In the early Sixties names such as George Montgomery, Stones-Wood-Cook, John Mazmanian, Jim Oddy and others were just as popular with fans as John Force, Warren Johnson, Tony Schumacher and Greg Anderson are with today’s fans. The cars back then were even more notable than the cars today. Match races between the hitters of the supercharged gassers was every bit as important to drag racing fans as NHRA’s Countdown to Eight is today. Words and Photos by Jeffburk - 8/17/07
It’s been 40 years or more since gasser fans like myself have seen this kind of racing. In fact almost the only place you ever could have seen it was during AA/GS class eliminations at Indy or Pomona. If you’re under 30 you’ve probably never seen these cars at all much less watched them crack a throttle in anger. But for a least one weekend on the historic eighth-mile Lancaster Motorsports Park near Buffalo, New York, fans and racers got to see supercharged gassers race heads-up for a good chunk of money.
So it was with more than anticipation that I attended a recent event at the ancient (for a drag strip) Lancaster track for an event billed as a shootout for AA/Gassers. The fact that it was endorsed and organized by none other than my friend and former gasser racer, Jim Oddy, made it even more appealing to me, appealing to the point that I even put up some DRO cash to support the race.
| QUALIFYING | ||||
| 1 | Rocky Pirrone | 426 Hemi | Alky/inj | 5.68 |
| 2 | Jeff Cryan | 392 Hemi | Gas/inj | 5.99 |
| 3 | Tom Britton | Hemi | Gas/carbs | 6.08 |
| 4 | John Faust | 468 BB Chevy | Alky/Inj | 6.19 |
| 5 | Eddy Kasicki | SB Chevy | Gas/carbs | 6.44 |
| 6 | Harvey Nayman | 355 SB Chevy | Gas/carbs | 6.72 |
| 7 | Chuck Lipka | 455 BB Olds | Gas/carbs | 6.92 |
| 8 | Gene O’Conner | 392 Hemi | Alky/inj | 6.99 |
| 9 | Joe Rundio | 427 BB Chevy | Gas/carbs | 7.93 |
| 10 | Jim Tinsmith | 392 Hemi | Alky/inj | 8.32 |
Eleven “AA/GS” cars showed up at Lancaster to qualify for the eight-car heads-up, pro tree race. In order to keep the racing as authentic as possible race organizer Oddy came up with some “guidelines” for the cars. Engines were restricted to iron cylinder heads and blocks, 6-71 superchargers (the racers gave Rocky Pirrone a one-race pass to use the 8-71 he had), and either gas or alcohol for fuel. Automatic trans were mandatory and no coil-over or wishbone front suspensions were allowed. Twelve-inch-wide M&H slicks on the rear were also mandatory. Vehicle weight and engine cubic-inch wasn’t checked. At least half a dozen racers who wanted to compete at this event were turned away due to their suspension or having aluminum heads or blocks.
There were three rounds of qualifying: two on Saturday and one Sunday morning.
Qualifying was lead by Philadelphia racer Rocky Pirrone in his alky-burning, blown 426 Hemi-powered ’33 “Boss Hydro” Willys as his 5.68/120 lap on his last qualifying shot covered the rest of the field by over three-tenths. Pirrone’s performances guaranteed that 8-71 superchargers won’t be allowed on the cars in the future.
