GASSERS OF THE ‘50's ‘60's ‘70's
DVD #017
T his one hundred and five minute original movie production takes a look at the Wild Gassers and Altereds of the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's. You will find a mix of nationally famous cars as well as regional and local cars from around the country. We have included footage from thirty eight different tracks in the USA and Canada.
The video begins with a trip to the 1958 National Drags at Oklahoma City, Ok . The cars that are featured run in the Gas Coupe and Sedan category as well as the Street Roadster, Roadster and Altered categories. We give a brief overview of the rules that were in effect back then and apply them to the cars that are shown. The final clip in this segment shows the Oklahoma Cowboys racing a quarter horse against a drag car. Pretty cool. - Our second segment takes you to Lions Drag Strip where we look at some early gassers then move forward to the Last Drag Race at Lions where we look at a group of gassers that competed at the 1972 event. Junior Thompson ended up winning the gasser eliminator and he talks to us about the race and his car. - The next segment moves to the 1960 Nationals at Detroit Dragway . We follow the Donovan, Welch and May Team to Detroit and see them race one of their cars in the gasser class. You see a whole bunch of gassers in this segment some are famous some not so famous. Ohio George Montgomery was the big winner at the event and we do an interview with him. - Ohio George is then shown at a Gasser Match race at Covington, Ga in 1961. The big winner of the day however was Georgia racer Hubert Platt. Hubert talks about the race and the tractor and trailer he used to transport his gasser cars. - Our next stop is at Muncie Drag Strip for a special gasser meet in 1963. Twelve Willys gassers were at the show and you get to see one of them put it up on the back bumper. Great stuff. - Connecticut Dragway is next and you see a whole bunch of local gassers doing their thing on the quarter mile. Great variety of cars in this segment. One of the Willys gassers does a spin out but avoids any damage. - At the Dover Drag Strip in Wingdale, NY we see fourteen local gassers doing their thing. We were able to name almost all of the cars with the help of some people from a Dover Reunion group. - Island Dragway in Great Meadows, NJ is next and once again we look at a group of local cars in action. It is interesting to see how many gassers were running back in the day and virtually unknown to the national audience. You also get to see the New Jersey guys riding donkeys on the track. Very strange. - Maryland race track Aquasco is next and we see a great group of gassers running the track. The most noteworthy car is the Jolly Dolly of Bob Bernardon. This car appeared in all the car magazines and was a strong runner on the track. The Reinford Brothers also were on hand with the “Moose” ‘38 Chevy Gasser. - Atco Dragway in New Jersey offers us a few notable cars in the next segment. Former Competition Eliminator World Champion Bob Kaiser is shown with his Anglia Gasser and the Shallcross Bros also have two cars in the mix. K S Pittman makes a pass as does the Reinford’s once again with the Moose Chevy. - Englishtown NJ also had a great group of gassers including Joe Amato with his ‘40 Chevy gasser. K S Pittman is also shown with two cars. We have some very rare footage of KS losing a tire off his Opel GT gasser. - We have a half dozen local gassers racing at New England Raceway in Epping NH. The cars are mostly Willys and Chevrolet’s. - At Maple Grove we see Jim Oddy, Charlie Hill, Harry Lazader, Jim Zakia and Jim Yodock among others. - We follow racer Ed Stegena to Vargo Dragway and see him race two different gasser cars. Ed ran a ‘51 and a ‘55 Chevy and he shared his home movies with us. Pretty cool footage. We also show a group of local gassers in competition during this segment. - More of the same at New York National Raceway . Among the local cars are a couple sponsored by the S & K Speed Shop. - We also caught the southern gassers at Phenix Dragway in Phenix City, Al. Interesting group of cars in this segment. We did an interview with the late J C Sizemore a few years ago and it fits perfectly in this production. - At York US 30 we see the first car raced by Fred Welch and he tells us the story behind the car. Interesting stuff. This car became an Eastern Drag News Top Dog in 1963. - At Cecil County Dragway we see the Donovan Welch and May unique car hauler (Cadillac Hearse) and their 38 Chevy. We also show Stone Woods Cooke, The Shallcross Bros. Moyer Mercury 55 Thunderbird and Charlie Hill. The story of the Cunningham Bros Anglia is also included in this segment. We close out the segment with a very cool in-car shot of a four speed gasser going down the track. - Next stop is Bristol Tn and we see Ohio George, Moody and Love, Fred Hurst and several others. - Capitol Raceway is another Maryland track and we see Gene Altizers Anglia, The Mori Bros Chevwagon VW, the Daggett and Dorfler Willys and several other local gassers. - Fremont Raceway in California is next and we see The Panella Bros Anglia, The Nunes and Murray Willys, The Blown Hell 55 Chevy altered wheel base gasser and a great group of local gassers.
We have also included a segment called Gasser Bits . This segment features short clips from fourteen different drag strips and it is all gasser action. Included are: Hawaii Drag Strip , an Outlaw track in Mississippi , Malone Florida , Irwindale Ca ., Numidia Dragway Pa, Suffolk Va , Cayuga Canada , US30 Indiana , 75 80 Maryland , Pocono Drag Lodge Pa, Cicero NY , New Mexico Track, Shangrala NY , Sunshine Drag Strip Florida.
Our final stop is Indy for the NHRA National Drag Races . Our footage is pretty much from the early to mid 1960's and includes a ton of gassers and altereds. You will recognize many of the cars but others you may have never seen before. All the big names are there : Ollie Olson, KS Pittman, Stone Woods Cooke, Jeg Coughlin, Junior Thompson, Jack Ditmars, Oties Automotive, Ohio George, Big John Mazmanian, Davis and Ingram, Moody and Jones, Gene Cooper, Pork Zartman, and many more. Other lesser known cars are also shown. Our final run is between Ohio George and Gene Altizer at the 1963 Nationals. Ohio George won but Gene Altizer tells us the other side of the story. We close out the video with some footage from the early 1980's at Dragway 42 .
Numerous interviews are added to the story line and help to tell the personal side of being involved in the gasser movement. You hear from: Junior Thompson , Ohio George Montgomery , Hubert Platt , Mike Gray , Russ Cunningham , Ross Donovan , Fred Welch , Horace Reinford , J C Sizemore , Ed Stegena and Pork Zartman .
As always we have taken the time to dub real car sounds on to the movie footage in order to give you the most realistic sights and sounds available of the golden era of drag racing. We have also included relative narration in the video so you can follow all the action that takes place. Get your copy today. Our DVD includes 24 Chapter markers so you can quickly navigate to your favorite part of the video.
I know we have lost many Racers from the golden era of Drag Racing and many of the Drag Strips are long gone but here at Bee On Video we hope to take you back in time so you can relive those exciting days when the legends raced. We will continue to document the history of our sport and tell the story of the people who made it what it is today. So if you like what we are doing please pass the word and help to support our effort.
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