GASSER MUST HAVES and cant haves?

Yea, I was making the correction as you were writing this. Old eyes, what can I say!

 

Believe me, I know about old eyes.

 

I assume the idea of not running shocks was to allow for quicker load and unload spring reaction?

Unless I am overlooking them as well!

 

You can just see one shock bushing and stud on the left side of the picture behind the lower ladder bar bracket.

MELTDOWN DRAGS
JULY 19, 20 2014

 

Moon Dude

The reason Cook got loose is because he was Smoking the tires, as we all did blown or un blown back in the day

One day at Irwindale when I stuck it in 2nd gear I was headed for the guard rail, and had to lift with a injected 327'

You guys don't know how lucky you are to have a sticky track to run on now!!

G Don

 

.., or trying to hook on Fred Flinstones pie crust slicks. My dad ran 10.00 x 15's too. As Don said earlier, that was the top fuel tire at the time.

 

Opps you mean 10.00 by 16"s don't you as that was the fuel tire, bought mine from IVO after 5 runs he would sell them for $25.00 ea

The only set of tires I ran for 4 yrs

G Don

 

We can all give examples of cars that did drive on the street and compete in the Gas Class. As I said before, I also drove my car as a dual purpose car, and many others did too. I'm not arguing that many cars were used for street and strip, and driven to the races. My point was that there wasn't a era that all cars were dual purpose. Even as Don pointed out, when there was a time that gassers had to have full interior, and all the components to make them street legal, there were still many top drivers and cars that never drove their cars to the track, but either flat towed them, or trailered them. NHRA never required ANYONE to drive their gas class cars to the track. Because many drivers did, doesn't make that a dual purpose era. If it did, then when I was racing in the late 60's we would have still been in that era, as I saw as many guys drive their lower gas class cars through the gate, as I saw towed in.

 

Amen! Not only stickier tracks, but stickier tires! Back then we did a dance with our throttle to try and drive through smoking tires and try our best to hook up before the other guy did!
I'm amazed how well today's tires hook in comparison, and even many street tires hook better than the old TDI cheater slicks I ran on my '55 back then.

 

Been a while since I looked at this thread.....If I was a moderator I would have shut it down a while ago. I tried to read it all, but it is too long. My head hurts. What I did read is... I have found out that my car is not a gasser! I have the wrong transmission and the wrong seats! You guys are taking all the fun out of this!




FUN

That should be the GASSER MUST HAVE!

 

Wasn't this the predecessor of the Funny Cars that came out around 66'?

 

Yeah, most were out in 65 though. Landy and the ramchargers had them in late 64, by 66 mercury had released there flip top cars and changed the game.

MELTDOWN DRAGS
JULY 19, 20 2014

 

If we agreed on everything what would be the purpose of a forum. By definition, forum is a platform which to discuss different opinions.

And that you yourself state you have learned something is evidence your time reading was worth while.

Don't take it so serious. And admit it, haven't you enjoyed seeing a few cool old cars that were never a Hot Rod center fold!

It's all fun!

 

"You guys don't know how lucky you are to have a sticky track to run on now!!"



True, but sticky tracks and tires can be a double edged sword. Something tells me there would have been a lot more carnage, both man and machine, if the early elite class cars had been running on modern track suffices and tires.

 

I'm somewhat confused by this because don't you run an event which has rules restricting certain cars from certain "gasser" classes because the rockers aren't above the centerline of the spindles or something to that effect? Rules that are not even really germain to gassers but has more to do with what spectators "think" a gasser is/was. What's fun about that?

I thnk it's been a good thread. Cleared up a lot of things for me. Disc brakes,coil overs etc being legitimate.

 

OK, I have a question for the historians!

What was the last year a National NHRA, A/G Championship was won by a car running a conventional, mechanical clutched manual transmission?

And who was the driver?

 

Was it the Panella trucking Anglia
EL Padrone?

MELTDOWN DRAGS
JULY 19, 20 2014

 

Bean, the Gasser Magazine events split the cars into 2 classes. We do not restrict anybody from running (except for safety reasons). What the spectator wants is paramount in reality. That is unless your perfectly happy driving your gasser on the street, cause if the spectator is not happy, then the track is not happy...the whole spindle center line rule was not made to define a gasser. It was made to try to seperate the guys that want to show off and have fun from the guys that want to run a number and compete. Our event at Norwalk this year went off great and everyone loved the concept.

 

LOL, good one Weasel

 

build it to have fun while keeping it safe. We drive our 59 ply savoy altered WB gasser all over the place. Finally got it handling good with the straight axle, one finger at 100 mph. We drive it to shows that are 60 miles or less from Home. People Love it....

 

I don't know, but I do find it an interesting question. What year do you think that might have been 73 maybe? and that thing was as close to a funny car as you can get without a John Force sticker on it, wasn't it?

Again, what was the last year a National NHRA, A/G Championship was won by a car running a conventional, mechanical clutched manual transmission?

And who was the driver?

Surely someone knows!

