Event Coverage Gasser Finals Race at Greer Dragway!!

Ever seen The Rebel Reaper Wilys gasser run? It's an auto trans.
Mike Bilina's green '56 Chevy is an original car, and if you go to Bangshift, you can see a GREAT pic of its trans blanket during a double-wheel stand on one pass.
That's just two right off the top of my head. The list goes on.
Look, to each their own... but let's try to keep things factual. Automatic transmissions are not the death knell for nostalgia gasser racing.

-Brad

 

Lets have some fun with sinclarmafia1's who will be referred to from here on out as the new guy. Let's build a car with his (and NHRA) 1962 period correct rules.

I couldn't find any where in them that said what year body we had to use so I guess we could use 2013 corvette, even though that would be legal it would be more fun if we use something older so we will use a 1962 corvette.

It says we can channel it 4"so we will channel it down on the chassis for that low ground dragging look

Good, we can have a roll bar so I've just finished welding it in and adding the needed bracing to the stock vette chassis.

It says we can't raise the body or chassis to gain weight transfer to the rear wheels, why would we wan't to do that anyway with the tires and tracks we have today. Plus we are building this thing as low as the rules allow.

Must have 4 wheel brakes don't say what kind so we will go with state of the art carbon fiber brakes.

Emergency brake is not required let's leave it off for less weight.

no bumpers we are going to use a push bar.

Drive line, this rule is so open I'm not even going to try and list all the thing that we can do to rip this to shreds.

The engine rule sucks we can only use one. So we will use an all aluminum big block chevy some where around 800 ci with the latest big carb's and N2o if we need it but we won't get that carried away.

We won't need the 10% engine set back (remember the tracks and tires of 2013)

24" max crank center line how insane is that it's going to be as low as possible.

We can use glass fenders but it's a vette already have them.

Fenders may be cut for wide tires, Man am I glad we can do this remember we got this thing low and nowhere does it say what size rear tire we can run. It's going to really take some cutting to get these 16 x 36 top fuel tires under there but they fit nice.

Hood must have something covering the carbs. we are going to use the latest pro stock scoop hope I can see around it.

Must have production type suspension. Did y'all read that PRODUCTION TYPE again the list of things that I can do to that rule is endless. (stock suspension car are running in the 4s 1/8 mile now days)

Just to make the new guy happy ( I think he likes automatics) we are going to use a lenco drive with 3 forward gears and yes it has a converter and a reverse.

Any wheel is fine so the latest and greatest light weight wheel for the front and we will use top fuel bead locks for the rear. We can put a set of 20" if we wanted to.

Before I go run this thing I'm going to add an air automatic shifter for the 2 shifts that we are going to make. A 2 step (rookie switch) to control rpm at the launch. A race pack data recorder. Can I stop now I'm about to die laughing.

Now Mr new guy how period correct would our car be if someone that know's just a little bit about building cars went by these rules. This took just a few min. imagine what you could do if this was for real and money at stake.

 

Most people that runs an automatic today runs a powerglide, and there's just no excitement there. When you have the 4 speeds, YOU have to drive the car. Isn't that the original reason for just about all rules Quain has put in place? He wants the DRIVER to DRIVE. I can't argue that there's some guys that can put on a good show with an a/t but I think that opens up another can of worms as far as rules would go.

 

I can't believe that I'm wasting my time trying to explain something to Brad again. But I'll try, as I have told you before we run heads up no brake out in case you don't know that's first man to the stripe wins. WE used Greg Porters built in the early 1960s gasser as a template for our rules and at the time anyone that was building a gasser around here was coping Greg's car. We had no intentions of having more than just 3 or 4 cars at the time but we wanted them to be as equal as possible so we could race each other heads up. There was plenty of gasser races close by that we could run but there rules were like Brads so rather than bitch about them we made our own. We felt then as we do now that the rules that some of y'all are ripping apart were put in place to keep cars like Greg's competitive in a heads up race. And let me repeat myself again for the 100th time the tracks are begging us to bring our show in so why would we change it to suit Brad's wagon or anyone else.

Now again for the 100th time about the automatic trans. When we started and made that first set of rules we didn't think about the automatics taking over, stupid on our part.
So the next thing we knew we had I think it was 5 out of 9 cars automatics, and most of the stick cars talking about switching because the auto cars were killing the tree (it easy to get your rpm right with auto remember we don't allow 2 steps) and going down the track like slot cars.(the stick cars were from guard rail to guard guard rail) The tracks and the fans told us that they could see that any Saturday night. So it was get rid of the autos or we would loose all of the 4 speeds. Oh and I forgot to remind the key board racers the auto is over 10th faster than the stick maybe more with the old school suspension. So just to be fair with the autos that were already there we grandfathered there cars in but don't let any new ones in.

