What makes a Gasser a Gasser?

I just shined it up about a week ago.

So the crippled old fart marks are removed, if there were any...

 

There ya go, nothing in black and white to argue about.

 

I don't know that any of the older tracks started out sanctioned. I figure that they must have been sanctioned early one cause there were not a lot of places that one could run nitro during the ban. A non sanctioned track would not have cared I wouldn't think.

There is one reason and one reason only that I use NHRA rules for a guideline, the NHRA for all of its bad or good is pretty much universally accepted as being drag racing. Organization wise they are the oldest existing as far as I am aware.

I am not up on my MOKAN history but my understanding is that it never has been an NHRA Sanctioned track.

The NHRA is not late to the game when it comes to gas class, they pretty much started gas class. The modern heritage or nostalgia classes have to do with selling tickets. They are a little closer to racing than say the old wheelie trucks of the '60s but it is the same idea put on a show for the viewing public and collect gate fees. While it is not my kind of racing (even if it was I could not muster the cash to do it) there really is nothing wrong with it, they are after all in the entertainment business. Like they say, a man gotta eat.

Here I am trying like the devil to leave my mark on the world and people like you just nonchalantly wiping it off.

 

Hey alkycoupe -- two questions just for my own info 1. Does NHRA allow alcohol as fuel in the Heritage Gasser series? 2. Are there any old original "Gasser" running in the series or just modern re-creations?

 

LOVE those staggered louvers.

 

Thanks, man...

 

I believe alcohol is allowed and yes, besides the uber-dollar repops there are real ones running as well.

Here's one example...........

 

todays nhra gassers the resurgence started without them (nhra) popular demand drove them to it---just like they co-opted the famosa reunion----gas coupe and sedan class is a carryover from lakes racing---when i say unsanctioned i mean in the heyday not before that---beaner i see where you were 15 in 1968 that means you were 7 or 8 when feulers took lots of major tracks away from the nhra and their rules--- nhra was a good thing ---ahra was better they just did not have a magazine (hot Rod)

 

Yep, Alky is fine, and yes there are some cars with Gasser history competing witch is pretty cool. The Bizio truck as mentioned and don't forget the "Sark" in Chuck finders built "HELLACIOUS". amonst others.

 

"After all, aren't most of todays Gasser racing events held on N.H.R.A. tracks?"

And this is the major reason there are so few truly authentic HAMB vintage gassers seen at these events. And the few that show are just there for static display or exabition.

 

I was 14 when I started high school. I was born the last year of the epidemic. I had my own street strip car the following year.


I spent every saturday either in the old mans engine/speed shop or at some track somewhere, real drag strip, abandoned air strip, dry lake as far back as I can remember. I never saw a race from the bleachers until about 3 years ago.

I don't recall ever tuning at an AHRA event. I do not doubt that there are better sanctioning bodies than the NHRA or that there have been better sanctioning bodies than the NHRA but the NHRA has staying power, it could have been Mr Parks relationship with the magazine or it could have been just been dumb luck. Trust me I have no love affair with the NHRA but given that, they are still more recognized than any other sanctioning body. They have been and are just marketed better.

 

"Maybe someone should straighten the NHRA out also. lol"


You don't think your the first person to say that do you? <!-- / message -->

 

They were probably saying that at the first race. Sanctioning bodies serve a purpose, doesn't matter what the body happens to be. There is always someone who is getting a free ride and someone else who feels that the new or old rules just are not fair. It is just the nature of the beast.

I don't get there very often but they probably say the same thing in church. People are just hard to please.

 

Remember, there was NASCAR that sanctioned drag racing as well..............

 

And to say that all the cars back then were pieces of shit is a HUGE insult to Stone, Woods, and Cook ~ Ohio George ~ Chuck Finders ~ Skip Hess ~ Big John Mazmanian ~ Frank Oddy ~ and quite frankly My Own Anglia and many other of the cars that were built better than some of the junk I see being raced today. And to say that these cars won't pass modern tech is also not true in many cases ~ you have to remember that many of these "Fast" cars in the mid 60's only ran mid 9's and 155 or so. By the end of the era they were deep into the 8's at 175 or so. So for a lot of the cars that were raced back then, many of the roll cages and other safety items would still pass tech if they were built to a high standard in the day. Remember that 8.50 and slower cars don't need the Funny Car style cage that ruins the look of a Classic Gasser.

Maybe there needs to be a "Classic Gasser" class and a "Modern Gasser" Class [/QUOTE]

You are kidding yourself if you think most Gassers looked like the cars you mentioned,you picked most of the cars that were nice! I have fixed some of the Gassers from the 60s and they were JUNK! Remember there were thousands of gassers back then,you could probably count the nice ones on both hands! And you will know when I insult you!! Chris

 

Most cars were without a doubt were pretty scetchy in the distant past (even the nice ones could be built with little more than tabs holding the body to the frame and a thin sheet of aluminum for a floor along with a single hoop on the drivers side for a roll bar) but I think a good honest interpretation can be done today without appearing alien. Check the Moonlighter Willys rebuild out. Never really loved fiberglass either but for something that might end up on it's top eventually, might not be a bad idea. Don Moyer's Rebel Reaper and the new Mazmanian tribute car come to mind.

