[bill dedman]

Historically speaking, the Gasser morphed into more efficient chasses as time went by.

In the '50s, cars that showed up to race "Gasser" classes might be literally anything....and, in a way, that was kind of refreshing. Most anything that wasn't REAL heavy, might become the recipient of an engine swap,and fitted the Gas Coupe classes (A through D,depending on the weight-to-cubic-inch, ratio.)

It was real simple.... A was 0-9 pounds per cube; B was 9-to11, C was 11-to 13, and D was anything over 13... Four classes; no handicap racing, and if you wanted to win the money, you built an "A"car. Like I said,REAL simple, but there was no shortage of race cars. It didn't stay that simple for long; more classes were added nearly every year, for a while.

In the late 1950s, folks started getting a little more savvy about which chasses were advantageous.

The fledgling California cars were things like early (1940s) Studebakers, which LOOKED large, but were actually pretty light. In about 1958, some people discovered that various models of early Willys cars made excellent race cars for the Gasser classes, and Willys coupes started coming out of the woodwork! Their wheelbase was 100-102 and a weight-conscious racer could build a "bare bones" car in the 2,100-2,400-pound range. The supercharged Gasser contingent caught onto these Wiily's, and there were 450cid+ Olds and Chrysler- powered blown race cars that weighed around 2,600 pounds and went 140+ mph. Willys coupes (and a few sedans and pickups) comprised the bulk of these blown cars throughout the '60s...

English Fords called "Anglias" and "Prefects" were significantly smaller than a Willys,and NHRA began letting them run,legally, in someGasser classes. Eventually,there wereGMC supercharged big block Chevy V8 Anglia Gassers, but it took awhile to get them accepted by NHRA.

The late model bodied Gassers began to show up in about 1967, or so, and for me, the magic went out of it with the advent of the Mustang Gassers and Opels....

But, progress is progress, and is pretty much unstoppable in a deal like this.

AFX cars were now going faster than even the blown gassers,and Funny Cars soon made their debut, putting the last nail in the coffin of the once-charismatic GAS COUPES.