Bottom line you can't run them together in a heads up race without adding weight or something to the auto and I'm not getting into that. (Remember I'm back to a one man show next year I won't have time)

I sure hope y'all understand my reasons, it's real hard to keep this straight and everybody happy.

 

Oh hey!!! a super sweet, refreshing gasser thread! and holy molly! No-ones fu*ked it up with bitchin about whats right or wrong yet!...OH, Wait....Nevermind.
Time to kill the fun, Sir buzz-billington. (New-guy)

Some people really know how to suck all the fun outta stuff. It's a bitchin' race!!! Enjoy it. god, we are only soo lucky to have stuff like this going on these days!
No wonder 80% of guys my age don't want anything to do with this style of car, Its just impossible to win.
Sorry for the rant dudes, Keep up the good work. I truely wish i was close enough to be there.

 

For the record, I never asked you to change the rules to suit my wagon. You told me I should gut the suspension in my wagon because that's not how they ran them back then (even though it IS mid-to-late '60s technology, direct from Mopar engineers.) You also didn't like the aired-out stock front coils and A-arms, because every "gasser" should have a straight axle. You told me, I declined to rearrange my car to suit your rules. No harm, no foul.

I am curious though; how does a full fiberglass body and fabricated box tubing chassis fit in, compared to Greg Porter's and other original '60s cars? You said you emulated those in your build, right? (and please, can you post a link to your group's rules? I think many of us would enjoy reading them. It'd be useful for me to compare your club's rules with other organizations like the Geezers, East Coast Gassers, Great Lakes Gassers, etc.)

I'm also curious if that Jericho with the vertical gate shifter in your car is running stock-type full synchros, Pro Shifted, or Face Plated cogs.
You know... since you're trying to be super period-correct in your group.
If you want parity, and the auto transmissions are a full 10th quicker, how much quicker is your slick-shifted Jericho than the guys running a regular old rebuilt Muncie or T-10? After all, if you're looking for paired heads-up racing that's "like it was back in the day," with nobody being blatantly faster than everyone else, I'd think requiring factory 4-speeds with no slick-shift would be the fairest way to do that, and have the broadest access to the regular builder.
But, it's not my group, and it's not my car the rules were built around, so do what you want. Just don't be upset and cause a scene when someone decides to start another group that's a little more broad with what's allowed. Complaining about automatic transmissions and cars not being "period correct" when you're running a full fiberglass body, a full box tube chassis and a high-end Jericho just seems a little... "off" if your intent is to have a period-correct group of gassers. It also means once the switch is made to 4-speeds only, anyone who wants to play will be forced to spend the long dollar on a high-end Jericho with all the bells and whistles, or be content to look at tail lights all day... which is what you're saying at least part of the problem is with the automatic cars.

-Brad

(and if you want to be a condescending prick and "explain" to me things like what heads-up racing is, we can start playing that game, too. I've been polite, respectful and professional in my discussions here. You're welcome to do the same. Or not.)

 

The same symptoms that killed class racing and modified eliminator .Make it all clutch assisted manual transmissions and the crowds will come.Yes automatics can pull the wheels and put on a show,but the sound and the fight in the drivers compartment make people smile.They remember racing as a kid .Nobody fantsizes about an air shifted powerglide kinda like a chic with no puss ...why bother.Everything changes but sometimes its good.Stick cars have turned into side show freaks because of the abundance of autos because people think it cheaper and easier .Classic gear jammers ,UMTR,Ozark mountain super shifters all are maual trans only organizations that draw crowds im sure Quains group is no different hopefully the arguing can stop and everyone can just race.

 

Lol, it almost sounds like the other car in your garage.

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This is like the w w f. I am smelling a pay per view cage match. Sounds like it is shaping up for a big spring race. 2 men enter, 1 man leaves.......

In all seriousness, hope you guys get it worked out. Greer was one hell of an event. Any chances of seeing the gassers at Darlington . Closer to home for me.

 

Exactly right pudge I was wandering if anybody would read between the lines and see where I was going with that. With the frame mods (stepping and boxing) and all the other left wide open rules 1962 it could almost be built just like my pro mod.

 

These are the rules for Quains group. I personally think what they are doing is awesome.


Here's the rules for our Gasser deal if you might want to run a few of our races.



These rules are by Time Travler Gasser LLC.




NOSTALGIC GASSER RACE RULE
These rules are set in place in order to control the appearance of the participating cars. We are striving for the look of a 1960’s era A-C Gas car. The cars must represent the 60s era in the pits as well as on the track. This applies to the body, wheels & tires, as well as the chassis/suspension interior and the engine compartment. If rule changes are made it will be more strict and not less. If you would like to run please send detailed photos of your car.


