What Is a Gasser? | History, Drag Racing Influence & Build Parts
What Is a Real Gasser? | Defining the Iconic Drag Racer
Just what is a Gasser anyway? The origin of the term “Gasser” was simply a nickname for the cars that ran in the NHRA’s Gas Coupe & Sedan classes in the 50’s and 60’s. Unlike Dragsters or Altereds, Gassers still resembled the stock cars they were based on, but under their fiberglass flip-up hoods and fenders were high-winding small blocks, blown Hemis, and injected Wedge motors. Their jacked-up suspensions got them off the line in a hurry, but the resulting high center of gravity made them just as likely to cross the finish line on their roof as on their wheels. These wild, wheels-up antics made them fan favorites as the Gasser drag racing class exploded in the 60’s.
Why Do Gassers Sit High in the Front? | The Gasser Stance Explained
Tune in to a contemporary NHRA drag race and you will see an almost universal formula; cars with aerodynamic bodies that are extremely low to the ground. They’re wind-cheating marvels that hook hard and typically get to the big end with minimal drama. So, why do Gassers sit so high? What on earth were the 60’s Gasser builders doing with those crazy jacked-up suspensions?
In the 50’s and 60’s, hot rodders and drag racers got really good at making power, but the suspension and tire technology of the day lagged behind a bit. And so began the quest for anything that would help these overpowered cars hook up to the track. With the goal of transferring as much weight as possible to the rear tires, racers applied some simple physics. Think of a triangle with one flat side on the bottom, then imagine the left point of the triangle is the front axle, the point on the top is the center of gravity, and the point on the right is the rear axle where we’re trying to get the weight. First, making that line on the bottom between the front and rear axle as short as possible will allow our triangle to rock over backward more easily when force is applied at launch. That line represents the wheelbase, and that’s why short cars like Willys, Anglias, and Henry J’s were Gasser favorites. Now let’s move the top point of our imaginary triangle up as high as the rulebook will allow by raising the engine in the chassis and jacking up the suspension. That high center of gravity essentially increases the length of the lever-arm that the CG has to rotate the car’s mass to the rear under launch, applying more weight to the slicks to help propel the car down the track. After seeing some of these cars you may ask why are gassers raised in the front more than the rear? Remember that top point on our triangle that represents the center of gravity? Not only do we want it high, we also want it to be as far back as possible. Lifting only the front (left) point of our triangle not only raises the top point, it moves it back as well. That in a nutshell is how builders used physics to overcome archaic technology to make a Gasser wheelie when the flag dropped or the tree went green.
This crude geometry lesson illustrates the logic behind why are gassers so high. As technology evolved, racers began to favor 4-link rears and other technical evolutions that gave them better control over chassis dynamics like instant center, so they didn’t need that precariously high center of gravity to help them tip the cars over to the rear. But for that period of about a decade or so in the glory days of drag racing, short, tall, and overpowered was the volatile formula for making a Gasser race car go fast.
When Were Gassers Popular? | Gasser History & Culture
This whole thing started as the NHRA was spearheading organized drag racing across the country in the late 50’s. In the early days, the concept of a “drag car” was still being defined. Keep in mind that Hot Rod Magazine was less than a decade old at this point and the first NHRA national event had just been held in Great Bend, Kansas in 1955. Hot rods and dragsters were still in their infancy, and as the sport grew, so did the ingenuity of its early practitioners. It’s a tale as old as time; write a rulebook to keep racers on a level playing field, then stand back and watch as everyone tears it apart in search of a loophole that will give them even the tiniest competitive advantage.
