Mopar gassers?

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Here's a couple new ones. The blue Barracuda is Richard Petty. The Petty's spent a short time drag racing when Nascar outlawed the Hemi for stock car racing. They took a break just to protest. tmm
 

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HEMI-ITIS said:
Just went throgh this whole thread:sleepy1:Do I have to come over the throgs neck bridge,,,,,,or you coming over here??We can run the Clearview or Conduit:glasses2: Sheeeet,I'll have to spot you a little,but FULLMETELJACKET will be my negotiator:tongue1:Here's my junk:toothy3:
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Let's run on LI..:D
 

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67Dart273 said:
You guys need to be careful, here. While most of these old girls are "pretty cool," many are NOT "gassers." Even the "high and mighty" someone posted is running in C/A. Some of these cars posted are altereds, some are early funnies. In either case they are NOT "gas."
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It's a line drawn in the sand. Most of the old straight axle coupes with blown and injected Hemis were always considered Gassers regardless of what fuel they burned. If we use "Gasser" as a generic term describing the look, Any car with a straight axle front end jacked way up and some fat tires on the back could be considered a gasser.
 
Love the Henry J and the 33 Willys for sale. I have another shot of that HenryJ. It was on Facebook.
tmm
 

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toolmanmike said:
Here's a couple new ones. The blue Barracuda is Richard Petty. The Petty's spent a short time drag racing when Nascar outlawed the Hemi for stock car racing. They took a break just to protest. tmm
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That little Barracuda of Richard Petty's was actually an Altered class car because of several reasons, the most obvious being the altered wheelbase, a no-no for Gassers of that era. I think, working headlights were required on Gassers, at that time, too.

No matter; it's still one of the neatest A-Body race cars I have seen. I love it!!! Thanks to all who posted it!:cheers:

It's competition life was cut short when it was involved in a serious (fatality) accident. Too bad; it was well-engineered and visually appealing.

To my knowledge, Richard never went drag racing again. I think it ran "B" Altered (6.6 pounds per cubic inch, at the time, IIRC.)
 
Bill, I remember the story. I believe the car lost control and killed a spectator. I remember seeing a photo of it behind Petty's old shop back in the weeds and sticks. tmm
 

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toolmanmike said:
Love the Henry J and the 33 Willys for sale. I have another shot of that HenryJ. It was on Facebook.
tmm
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I used to wonder why there weren't more Henry J's turned into Gassers, until I built one.

All Gas Coupes were allowed a ten-percent engine setback by the rulesmakers at the time (mid '50s to late '60s.) The Willys coupes and sedans that were popular (think Stone Woods and Cook, and Ohio George Montgomery,) and early Fords (say, model A's and 'thirties-era Fords, and such) had a ten-percent engine setback in the original design; adding a different engine required no heroic measures to take advantage of that important rule.

But, the original design of a Henry J had the engine sitting really far forward in relation to the position of the front wheels. That meant that in order to move the engine back to a ten-percent setback (to take advantage of the weight-distribution advantage afforded by getting the bulk of the engine and transmission's weight far enough rearward,) you had to cut the firewall and floorboard a great deal.

I (and my partner) put a brand X V8 into a Henry J for C Gas, and with the legal 10% setback, the #1 sparkplug was directly underneath the base of the windshield!!! No kidding! With the engine cover off, I could reach across and adjust the timing (turn the distributor.) Virtually the whole engine was inside the passenger compartment!

Tires (slicks) of that era were so poor, that you HAD to take advantage of the rules for every little advantage, or get left in a pile of molten, smoking rubber. Now, you can build a Henry J with the engine in its original location and still hook respectably, but back then, it was just not possible. It was a LOT of work to cut away the firewall and floor to get the engine back to an advantageous location for an effective race car. Now, with the tires we have access to, it's not so important.

Engine setback was measured by noting the forward-rearward distance from the #1 sparkplug to the centerline of the front spindle. Gassers were allowed 10% of the wheelbase, while Altereds were allowed 25%.

