally constructed. In the late 1960 season, the name change was Gas Coupes and Sedans to the catchy Gas Competition C/S and Gas Coupe/Sedan Classes. Most simple set ups for cars was to put in a SBC and set up a simple stick transmission, trying to use most of the stock stuff to save on money spent. Then, later, the high, money, speed stuff came into play. Simple example: Racers just wanted a 283 SBC in a stock willys: 6 Strombergs / 283 SBC La Salle 3 speed 2500lbs/283 = 9.20 lbs/cubic inch equals B/Gas In our 1940 Willys Coupe the first time we built it with the 283, it fell into B/Gas vs Thompson, Pittman, Hirshfield...etc...that was a depressing outlook... for us newbies... So, our ET and speeds were closer to the racers in C/Gas, so we opted to be the best in that class. (with added weight) Just look at all of the Gas Coupes and Sedans that show lettering and individual header pipes. Those are not the real Gas Coupe and Sedan class, street legal cars. It was the times and modern versions of what a coupe or roadster should look like for them. Lumped into the so called Gas Coupe and Sedan class is not street legal. Just take the hot rod to the DMV for legalities. Street legal had to have headlights/brake lights that worked, wipers and mufflers. Some folks pushed the limits of the said rules, but the tech committee had the last say in class designations. Bumpers were required, but some places allowed no front bumpers. Jnaki As far as the ingots were concerned, out West, people were using steel dumbbell weights in all sorts of methods. But the Lion’s Dragstrip tech committee was strict. We had 1 inch steel plates that covered the whole trunk floor. They came off of some boating construction place near our house/Long Beach Harbor. But, the instructions were, that they had to be an integral part of the body or structure of the whole build. So, no one was allowed loose weights of any kind. They told us to weld in those plates and it would be advantageous as we could place them anywhere, like over the rear axle/tire location. We also placed them on the structure of the floor and welded them in place. Now, the tech committee designated the “welded in place” steel plates as part of the whole structure of the build. Traction + rigidity… With the added weight in place legally, our designation dropped down to C/Gas not, B/Gas with the same 292 c.i. SBC 671 supercharged motor in our Willys Coupe. The added weight made a difference in starting line traction and with the powerful 292 motor, we were .40 sec off of the National Record for the C/Gas class division. By 1964, the change had already started. Some stayed as true as possible with all metal Willys bodies, while others went to the lighter weight fiberglass front end Willys coupes.
Those rule books are awesome. Not sure if those are part of a HAMB archive or sticky, but they should be. I've been looking for that info for awhile. Thanks. I just burnt a whole night reading through the 60's rules (just because).
They were called gassers because they were required to run on gasoline....Actual weight per cubic inch...
The Jalopy Journal