In the beginning, NHRA basically divided the rulebook to include the “Hot Cars,” things like Dragsters and Altereds that weren’t driven on the street, and the “Street” classes, which included Gas Coupe & Sedan and Street Roadster. These street classes at the start were a place for cars to compete that weren’t that different from what you might see cruising to the burger stand on Friday night. But as early drag racers, aided and abetted by “how to” articles in Hot Rod and elsewhere, started to get adventurous with their engine swapping, suspension, and lightening mods, cars began showing up at the track that blurred the lines. That’s how the humble Gas Coupe & Sedan, Street Roadster, and Modified Sports classes became the petri dish that grew the wacky and wild wheels up American Gasser of the 60’s.
Rulebooks from the era show how the NHRA was making an attempt each year to keep up with the wild things that racers were doing to get their Gassers through the lights first. Rules showed up that limited engine setback, engine height, body and lightening mods, and wheelbase. The “Gas” division was broken into Gasser drag racing classes based on a formula that divided the car’s weight by engine displacement, then took into account whether the car was supercharged or not. The placement of the breaks changed through the years, but the idea was to put the light cars with big engines and/or superchargers together at the top of the heap in A/Gas, AA/Gas, or AA/Gas Supercharged, then heavier cars with smaller engines in B/G, C/G, D/G and so on. That’s what the letters mean that you see painted or shoe polished on the bodies or windows of the Gassers in those old photos.
As the rules changed, the look of the cars changed along with them as certain platforms proved to have an advantage over the others. In the early days of the Gasser, the classes were populated with cars that were more like a Gasser hot rod. Cars like a ’55 Chevy Bel Air Gasser running a hopped up 283, a ’40 Ford with an Olds or Cad overhead swapped in, and even a Model A Gasser or ’32 Ford with mild body mods and a big engine under the stock hood. As time went on, those tried-and-true hot rod formulas gave way to the cars that raced right between the lines of the rulebooks. Lightweight, short wheelbase cars like the Willys coupe and Anglia became synonymous with Gasser racing and became legendary as these wild machines packed the stands with fans anxious to see what would happen next.
Ultimately, the same ambition and ingenuity that created the jacked up, short wheelbase Gasser drag car of the early to mid-60’s led to its demise. The advent of the funny car and other advances in chassis technology and aerodynamics rendered the high and mighty Gassers obsolete as cars across classes started to look more like the drag cars that we know today.
What Qualifies a Car as a Gasser? | Anatomy of a Gasser
As we discuss what is a Gasser, it’s also important to understand what isn’t. These days, just about any car with a jacked-up stance and a straight axle up front gets called a Gasser. In fact, there are lots of other subcultures and racing classes that these cars could have run in. As the jacked-up straight axle model proved its mettle, other classes embraced it. Factory Experimental cars, exemplified by the wild Mopar loophole machines and a few much-modified Chevy II’s, quickly figured out that a straight axle would save a bunch of weight and complexity when compared to a clunky stock independent front suspension. These cars are not Gassers. Likewise, as eager fans rushed the fences to see their Gas class heroes make smoky passes in high and mighty Willys coupes, they drove home with dreams of making their street machines look more like the Gassers they had just watched. As this evolved through the late 60’s and 70’s, “street freaks” were born. These were cars with lifted suspensions, often beyond the point of practicality, and big lumpy engines that spent their time bouncing down the boulevard and were more at home at a car show than the dragstrip. These cars are also not Gassers. You see where we’re going here. In short, not every car or truck with a straight axle, tall stance, and 60’s details can be called a Gasser. Modern builders looking to emulate the glory days need to do their research before festooning their quarter panels with an “A/G” designation that would never have appeared there at an actual 60’s drag race.
Are Gassers Fast? | Gassers in Drag Racing
At the height of the Gasser wars in the mid 1960’s, the big, bad, blown AA Gassers were running well into the 9’s, with trap speeds around 150 mph. By modern standards, that may not seem outrageously fast, but consider that contemporary nitro-huffing Dragsters were running 8’s and you begin to understand why Gassers were fan favorites. Also consider that these were primarily homebuilt rattletraps with absurdly short wheelbases and high centers of gravity that ran guardrail to guardrail on archaic drag slicks without all the modern safety gadgets that we put in our racecars today. We’re willing to bet that a full-tilt pass in a true 60’s gasser would put even the most seasoned modern dragster pilot on edge.