 

Absolutely. It's gotta have plenty of beans.

 

Chris, I think in Hotroddon's response to "why would you build a car like 1965", he was making a point that high quality Gassers did exist back then, he did choose fine examples of A/GS cars built by the likes of Scrima, Kirby and other great chassis builders of that era. The kind of work guys like me and possibly you, were not capable of back then. Today, I know it would be easy for us,as we have both been at it for a while, and have the equipment and the knowledge. I will agree with you about the cars that were built, by a couple of guys in a garage in the 60's, a good many were pretty rough. These shots are of a 55, built back then, by a couple of my friends, they built 3 different cars, and each one got better and better. They went to the "Winternationals," and the chassis builder of the two, spent a day lying under the SWC Willys with a tape measure, carefully recording pickup points on the suspension. When they got back to Portland, they replicated a 40 Willys frame, stretched it to fit under their 55, and went racing. The 3rd car in the photos, is one I have been doing the chassis work on, it was inspired by the old Parham and Doane car, we have tried to keep it as traditional as possible, and make it cert to 8.50. We like to think it will be something like professional shop would have turned out back then, it will have candy paint and will be raced, we are planning on coming to "Eagle Field" in May.

 

If you look at the real Big John Willys the the one Ernest & Ken did looks more like the original nose high car there are 3 clones of the car. Ernest & Kens has some new parts on it but it sits & has the look of the real one the 1st two clones are steel the last one is glass & sits lower they are all nice

 

Marty ; I remember going to Sears point in the early 90s with my Willys to get my license, Wayne and Jack were there to sign it, my car was making nocking noises in the pits and we never ran , turned out the flywheel came loose, happened twice I locktight everything now! anyway K.S. was there with the red 41 when Jonny Rocca first brought it out, it still had an Olds in it, really COOL car,I looked that car over real good and it was built the old way, the rear end brackets were cut with a torch and pretty crude underneth, thats the way most race cars were back then,but that thing sure hauled ass even with the OLDS, and K.S. could drive! I remember cars back then with ReBar for ladder bars, and plywood and roofing tar for floorboards! I for one, don't want to build cars like they used to be!!! Marty the 55 looks BITCHIN, gotta bring it to Riverdale!! THANKS Chris

 

[QUOTE
Marty ; I remember going to Sears point in the early 90s with my Willys to get my license, Wayne and Jack were there to sign it, my car was making nocking noises in the pits and we never ran , turned out the flywheel came loose, happened twice I locktight everything now! anyway K.S. was there with the red 41 when Jonny Rocca first brought it out, it still had an Olds in it, really COOL car,I looked that car over real good and it was built the old way, the rear end brackets were cut with a torch and pretty crude underneth, thats the way most race cars were back then,but that thing sure hauled ass even with the OLDS, and K.S. could drive! I remember cars back then with ReBar for ladder bars, and plywood and roofing tar for floorboards! I for one, don't want to build cars like they used to be!!! Marty the 55 looks BITCHIN, gotta bring it to Riverdale!! THANKS Chris
][/QUOTE]

Chris all the old cars were not built like shit some were some were not some crashed some are still around. Thanks for your input

Trouble

 

Trouble and Chris, some of those A/GS were built very light, in the mid 60's my friend Dennis Murray was partnered with Ron Nunes, they built a 40-41 Willys, It had a steel shell and super light fiberglass parts. Dennis used magnesium for all of the interior tin (including floor), and with a blown SBC it weighed less than 1700 lbs. It was damn fast, but one good wheelstand, it collapsed! And Chris, it was great to have KS playing with us, I remember at SIR he showed up (before he had a car to drive) and took over the squirt bottle, and was on the starting line and took care of Tom in the Bizio truck, while I was busy with our T/F at the time. He was quite a guy!

 

Chris all the old cars were not built like shit some were some were not some crashed some are still around. Thanks for your input

Trouble[/QUOTE]

You areRight ,There were some Beautiful cars back then, sure glad some of them survived!! Chris

 

Hi Marty Wow 1700 that is Light when you say the floors were magnesium you could get it in s sheet like aluminum ?

 

Marty, it's great to have your talent and knowledge on this thread. Your input is very enlightening.

By the way, could you post up that picture of the Bizio truck's bare chassis?

 

[QUOTEYou areRight ,There were some Beautiful cars back then, sure glad some of them survived!! Chris <!-- / message --><!-- edit note -->
<HR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e5e5e5; COLOR: #e5e5e5" SIZE=1>][/QUOTE]

Thanks Chris there are some very nicely done car from back then & a lot of well thought out very nice gasser today.

 

I think the sheet mag was used in the aviation industry.

 

Gas ?!

 

I did not know that it could be bought in sheet form. Thanks for sharing that very interesting

 

I have to call Jim back on the hemi block. Maybe I'll ask him what a Gasser is.