Originally Posted by Tom Goldman (Post 230182)

Bill, you hit on the Gasser thing right on the money.
An Uncle who just recently passed away, was a major influence in my life.
He ran a 50' Olds club coupe in C/Gas and C/A in the mid to late 60's.. My first lesson in automatics was rebuilding Dual range Hydros for his race car.
Some of the early Hydros from military applications evedently had even lower 1st gear ratios than the passenger car version cause I remember we put one in his car and the thing just stood straight up on those old 10" slicks! .....Having a nearly 180# rear push bumper helped.
The early exposure to those cars influenced my building my '40 Willys in the early '80's.
That car was my passport to meeting some of the great drivers and tuners of our sport.
Racers such as Don Garlets, Dale Armstrong,Eddie Hill, Fuzzy Carter,Frank Bradley,Kenny Bernstein,and even John Force actually sought out my car in the sportsman pits........Many of the Gasser greats came by to see the car and the most frequently asked question was how it handled with the front end down on the ground as opposed to sky high as their cars were.
It seems that near the end of the Gasser era, as tire and suspension technology were advancing, many of them found it was no longer practical to have the nose high in the air.
As strange as it seems, many of the cars ,particulary the Willys coupes experienced evil handling problems in the traps......Over the years many of the early racers told me the same thing.
One racer, Bob Scheffler,who along with his brother built fiberglass Willys bodies and raced in A/G ,came by at the Keystone nats in '86or '87 and asked me how the car handled at high speed being so low. .....I told him it was a little skatey in the lights . ...He showed me a picture of a car they built around 1969 or '70. ....It was nearly as low as my car in the front! .........He told me that the car actualy flew in the lights at Pittsburg,and was destroyed, the rear end of the car actually lifted off the ground !
It turns out that the beautiful slope of the Willys roof and deck lid make a very efficent wing creating lift, not downforce when the car was at the proper angle! ......Apperantly the only thing keeping my car on the ground was the fact ,I had not yet reached the proper speed!
The Gassers were probably ,in my opinion the greatest race cars to ever see the strip, un equaled even by the early years of Funny Car.

Originally Posted by Rich Biebel (Post 230188)

Purpose built Gassers could have a 10% engine setback.
Altereds 25%

Or at least that is how I recall the rules! I could be wrong though as I did not race either of those 2 types of cars


Supercharged cars ran in Super Eliminator and included anything with a blower on it if I recall right.

Street eliminator was for /MP's and gas coupes and sedans and the sports classes.

If you showed up at your local track with any car and had simply removed the front bumper.....you were put into a Gas class.

If you had a non stock carburetor on it...you were put in /MP

There was 2 distinct sections of the pits where I raced. One was for all the self starting cars and the other was for any that needed to be push started. The "Hot Pits" was at the far end of the track and they used push vehicles to push down and start up........

Gassers were required to be self starting and ran Street eliminator...
Altereds could push and ran Competition eliminator.....you could run a gasser as an altered and pit anywhere you wanted. My friend and former boss ran C/A and B/G with the same car. A 301 in a Prefect. ( Looks like an Anglia) Injected with a 4 speed........Was a very wild ride back then.

We had a Gasser circuit run around my area a lot and they put on a great show.........

Originally Posted by Rich Erickson (Post 230193)

Originally Posted by Rich Biebel (Post 230209)

Bill your a few years older than me so you have more years and changes to cover from the early days.
I went to the racetrack for the first time in about 1962 or 1963. I convinced my father and mother on a sunday drive to go down the entry road to Island Dragway. I went "crazy" when I saw the cars racing and it must have warped my brain! I had no drivers license or a car for a couple years and tried to get older friends who did to pick me up and get back there. By 1966 I was racing all the time and was fortunate to see a heck of a lot of development in the sport first hand......I tell people today.....We just never knew what we were going to see when we went racing as cars and classes were developing and the sport was rapidly changing......Easily the best era......mid 60's to early 70's......

Originally Posted by bill dedman (Post 230227)

THAT is a funny photo!!!

I see frrom the shoe polish on the windshield, that "PEE WEE" ran D Gas, a 13 pounds per cubic inch class (at least, early on it was.). Even a 265 Chevy motor would have had to weigh atleast 3,445 to run that class.

Maybe it was a later car; one that ran after they came up with different weight breaks... That doesn't look like a 3,400+-pound car to me... but it sure is cute!!!!

Originally Posted by Ed Fernandez (Post 230230)

Bill,you missed the 2,000# weight bar in the rear.

Originally Posted by CycloneFE (Post 230241)

This is a priceless history lesson of a very innovative Class in Drag Racing. I thank all of you for your comments.

Now, were the turbos used by Mallicoat's or Montgomery an advantage? Were they just a flash in the pan? I saw that Montgomery used the Boss 429 motor for a while, did it do well? I thought it was "dead" until I saw Glidden use it in the EXP's and it seemed mediocre at best.