GASSER MUST HAVES and cant haves?

I just threw it out there for conversation. Shame what happened to it

 

George, I showed up at the Motorsport Pioneers event in Cloverdale last Saturday rather late, but I also talked with Mezzomo, Howie, and several others that I have known for decades, including Dwain Kremyr, who still owns the 57 Tbird, and has never let it out of his possesion for over 40 years. By the way, it ran a 427 Ford earlier on, and then was replaced with a Boss 302, after one of the "killer" D/MP Ford Mavericks was sold to BC racers Morris and Hovey, who then sold the Boss 302 engine to the Kremyrs. Most of the time Kremyr Bros. raced the TBird, it was brown, with a tube axle, but still sat quite low, although Dwain built a round tube chassis around 1977, with Lanb struts replacing the tube axle, and the car was painted red, extremely low, and lettered with "Old Pro" on the doors, as the car looked basically like a 57 Thunderbird Pro Stocker. Unfortunately, on their way home from a car show in the Okanogan in 1978 or 79, the car was badly damaged by a drunk driver who crossed the centerline, hitting the car and trailer. Since Dwain has been bulding high end Cobra and GT 40 replicas for a number of years, he is building a Cobra style chassis for the TBird, which will have an all aluminum Ford 427 SOHC for power. So the TBird is still in Dwains garage, but its drag racing days are long past.
As for Jack Mezzomos Pro Stock Pinto, in the late 70`s, a buddy of mine raced the Pinto in E/Gas with a high port Boss 302 and Nash 5 speed, and kept the car in a shop I rented in New Westminster. When Jack built the Pinto, he used 2x2 square tubing, but at the NHRA National event in Seattle in 1978, the 2x2 was deemed undersized, so my buddys had to have the frame rails "capped" by welding sections of 1x2 tubing to the old 2x2 , thus making a patchwork, but legal 2x3 frame.

 

I have been looking at the article bangshift did on the Zorro car. It has headlights too. They have to be there just to meet the rules because you cant see them with the body down.

Does anyone know what year they made the J6 panther body?

I found a couple more drag versions and you can see that one ran AA/FA.

MELTDOWN DRAGS
JULY 19-20 2014

 

Look at the engine placement. The J-6 panther had a wheelbase of 100"-104". There is no way that engine is only set back 10%.

MELTDOWN DRAGS
JULY 19-20 2014

 

With a tubular funny car style chassis,aluminum tub cockpit area (like a funny car),and a fiberglass flip top body,this is not,to me anyway,in any way in line with the original set of rules which basically dictated that you could run your hot street car in this class,not your funnycar with headlights hung on it.
It is one badass car,but I just don't see that as fitting into any Gas class....

Scott


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And actually,I believe I did just see a piece on Hot Rod tv about a guy who owned one.....the focus was on his Pete Jackson injected Chevy II,but he had one of these also....Anybody know if he's a HAMBer...?

Scott


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Hi; The gold Kellison car in right corner pic, "The High Heeled Sneeker" belonged to a guy I used to work for, It had a Rod Shop 302 chevy with a Clutch Flite, that replaced a Pontiac with a 4 speed, it raced C gas at the 69 or 70 Winternationals. Chris

 

Chris was it a flip up body car with more than 10% engine set back. I value your knowledge on the gasser stuff and I'm trying to learn all I can to help our group be as period correct as possible.

 

Augie Delgado. They did an article in Hot Rod about his 66 Chevy II AWB car Psychotic Reaction and he has a kellison too.

MELTDOWN DRAGS
JULY 19-20 2014

 

THAT is the one!Thanks man!That was driving me nuts!

Scott


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Meltdown drags
july 19-20 2014

 

He really pounds on that little car,doesn't he...?


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Baron,that black version of the SWC Swindler has to be by FAR the best looking version of the car...it looks SO classy and slick,but at the same time looks like it can't wait to rip your head off and shit down your neck...lol


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Here's another view of it...


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One I've really been wanting to post,but keep forgetting....the underside.I believe this is Maz's '41:
View attachment 2044492 then agin,maybe not....his shit was usually pretty chrome-y!

Here are a few key Gas class components that I believe are from the restoration of the KS Pittman S&S Team car...
View attachment 2044493

And a few that are just plain cool...
View attachment 2044495 View attachment 2044496 View attachment 2044497 View attachment 2044498 View attachment 2044501 View attachment 2044505 View attachment 2044508



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Son of a bitch....none of those came through except that 55 at the end.
I'll give that another try....


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Try again...underside of the 41 Willys showing suspension and Hydro...



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And a few key pieces from the S&S 41 Willys resto...



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The 40 chevy coupe is Joe Amato's

MELTDOWN DRAGS
JULY 19-20 2014

 

Kinda hard to keep up with everything that's going on on this thread, but I always thought that a Gas Coupe/Sedan racer had to use an OEM "production" body (or fiberglass reproduction of OEM body in the later years), which the J-6 isn't.

 

I would have to agree. If it ran in the Gas class then I don't think anybody was looking when it got teched.

MELTDOWN DRAGS
JULY 19-20 2014

 

With not noting a specific year things get blurry, but wasn't there a rule at least up into the mid 60's that traction bars must not be longer than 50% of the wheel base?

Although if this car wasn't running leaf springs I don't know if these "ladder" type bars would have been considered traction bars or not?

There was just so many little loop holes and these guys found every one of them!

 

Most were running leaf springs and ladder bars,except for Maz's car,which ran 1/4 elliptic springs out back.
And if there was ever a rule about ladder bar length,I don't think it was ever abided by.Take a look at almost any 41 Willys running back then.


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I feel better now, because my 13sec car has every one of them.

 

Time to work on those 13 second driving skills I guess..?


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Now that is something we surely can agree on! But even with a driver I don't think my junk could ever make anything better than high 12's, no power and too fat! Maybe I should get me a LSX and dress it up like and older version BBC.

 

I thought the rules on fiberglass got a little looser in 68 and additionally when NHRA did away with modified sports at the end of 67 many of those cars got dumped into gas. If a Kellison bodied car raced in MSP or met the MSP rules, NHRA might have gotten the dart board out and figured what class other than gas?

I would still have to assume the 10% rule was still in effect which may had had them throw another dart to figure out where 10% was.

Look at Kanners 67 AM/SP winner at the Nationals and they called that a 57 Corvette. It was just a little fiberglass car. I talked to the owner and sponsor of that car which I referred to earlier. Larry Davis has a picture of the car on page 179

About ten years ago, I tried to buy a Kellison with a 62 Vette chassis that had the rollbar stubs but I was just a day late on getting it.

For whatever it is worth, I never even remember using the word gasser when we ran gas. i don't remember anyone using the term. When guys asked what you were running you stated your class as I remember.

Gassers are plenty cool but some of the baggage that comes along with them in the way of discussion can give one a headache at times though.-Jim

 

Yeah,I'm thinking an LSX is TOTALLY your style.And paint it rooster dink pink while you're at it,just in case there's that one guy at the far corner of the fairgrounds that didn't notice you're a tool...lol


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I believe this is from a 65 or so NHRA rule book. But I could be miss-taken on the year.