 

Sort of a gray area question. If you're talking the superharged gassers (A/GS ; AA/G ; AA/GS), I think they got away from ANY sort of "production" transmission at the end (mid 70's) and went to aftermarket transmissions like Lenco and such and they did use a clutch.

If you are talking A/G, then they were dumped into Modified Eliminator and really didn't have a class champion other than "Modified Eliminator" champion up until they did away with Modified Eleminator in 1981.

But, I could be really really wrong.

 

AWB makes it an altered. Oh never mind, who cares any more.

 

'If you are talking A/G, then they were dumped into Modified Eliminator"

About when would this change taken place?

And were there (A/GS ; AA/G ; AA/GS) class in 63 or before?

 

The thing that is really starting to piss me off a bit is this. In all the "Traditional Hot Rod" (or Custom) threads folks defend to the death about being period correct, and what is and what should never be based on recollections, magazines, and old pictures. And now even Ryan has rightly decided to start policing what is appropriate for this board, based on his interpretation of what is "traditional". But honestly, it is not written in stone when it comes to some details etc. - it kind of falls under the old definition of Porn - I can't define but i know it when I see it.

Yet here we have "Gassers". This is a VERY DEFINED segment of Hot Rodding and Drag Racing History. Gasser's are quite simple - it was a Drag Racing Class that by its very nature was DEFINED by a Rule Book (or two if you include the various sanctioning bodies). the rules changed over the years, but they are not only very defined, they are also posted in stone. So here's the REAL DEAL - You can't start rewriting history to suit your own needs! Just as folks jump all over it on Traditional shit, so it should be here.
You can't have an Altered Wheel Base Gasser, you can't have a fenderless Gasser, You can't have modern injectors, And the fact that some unknown podunk track let some car run in a Gas Class because they didn't have enough cars to fill a field doesn't make it legit either. And the Match Race cars don't matter either - they didn't necessarily conform to ANY RULES, they were built to put on a show - nothing more, nothing less. And many of the most famous Anglia's ran as Match Race cars because they weren't LEGAL Gassers, especially during the Anglia Blower Ban
It's SIMPLE folks - either the car fits the various rules that were written over the years, or it is NOT a GASSER. Why is that so damn hard to understand?
It doesn't matter to me whether it was built in 1962 or yesterday. Doesn't matter if it was raced or not, was it built to the rules or not! If not, ITS NOT A GASSER! It's bad enough that the NHRA has F'd up the rules for the Heritage Series with what they are now allowing in the Gas Classes, doesn't mean the rest of us have to be that stupid as well.

So if a particular car doesn't fit the rules, that's fine, just don't call it a GASSER, CUZ it Ain't. Doesn't mean it might not be a Bitchin Car - just don't dilute the history of the real gassers and make the name a catch all for any nose up car.

Just as with "traditional" cars some small things can be overlooked, in this case especially in the name of safety (things like a Fuel cell, which didn't exist back then for instance) that don't change the Flavor and Spirit of the rules are fine, but as the historians and keeper of the flame, we should strive to keep it real.

Maybe some of these "Gasser" races should be renamed Match Races, and they can write the rules any way they want. The can put on a great show, everyone can have fun and the pissing matches will go away.

OK rant over (for now) I Feel Better Let the arguing begin.

 

I think Don hit the nail on the head. The rules are there in black and white.

 

Well if nothing else, this thread is helping me narrow my interest down considerably.

I'm finding my personal appreciation for "Gassers" is in the simpler 1963 and before years.

The rules were pretty simple then and it's a load removed from my shoulders knowing I don't have to pay any particular interest in all the little nuances of the "gray era" when there seems to have been no clear boundaries and everyone was pushing those.

Moving forward I will focus on those days when a local grease monkey or shade tree machanic could build a hot rod from what was at hand and come Friday night take it to the drag strip and run against the guy who worked at the garage across town.

No longer will I have to read bundles of old Hot Rod magazines for inspiration or to learn the names of the famous, because the names of my racing hero's aren't found there. My hero's are remembered by family members when they see that dusty little trophy stuck on a dark shelf in Grand pa's garage. And in tattered scrapbooks in Grand ma's attic.

Man is that a load off!

 

Well, it's a little before my time, but according to Byron Stack (RIP) the supercharged gasser classed started in 1960. Before that, I THINK running a blower bumped you up a class.

All of the Gassers ran Street Eliminator until somewhere between 1966 and 1971 (maybe 1968) when the blown Gassers were combined with the blown Street Roadsters and bumped up to Comp. Eliminator. All of the unblown Gassers were put in Modified Eliminator. The Comp Eliminator Class was eliminated in 1975 and Modified Eliminator was done away with in 1981.

More infor from the old Gasser Madness site.

http://www.gassermadness.us/

Go down the index and click on "A brief history ....."

 

I think I have solved my dilemma! See my post below. But seriously thanks for going to the bother of helping answer my questions.

 

read Drag News from the day----doesn't support much of what "nhra" people like to say---so why can't we have Rulebook Gassers for those people and' era correct' cars for everyone else---i have no interest in what the rules were after 1965 and do not believe they are relevant to this forum...