Good-biting tires eventually made that rule unnccessary.

The Henry J in the picture obviously is getting ahold of the strip with no engine setback at all... Good tires make that possible.

Times change!!!:cheers: This was 1963...
 
toolmanmike said:
It's a line drawn in the sand. Most of the old straight axle coupes with blown and injected Hemis were always considered Gassers regardless of what fuel they burned. If we use "Gasser" as a generic term describing the look, Any car with a straight axle front end jacked way up and some fat tires on the back could be considered a gasser.
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I have to disagree somewhat. The original idea of gas was a "street car" which was modified. Altereds were never considered to be a streetable car For me, that IS THE defining line. That is, having a bad *** car which can actually go down the road, regardless of how bad the fuel mileage was. Running a supercharger does NOT kick you out of "gas" it just put you into "/GS"

Gassers (at least originally) had to have some sembelance of stock seating position, IE no rear seat or center steering, had to have wipers, lights, and even if a tiny single exhaust, had to have a full exhaust system. When gas was first created, cars even had to carry license plates. These rules were changed as things went along, and I see NHRA by 62 had dropped some of this "street stuff."

http://www.nostalgiagassers.com/category/nhra-rules/

Altereds had none of this, allowing more engine setback, center steering, etc.

Unfortunately, http://www.gassermadness.com where much documentation existed, is no longer with us.
 
toolmanmike said:
It's a line drawn in the sand. Most of the old straight axle coupes with blown and injected Hemis were always considered Gassers regardless of what fuel they burned. If we use "Gasser" as a generic term describing the look, Any car with a straight axle front end jacked way up and some fat tires on the back could be considered a gasser.
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"Gasser" is a modification of the official nomenclature :"Gas Coupe and Sedan," which was used to classify cars back in the 'fifties, when a lot of the racers used alcohol or nitro in these cars.


It (this separation) was an important part of racing, because there were stringent rules restrictions, mainly based on engine size, car weight and the amount of "bite" available (due to the crummy tires available, and used in that class.)

Now, with tire improvements, all that previously-important chassis stuff has gone by the wayside and what Mike says about anything with a straight front axle and a powerful engine, being called a "Gasser," is true, regardless of things that were important in the fifties. Class racing isn't what it once was.

The Nostalgia racers have for the most part, abandoned a lot of the rules requirements that separated the Altereds and F/X cars from the class-legal "Gassers" back then. It's not a bad thing; just different.
 
67Dart273 said:
I have to disagree somewhat. The original idea of gas was a "street car" which was modified. Running a supercharger does NOT kick you out of "gas" it just put you into "/GS"
QUOTE]

Prior to the "GS" class nomenclature for superchargd cars, the NHRA, at least, simply moved your car UP a class if you had a supercharger on it.

Your former D Gasser was now a C Gasser after you bolted on the 6-71...

That didn't work in an A class car, (nowhere to go!) so after a few years, the" GS" designation was born. I'm talking 1961, probably, for the "GS" moniker for the supercharged Gassers.

The blown A cars were given some screwed up nomenclature for awhile; I remember AA/GS on cars in the top forced induction class for a time...
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Here's a classic!
 

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Great thread guys! Special Kudos to Bronx,Bill and Toolman Mike! The stories and anecdotes,part of the history,that keeps that era alive.
 
Abodybomber said:
Great thread guys! Special Kudos to Bronx,Bill and Toolman Mike! The stories and anecdotes,part of the history,that keeps that era alive.
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Thanks, Bomber and Asa! I worked at the local strip on the tech line from about 1958-1968, and had lots of fun with these cars, so I remember a lot of it (and, have forgotten even more, I am sure!)

If I'd known then what I know now, I sure would have won a lot more races...:eek:ops:
 
Here's one. tmm
 

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OOPS unloaded the tires!
 

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