No rack and pinion steering (they don't work right on a straight axle anyway)
No sheet metal rear end housing must be made from production car housing
No sheet metal intakes
No dominator carbs
No N20 Nitrous Oxide or any part of it on the car
No Round Tube Chassis
No A Frame or Strut type front end
No 4 Links
No wish bone type sway bars.
No anti roll bars hooked to the rear end housing
No narrowed or pro street type rear ends.
No crank trigger
No Electronics (This includes but not limited to: two steps Delay boxes, Throttle Stops, Crossover boxes, Data recorders, Traction control systems, Infrared starting line systems, Air Shifters, etc.)
*Line locks & will be allowed as well as high side Rev limiters (engine safety only) , MSD box will be allowed ( At least try to hide msd boxes so the engine compartment will look old school )
* Rev limiters can be used only as engine protection but not for launching the car
No long wheelie bars (try to keep them as close to the bumper as possible) Must be old school like the early 60s max length if hooked to housing 44"
No visible springs on wheelie bars unless it the old school type mounted to the bumper ( if you must have springs for what ever reason they must be at the top of the bar out of site)
No open bodies styles or Altered. Closed body cars only.
No billet or spun aluminum wheels
No billet engine covers, breathers, valve covers, etc.
No rear tires wider than 11.5 inches
No rear wheels wider than 10"
No wedged out front ends
No modern letters on tires (if they are lettered they must be old school small type letters)
No modern graphics.
No Pro stock/ snorkel style hood scoops (scoops must be of the 60s)
No wings or air dams
Body modifications allowed will be radiused wheel wells. Chopped tops will be approved through the group
No alcohol gas only (These are gassers )
Coil over shocks must be approved through the group if you are building a new car don't use them there might be a rule in the future outlawing them.
Aluminum blocks are allowed but must be painted

REQUIRED
Closed full body styled cars 1967 or earlier
Body must be stock or stock replica
All cars except the ones grandfathered in must have a clutch and straight drive transmission.
Left hand steer
Open headers
Interior must be 60’s era styled. No modern high back seats, etc.
Straight Axle Front end suspension
60’ era wheels. (Steel, aluminum slots, Magnesium, etc.)
Front tires must be skinny no wide front tires
At least 11" from the ground to the rocker panel or the lowest part of body right behind the front wheels
At least 10" from the ground to the rocker panel or the lowest part of the body just in front of the rear tires.
front wheels in the air on launch


REQUEST
Old school tack and gauges we don't like to see 80s style tack and gauges in what's supposed to be an old school Gasser ( why would you want to ruin the looks of your old school Gasser with new stuff like this anyway it's the first thing you see when some one looks inside your car.)

Try to hide charging plugs and master kill switches ( the kill switch can be mounted inside the trunk area then have a small rod to the out side to shut it off it's safer this way anyway (I'll explain if I need to) they didn't have them in the 60s and it's the first thing you see when looking at the back of the car
Old school long ladder bars (if you are building a new car keep in mind that this could be a new rule in the future)

We would like to see aluminum heads painted unless you have heads that were produced in the early 60s

Grandfathered in for now

The only automatic car that will be allowed is the ones that ran with us last year no new cars will be accepted.If you have an automatic car and was approved to run last year but could not make it to one of our races we will consider letting you in just at select races so give me a call I have kept records and know who was accepted. We have done surveys and we can plainly see that the fans like the stick cars better.

Same goes for sheet metal intakes the only ones that will be allowed is the ones that ran with us last year and they are in the process of changing them this year.

Forward mounted carbs (this will be a rule in the future)

 

I would Bet that running a Jerico compared to a Muncie, would cut your racing costs by at least 50% maybe more! It's not that the Jerico is faster, it's just cheaper in the long run. A Muncie just can't take that kind of abuse for very long. Chris

 

^^^can't miss a gear with a Jericho though.

Quain's deal is the most exciting racing I have seen going on currently. Having said that I'm going to run a glide though hahaha! I have no choice really down here in Texas. I can't be competitive otherwise.

If there was a stick shift only group here I think I would probably do that. Would be fun.

 

Brad this will be my last response on this and the only reason I'm posting this is to try and defend myself and my group. Several months ago (when you started this same s'#t) I asked you to call me or better yet come and see me but you never did. First off and (I have told you before on here) I have never met you in person so how did I look at your car and you have never sent me any pics. The other time you lied about meeting me was you said I was complaining about parking at your race.Now wander why I'm being a prick to you.

Every car in our group has a jerico or some type of aftermarket trans. Just to show how much you know about cars if we ran stock trans every car would brake about 2 feet off the line on the first run so what kind of show would that be. Of coarse this is coming from a man that says a flip top round tube altered should be let run in gasser class.

