just curious what the concept was and how gassers began.why did they jack them up?just tryin to get a history lesson
back when tires sucked shit, the racers tried everything they could to gain traction. Weight transfer was the order of the day. By raising the front of the car up it shifted the weight center aft, or put more weight on the tires, hopefully resulting in better traction.
Gas class was originally a street class designed for hotrods with roofs (those without went into street roadster class). Limits throughout history of class were only minor engine setback, full fenders, normal street equipment like lights. Body mods were limited to minor chopping and customizing, which put many actual street cars with no fenders into altered class... Naturally, lots of people pushed the limits of all rules and there were soon race-only cars dominating the class. The high fronts were a development about 1960 meant to add to weight transfer. Willys soon became the dominant car because they were a bit smaller and lighter than Fords and Chevies, but still met the wheelbase limits, as did some of the larger British cars. The maove th Anglias late in the class's poularity forced a rule change here. Street cars competing usually were typical drivers of their day, souped up '40 Fords and '55 Chevies and MANY others, but of course they were only competitive at small local meets against fully prepped race teams. This was a class that attracted obscure cars, too--Henry J's, Austin A-40's, '40 Studes, etc.
There's a book called Gasser Wars by Larry Davis. Buy it and it will explain everything you always wanted to know about the Gas Coupe And Sedan class. It was a class for hot rods (Coupes and Sedans) that were street legal and ran gasoline only. There were many rules changes over the years, so it's impossible to list them all. Do a search - the subject has been covered extensively on the HAMB. There was just a thread on the jacking up for weight transfer. The class was based on cubic inches to weight to determine the different classes. Mutt
the info was greatly appreciated,now i know and knowing is half the battle.thats what gi joe used to say anyway
Lots of people here, including me, have old drag rule books--pick a period that interests you, ask what the rules were, go buy some Hot Rod magazines from the period and look over the cars at the drag meets shown. In my memory, the gas classes were fairly low-key classes still attracting many streetable or nearly streetable cars in the fifties, then by the early sixties, as the hot ones got faster and faster, pro teams took over the upper classes and the gas class became highly publicized major audience draws. They started to die out in roughly 1964 as interest in Super Stock--Factory Experimental--Pro Stock type late models became the audience drawers. Factory experimentals got wilder and wilder and became ...Funny Cars! High noses also died out fairly quickly, because speeds were getting very high and both stability and higher speeds became nearly impossible with the whole underside facing forward...
While we're on the subject... my wife asked me this weekend why they're CALLED gassers. I didn't know where the term originated. Does anybody?
here is a link to a thread I started discussing the earliest days of the gas class, before tilt noses and straight axles, 59 and earlier stuff. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73606
Well, they ran on gas...in the early days, say '47-53, use of alcohol or even nitro was popular even on fairly low level rods--people had extra manifolds with fuel carbs and Moon pressure tanks ready to throw on Saturday. Why this word became focal, though, I don't know--lots of gas fueled cars ran in all levels, and fuel and gas cars soon had own divisions within basic class structure. By the mid fifties or so, use of fancy fuels disappeared except for rail dragsters and competition and altered classes, all divided between fuel and gas classes, with most fuel cars run by semi-pro types... NHRA actually banned all fuelers for a while, bringing it back as public attention began to go to fuelers in the AHRA. but gassers were always so labeled, actually I think: Gas coupe and sedan class" in the rulebook.
