Help me understand the NHRA classes for an old Gasser

[GaryR]

Scott, just go HERE:

http://georgeklass.net/gassers.html

 

George is a 60's nitro racer, was a fixture at LIONS and knows his stuff!
You can read about the classes and factual history, plus a zillion pictures ranging from the mid 50's to 70's.

THESE ARE REAL PERIOD CARS, not "tribute" or modern racecars!

[afx]

3 hours ago, GaryR said:

Virgil Cates did this with his 33 Willys, won a bunch.

[GaryR]

He had more success as an altered than a gas class car.

It's NOt as simple as just taking off the 'glass front though NOTE the "A" grille shell.

[afx]

I would guess he ran with the radiator in both classes.

[Oldmopars]

19 hours ago, GaryR said:

Scott, just go HERE:

http://georgeklass.net/gassers.html

 

George is a 60's nitro racer, was a fixture at LIONS and knows his stuff!
You can read about the classes and factual history, plus a zillion pictures ranging from the mid 50's to 70's.

THESE ARE REAL PERIOD CARS, not "tribute" or modern racecars!

Thanks for the link. It is great to see real Gassers, at the time they were run, not tribute cars or modern copies.

Some things I saw, very few ran the 3.5 Gallon fuel tank out front even though it is encouraged in the rule book. Very few ran tinted plexiglass windows. Quite a few were running 3/4 ton pick up truck rear axles. I assume once over a HP range the stock axles self destruct and this was the budget replacement. As far as stance, they were all over the map, some really nose down, some level, and some everything from a little nose high to stupid crazy nose high. But nose high seemed to be abnormal, not normal.

You can also see the budgets of the different cars and how they went up over the years and the backyard builders got pushed out. Early pictures show Plymouths, Studes, Willy's, Chevy's, Fords, and anything else. As time went on it seems they all gravitated to the same cars, 33, 41 Willy's, Anglias, Opals, shoe box Chevy's and a few others. The tires and paint seem to be a good indication of the time as well as the years of the cars in the background.

It was very educational to see REAL Gassers. It has inspired me to build another. Maybe something a little odd and from the early years. Like a 30's Pontiac with a 3/4ton truck rear and a straight 6 or 8 or some other oddball V8.

[GaryR]

I wish we had a 30's Pontiac! Do you know something I don't!

Check out the Little Toad Anglia with the Hudson six, a winning car. Look at the seats.

Tinted windows were eventually banned, it was hard to see out of them, especially at night. I love tinted windows though.

Gasser were so cool to me ( in those days ) because they were half street car and half race car.

Keep posting man!

Edited October 12, 2018 by GaryR

[Snake45]

41 minutes ago, Oldmopars said:

As far as stance, they were all over the map, some really nose down, some level, and some everything from a little nose high to stupid crazy nose high. But nose high seemed to be abnormal, not normal.

You can just about track the speed of the cars by the stance (or vice-versa). As top-end speeds got up into the 140-150 mph range, the noses started coming down to get some aerodynamic downforce at speed--or at least, no aerodynamic upforce as would be the case with nose-high stance. You can watch it happen with the A/FX-funny cars, then with the Gassers, with the Modified Productions, the Pro Stocks, the Super Stocks, etc. The noses start coming down when the cars start going about 140 or better. (Of course over the years these things happened, there were big improvements being made in both tires and suspension science as well.)

[Oldmopars]

Sorry, I could not remember when Pontiac started, I only meant to say I want to do a non-traditional Gasser, not a 41 Willys or 55 Chevy.

I can imagine that having the nose high on a light car with a short wheelbase at 140+MPH would be terrifying.

As a side note, I love the picture of the Empi Inch Pincher. I am a huge VW fan from way back and the Empi cars were the Stone Woods and Cook of the VW world. They had a look that was copied on the street for a couple of decades.