Brad you have your show that your intent is to make money. I have my show just trying to have a good time and give people like Greg Porter and myself a level playing field to race on. But I have to say it's hard to enjoy when there is about 1 out of every 1,000 that I have to keep repeating myself to. (we have been over this same stuff before) As for the dude taking some of our members and starting his own deal more power to him I do wish he wouldn't have done it right here in my back yard. It is going to make our group suffer this year but whatever. I encourage people to use our rules and start a group up some where else so we would have other places to race just not in our back yard.

As for my chassis and glass body they were legal in the later 60s and again I'm not the only one in our group with a home made chassis and a glass body. Btw my glass body is heaver than Gene Cromers metal body.

The rules have been posted on the hamb about 20 times so I'm not going to bore everybody by posting them again. And I won't be sending you a copy because I have enough problems now. Maybe you and the new guy could get together sounds like y'all are on the same page and you think what he is doing is such a good idea.Oh and I think he's the one you have confused with me.


I don't remember what else you bashed me on in your last post but I'm tired of trying to make you understand anyway and I'm sure the members on here are tired of you and I arguing so please if you have anything to say to me I'll meet you half way sometime and we can talk or whatever makes you happy.

Thank's Quain Stott 164 prince road columbus NC 28722

 

I personally know Brad & Quain and consider them friends but I have to admit both are passionate about what they do.

There is no doubt and it is quiet apparent these guys are not going to agree with each other,bottom line,Brad, don't let this thread escalate into name calling like you did in your last post,that's not like you and certainly not going to help anything. HRP

 

Your exactly right bean dip that's why we are so strict, there are plenty of places to run an auto and be competitive so why mix them in with the 4 speeds then the 4 speeds would die out and we would have the same problem you are having. Glad 99% of y'all see it the way I do but that 1% that don't is wearing me out.

 

AMEN! for the manual boxes. By the way, today its just as easy to "spend the large" on a trick automatic/converter/shifter & safety shields
.,AAANNND, If you want a new M22, you can spend $2500 plus easy..,and they've been slickshifting/crashboxing manuals since the 3spd days before T10's were born.

 

I run about 6 races a year and the gas coupe sedan is always the biggest class with over half the cars will have no fenders or hoods and the last race I was at had 51 cars with 2 of us shifting 4 speeds. I would welcome someone to put rules like this in place but we wouldn't have enough cars. All I would have to do to mine is do away with the battery switch we have to have to run on any nhra track. I agree with Quain on most everything except the jerico trans, I have been running a steel case t10 for 7 years and and no problems. I am hoping this gets bigger here because I raced in the 60s and know what it should look like.Until it gets bigger I will continue to have fun racing altered being called gassers.

 

I can attest to Quain's statement about the stock or even the new muncie 4 speeds not making it 2 feet. I was attempting to perform a signature Stott/Porter Dry Hop at the gear jam and I when I dumped the clutch I took all the teeth off of first gear and the cluster real quick like on my first pass attempt and that was THAT!!! I don't even think I made it 6"

That was a new M22 from Meditronics with the iron mid plate and autogear case and all the good stuff

I've got a plan B but you better have a bad ass Trans if you want to play like the TIME TRAVELERS

 

Danny thank's for the support and notice that the kill switch deal is just a request not a rule so you can keep it. I have one on mine it's just out of sight with a rod that you can barley see to switch it. Thank's again I'll add your name to the list of the 10s of thousands that think I'm doing the right thing.

 

For the ones whining about a jericho, whats wrong with them? Doesnt take long for it to pay for itself. I know most complain about upfront cost, but don't mind spending 2-3k to get stock junk to halfway work.

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You went there and didn't ask if i wanted to go!

 

The new group won't hurt Quain. Just makes his deal that much more lucrative and special. Hang in there Quain. You do good.

 

Quain,Keep doing what you are doing and the fans will come.
You all put on a great show at knoxville dragway this summer,so when
you guys went to Atlanta Dragway,I made the 10 hour roundtrip to see you.
I also drove an 8 hour round trip to greer to see you all run. I would not be driving that far if it was not a great show.

Go Bone Shaker and Hound Dog

 

Good to me you guys. HRP

 

HRP, a shirt would be cool but even better would be a velvet version for those blacklight viewing

 

Dude, Blacklight is soooo 60's. Check these out...

http://tombo.smugmug.com/The-Moonlighter

 

I remember when Greg Porter first got his 55, just before I moved back to the west coast. it is looking like he has stepped up his power from videos I have seen.

 

It appears to me the interest in Nostalgia Gassers is presently at the highest point since their peak in the mid '60s just before the Funny Car craze. Just like back then the spectators will determine what they want to see. Being old school I want to see heads up 4-speeds.

 

Coming from a builders standpoint you are correct there is a huge amount of New/Old Gassers being built now, and the majority are being built to race and then some with a little street use,

We just put the clutch and brake pedals in a new 33 willys' gasser were building for a customer that is going to race it and lives down in the Greer neck of the woods.

Scott