GASSERS GALORE
THE GOLDEN ERA OF THE GASSERS
DVD #022
This two hour and twenty-eight minute original movie production takes a look at the cars, drivers and crew members of the Golden Era (50's, 60's , 70's) of the Gassers. 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 forty different drag strips and over 1000 gassers in action.
The video begins with a visit to a dirt surface ghost track somewhere in America. The cars that are featured run in the Gas Coupe and Sedan category and it is interesting seeing them attempt to hook up on the dirt surface. - Our second segment takes you to Madera, California where we look at some early gassers running at the Madera Airport back in the 1950's. The Madera Clutchers Car Club organized the races and teamed up with NHRA in 1954 to hold the very first California State Championship Drags at Madera. - The next segment moves to Island Dragway in Great Meadows, NJ. We begin with a look at the gassers when they used a flag starter and later with the Christmas Tree. We show you a special match race between K. S. Pittman and the Malicoat Brothers. You see a whole bunch of gassers in this segment some are famous some not so famous. We also have a special story about the 1958 409 B/G Chevy owned and raced by Carmen Rotonda. - Maryland race track Aquasco is next and we see a great group of gassers running at the track. Aquasco was know for hosting the Presidents Gold Cup races and you get a look at some the gassers that made up the field. We also include some terrific footage that we received from the S & S Race Team out of Falls Church, Va. The team members were Gene Altizer and his Anglia, Fred Bear and his Willys, K. S. Pittman and his Willys and Dave Hales with his Willys gasser. - Atco Dragway in New Jersey is next and we have included a great group of local and regional Gassers. We also feature the S & S Team cars at Atco and you will love the footage. There is some classic footage of Fred Bear's Willys with shoe polish lettering showing it to be the Eastern Drag News Top Dog. Also included is some original sound footage from the 1970's. This footage shows several 1960's Gassers that became bracket cars in the 1970's. - We follow racer Ed Stegena to Vargo Dragway and see him race a 1940 Studebaker Coupe called Orange Aid. Ed shared his home movies with us and you will love the story about the Studebaker Gasser. We also show a group of local gassers in competition during this segment. Also included is a look at the Pizzi/Volpe Modified Sport Corvette. In this very rare footage you will see the late Tony Pizzi driving Carlo "Ollie" Volpe's Corvette to a win against a group of gasser competitors. - Our next stop is at Pomona California. In this segment we show you some of the gassers coming out to the NHRA Winternationals at Pomona. My favorite is a 1957 Ford called "The Gunfighter." Our next stop is at Bakersfield Drag Strip for a look at some of the cars that ran in the March Meet under the direction of the Smokers Car Club. We have some rare footage of Tony Waters "Giant Killer" '25 Ford Roadster. Great stuff. - Next up is Bee Line Dragway in Scottsdale, Az. In this segment you see a great group of Nationally known gassers. Among those shown are Shores & Hess, Johnny Loper, Junior Thompson, Kohler Brothers, Herrera Brothers and the Airoso Brothers. Oh brother this is a great segment. - Green Valley Texas is our next stop and we see three of the biggest names is the gasser ranks. How about K. S. Pittman, Stone Woods and Cooke, and Big John Mazmanian. Lots of other local and regional gassers fill out the field. - Next up is Detroit Dragway. We start off in 1959 and show you some footage of the Ramchargers "High and Mighty" 1949 Plymouth Business Coupe. From there we move into the 1960's and look at a nice variety of gassers running at Detroit. Our next stop is at Muncie Dragway in Muncie, In where we look at some of the early gassers running there. Two of the more notable cars belong to Gene Schwartz and Moody and Jones. - Englishtown NJ also had gassers galore and we show you a variety of cars in the pit area and out on the track. There are about 70 cars shown in this segment alone. We also have another look at Carmen Rotonda's '58 Chevy as it takes on the competition at E'Town. Great stuff! - At Maple Grove Drag 0 Way we see The Reinford Brothers "Moose", Charlie Hill, The Jolly Dolly, The Saul Brothers Willys Pickup and Leonard Long's Falcon gasser among others. We also do a special feature on Bob Kaiser's Anglia and the Mori Brothers Chevwagon VW gasser. - Southeastern Dragway is located in Dallas, Ga and we take a look at some Georgia gassers from the 1950's and 1960's. The