Actually, I would have thought this explained it.. ".......explain everything you always wanted to know about the Gas Coupe And Sedan class. It was a class for hot rods (Coupes and Sedans) that were street legal and ran gasoline only." Mutt
seems like most drag racing rules were set to help the little guy, to no avail (speed cost money! how fast do you want to go?) to get racers off the street (never had rules on the street, probably why it was more fun) they had separate the stock from the modified cars, then needed to break it down further, cubic inches to weight (sound fair?) well if you took a 37 chev coupe and installed a stock 324 olds it put you in B/gas (when I was racing)and another 37 chev came to the track with a blown 331 chrysler that too was B/Gas (whoops thats not fair) so the statred bumping blown cars up 1 class A/Gas. still not fair so then the blown cars went to their own class. this bracket racing (never have tried it) is without a doubt the greatest equalizer for the low dollar racer. but is it fun, I don't know but I still preferr heads up racing
Yeah, I don't think they ever successfully produced a class that could actually enforce streetability and low-buckness. Gas was virtually a jalopy class for ordinary greasers with souped up drivers when begun, but evolved RAPIDLY even within the rules. In the last few years, even the rules began to disappear as people stopped bothering with token mufflers and such, and I understand the rule change allowing Anglias was actually FORCED by competitors who simply changed over--in the last days of gas Class glory, they were the crowd drawers and NHRA had to go along. NHRA started Modified production about this time as a lower level street class, but that soon died. What would you regulate to produce a real street car class?? Gearing? Cam duration? Force cars to idle 1/2 hour before running?? Have tech inspection in next county and make cars drive there??
See now, I was trying to learn something and I get condescension. It seemed to me that the term "gasser" only gets applied to cars with a certain stance and weight distribution. You're telling me "It was a class for hot rods (Coupes and Sedans) that were street legal and ran gasoline only." Are you saying ANY hot rod that is street legal and runs on gasoline only is a "gasser"? I did some research in the archives and found this quote from you and found it ironic... "And take the time to learn what you are talking about - ESPECIALLY about race cars and classes. MOST '60's model cars were not Gas class cars. They ran Stock, Modified Production or (if straight Axled) Factory Experimental. For some reason, young guys think they have to write a gas class on the side to be cool. Mutt" I have read elsewhere that a gasser is "any drag racing vehicle burning gasoline for fuel". So why then when we say "gasser" do we visualize something so specific? Is it a misconception? I'm not just being a smart ass, I'm trying to learn about something I am unfamiliar with.
Well, "Gasser" around a drag strip always used to mean gas coupe/sedan, even during periods when many classes had fuel divisions and during the period in which everyone in NHRA ran gas, even top dragsters... The nose-high look belongs to a few years around 1960-64 or so, and was likely started by the Ramcharger's coupe, which was...an altered. Many cars even during this little period still had level or nose down stances, too, though I think everyone associated a violent lurch toward nose-up with traction in that period. Some people on HAMB seem to refer to any car with a high nose stance as a gasser, even if it plainly doesn't fit the class. Oh yes, the nose-high period is the most famous because that was the only historical period in which the gassers were the big crowd pleasers. Before that, they were lower division filler at the meets, and after then they disappeared due to rapid shift to late-model car based classes.
At the end of the season in 1981 NHRA pulled the plug on modified elimenator. Some of the cars were moved to Super Stock elimenator. The others moved into Competition Elimenator.The cars that chose to go Super Stock run off the assigned index or they can dial under to a lower number. The cars that moved to Comp Elimenator run off the assigned index, handicapped, with the cars that gets there first being the winner. Clear as mud , right ?????? For all this we picked up Super Gas. If you follow it all the time sometimes you can figure out whats going on. Probably the best way to keep up with everything purchase an NHRA rule book on a yearly basis.In my opinion pulling the plug on Modified took a lot from drag racing. Thanks
NHRA wants to be NASCAR, with massive audience, TV coverage, and huge tie-ins from manufacturers and other advertisers--so it's a spectator sport they want, and cars that can be identified as related to late model cars. Unfortunately, drag racing is pretty boring as a spectator sport, and even more so on TV--all except for the fastest and loudest classes tend to look about the same as two Datsuns pulling away from a traffic light on main street. Wierd old cars with flapping fenders and covered with ads for obscure suppliers of valve springs have very little commercial value...
I think that analogy is very helpful. And Mutt, thanks for the source. As a new guy I am doing my homework. I was at the book store yesterday morning where I picked up a great book called "The Birth of Hot Rodding", but sometimes it's nice to get a quick concise answer here on the HAMB.
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