These days, if your singular goal is to build a car to cover a quarter mile as quickly as possible, a Gasser is not the easiest way to do it. However, if your goal is to go fast in style, a Gasser is just the ticket. Modern groups like the Southeast Gassers Association run a rulebook designed to keep the spirit alive with era-correct tech, while keeping modern gadgets like EFI and driving aids out. Though modern gasser race cars are likely not going to beat a full tube-chassis drag car with a mountain motor and a turbo, these guys run fast in style, just like our heroes from the Gasser glory days.
Iconic Gasser Names | Memorable Monikers from the Track
A quick look at the history books reveals that most Gassers were nicely finished, often with eye-catching candy paint and lettering proclaiming the name of the driver and owners, sponsors, or sometimes just a funny name for the car like “Flintstone Flyer” or “Gasser Passer.” And just as memorable as the cars were the drivers, some of whom achieved celebrity status through their racing exploits and appearances in national magazines as well as ads from speed parts manufacturers that fueled the legendary “Gasser wars.”
“Ohio George” Montgomery
“Ohio George” was one of the most successful Gasser drivers and his career not only spanned the golden era of the Gasser, his constant innovation often spearheaded the major revolutions that shaped the class. When his iconic, powder-blue ’33 Willys coupe won A/Gas at the ’59 Detroit Nationals, it was powered by a Cadillac engine and looked largely like a stock Willys with some big slicks stuffed under the fenders. When he returned to Detroit in ’60, the car was lifted sky high, pushing the 24-inch ground-to-crankshaft rule to the limit.
The car would continue to evolve, running that blown Caddy, followed by a blown Chevy, and finally a blown Ford Cammer. Ultimately, “Ohio George” was among the first to abandon the iconic Willys for a low-slung, tube chassis Mustang that spelled the beginning of the end for the Gasser’s glory days.
Dave Hales and the S&S Racing Team
Dave Hales was a member of the S&S Racing Team out of Falls Church, Virginia. He and his teammates built a series of Willys and Anglia Gassers that were dominant in the class in the early 60’s. This is Dave’s ’37 Willys coupe that he bought from a farmer for $25 on Thanksgiving Day, 1962. With help from his teammates and the S&S Parts Company, he mounted a ’57 Olds rearend and fitted a series of high-revving small block Chevys in front of the T10 4-speed. Dave would routinely wind the small block to 9,000 rpm, pulling the front tires with each shift. He would go on to hold records in D/G and C/G. The car currently resides in the Museum of American Speed for all to see how it was done at the peak of the Gasser wars.
Stone, Woods, and Cook
No discussion of Gassers can be complete without including the team that consisted of car owners Fred Stone, Leonard Woods Jr., and driver Doug Cook. Their “Swindler” Willys coupes became synonymous with the term Gasser. The Swindler cars were always nicely finished and very fast, first running blown Oldsmobiles and finally blown Chryslers. The team’s fame was fueled by their success as well as their inclusion in the often inflammatory ads taken out by speed parts manufacturers like B&M Hydros and cam grinders Engle, Isky, Howard’s, and Crane. These ads touted the accomplishments of drivers using their parts, and often stirred up racers and fans with claims, call outs, and silly nicknames when they ran in national publications like Hot Rod Magazine and Drag News.
“Big John” Mazmanian
Like Stone, Woods, and Cook, “Big John” was famous for a series of beautiful and fast cars. Also like SWC, Mazmanian’s fame only grew from his inclusion in the famous ads that fired the shots in the Gasser wars. In 1964, when Mazmanian’s Willys appeared on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine, he and driver Bones Balogh had just done what many thought impossible, becoming the first stock-bodied car to break into the 9’s. The accompanying article states that the 467-inch blown Chrysler was making 824 horsepower. Mazmanian also campaigned an equally beautiful Gasser Corvette that ran in Modified Sports.