highlight of this segment is a detailed look at the Hemi Hurricane Willys Gasser that was raced by Bunky Bobo. Bunky still owns the car and we get to see it race in the 1960's and then how it looks today. Great story. A quick stop at New York National Raceway reveals a nice group of local and regional gassers. - We also make a stop at Westhampton Dragway which is also located on Long Island, NY. Among the local cars you will see the Westchester Automotive Corvette, Vinny Tarantolla's Willys, Coney Island Ralph Landolfi's Willys and the Alpine Pontiac sponsored Willys. Closing out the segment is K. S. Pittman's '33 Willys. - We also caught some southern gassers at Phenix Dragway in Phenix City, Al. We have some very rare footage of the Ed Martin Thunderbolt, Jr '32 Ford A/MP and Joe Lunati's Devon bodied gasser. - At Cecil County Dragway we see the late Ross Gilbert with his B/MP '40 Chevy and a host of local and regional gassers. We also show The Shallcross Bros., Charlie Hill, the Cunningham Bros Anglia and the S & S Team cars. We also include a very cool in-car shot of a four speed gasser going down the track. - Next stop is Bristol Tn and we see two six cylinder cars that set NHRA National Records. The first is the 1954 Corvette called "The Pizza Man" and the second is the EMPI Inch Pincher VW. You get to see some rare footage of the little VW being loaded on its special transporter vehicle. - Quarter Aces is a small drag strip in Pennsylvania but it was big on gasser action. We do a profile of the 1956 "Half Breed" Chevy owned by Merv Moyer. Merv put a Ford 427 in the car and became very successful with it. In 1971 they changed the name of the track to South Mountain Dragway and we take a look at some action taking place in the 1970's. Our feature car is a little 1959 Anglia and it is too cool. National Trail Raceway is located near Columbus, Oh and it is the setting for our next segment. We show you three different Opel gassers in the pits. Norm Paddocks Hemi powered Mini Brute Opel GT is a thing of beauty as were the two Opel Kadetts of Dave Mason and Jack Ditmars. Also included is the Wild Frog Corvette that belongs to Jack Hart. At York US 30 we see some of the early gassers and then a group of gassers that competed at the 1965 NHRA Record meet at York. Located at the intersection of Routes 75 & 80 in Monrovia, MD we find 75-80 Dragway. Our feature car in this segment is a Street Roadster running out of the Chambersburg Motor Knights Auto Club. We also follow the car to Mason Dixon Dragway in Boonesboro, Md. where we see more gasser action. Some of the other cars shown include Harry Huntzberry's 1930 409 A/G Chevy, Ben Farner's H/G Chevy, Nelson Parker and the Gallopin' Grapes gasser and the G W Motors Fiat out of Winchester, Va. Our next stop is Pensacola Dragway in Pensacola, Fl. In this segment we feature a match race between J C Sizemore's AWB '55 Chevy called Golden Rod and the Hemi powered Dodge Dart called Kid Goat. Several other gassers are also included.
We have also included a segment called Gasser Bits. This segment features short clips from ten different drag strips and it is all gasser action. Included are: Hawaii Drag Strip, Thunderbolt Raceway in Florida, Allentown Pa Raceway, Flemington NJ Raceway, Kissimmee Florida Airport Drags, Fort Walton Beach Florida Drags, Amelia Earhart Field Drags in South Florida, Palm Beach Florida Drags, Gainesville Florida Drags, Miami Dragway and two unknown ghost tracks.
Our final stop is Indy for the NHRA National Drag Races. Our footage is pretty much from the 1960's and includes over 200 gassers and altereds. You will recognize many of the cars but others you may have never seen before. All the big names are there: K S Pittman, Stone Woods Cooke, Jeg Coughlin, Junior Thompson, Jack Ditmars, Ohio George, Big John Mazmanian and many more. Other lesser known cars are also shown. In this segment we feature a special story about Ohio George Montgomery's 1969 Turbo Charged Mustang. This is a car that changed the face of gasser racing and you will learn how it was conceived.
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: Bunky Bobo, Bob Kaiser, Gene Mori, Merv Moyer, Carmen Rotonda, Ed Stegena and Ohio George Montgomery
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 gasser 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 30 Chapter markers so you can quickly navigate to your favorite part of the video.
2015 marks our thirtieth year of producing historic drag race videos. We have attempted 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 spread the word and help to support our effort.
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