Kroona/Sandberg For every big name and national headline, there were hundreds of racers from all over the country that ran beautiful, fast cars and won plenty of races but didn’t achieve the fame of the likes of Mazmanian or Montgomery. Such was the team of Dave Kroona and Dave Sandberg. Their first Gasser was an Anglia that was among the first Gassers to run a tube chassis. The car pictured here is the next evolution of that car and it features a wicked 6-71 blown 354 Hemi backed by what may have been the first Lenco in the class. This car represents the late era of the Gassers when many teams began to abandon the old favorites for lower, slipperier cars. In fact, the next Kroona and Sandberg car was a flip-top Opel GT.
Gasser Build Recipe | How to Build the Ultimate Gasser Drag Car
This may seem like ancient history, so why are we still talking about Gassers 70 years later? Well, there’s just something timeless about a wild drag car that looks like a Roth cartoon making fast passes down a dragstrip. Even though so many things have changed in the automotive world, Gassers still have a hold on our collective gearhead conscience. As such, Gassers are still being built in garages and raced competitively all over the country. Speedway Motors has a huge selection of Gasser parts designed to make building a Gasser even easier than it was in the 60’s. We even built our own straight axle Chevy II a few years back with one of our Gasser conversion kits as a tribute to the golden age of drag racing. Gassers have become timeless representations of the spirit of drag racing, exemplifying the philosophy that anything goes, as long as it might shave off a few tenths or add a couple miles per hour.
In that spirit, lets build a Gasser…at least on paper. First, we need a car. While something like an Anglia or Willys Gasser would be fun, those cars were scarce to begin with and are even harder to find now. While fiberglass replicas exist, it will be easier to look for a more accessible platform to start with. Let’s consider building a Tri-5 Gasser out of something like a ‘55 Chevy Gasser, ’57 Chevy Gasser, or maybe a Gasser Chevy II Nova like ours. Even a Gasser Mustang would have some historical precedence as the class evolved into the late 60’s. Regardless of the platform, the one ingredient that we definitely need to include is a Gasser straight axle. Speedway Motors has Gasser Front End Kits in various different widths and configurations to fit just about anything you can dream up. Once we have the nose in the air, we need to plant the rear of our Gasser chassis with some period-correct Gasser Ladder Bars and some drag slicks wrapped around some period correct Gasser wheels. We’ll need a period engine like a small or big block Chevy, Hemi, Cadillac or Olds overhead, or maybe even a hopped up straight 6. Whatever engine is chosen, it needs to be built with era-correct speed goodies to make some serious power, and bonus points for a blower, Hilborn injector, or even a tunnel ram and a gasser hood scoop that covers the carbs. We can feed the carbs or injectors with a spun aluminum gasser fuel tank out front, maybe in place of that unnecessary and heavy front bumper. Don’t forget the gasser headers with more bonus points awarded for fenderwell headers dumping behind the front tires. Let’s back up our hopped up old school mill with a manual transmission like a T10 or Muncie. Inside, our Gasser won’t need much more than a pair of bucket seats, a rollcage, a few vintage gauges, and some aluminum panels to close up any holes. To finish up our Gasser build, we’ll need some tinted lexan windows and finally, some hand-lettering on the body with a clever name. The beauty of gassers, then and now, is that they’re relatively simple machines. Modern builders can forego annoying complexity like computers and $20k upholstery jobs and instead focus on the fun stuff that makes Gassers loud, fast, and cool throwbacks to the golden age of drag racing.
The vintage photos used in this article are courtesy of John MacKichan, who was a car crazy kid in the Gasser glory days and, fortunately for us, took his camera with him to the track. Special thanks to John and his daughter, our own Jess Gasper, who has spent countless hours scanning John's old photos so we can all see how it really was back in the day.
