When is a gasser not a gasser? That would be when it runs on nitromethane! Oklahoma’s Tod Barker has a 1948 Anglia that casual drag racing fans would look at and call a gasser. They wouldn’t be overtly wrong on many levels but once you hear this thing start and its 427ci, supercharged Chevy rat motor is belching fire out of the exhaust pipes, things drastically change.
It should be noted that there was a small but dedicated outlaw gasser circuit made up of racers who wanted to run fuel and run outside the existing rules of the gas classes in the later parts of the 1960s. We’re talking cars like the Hill Brothers and perhaps most famously the Prock and Howell F-Troop Willys. That car had a flip body, center steering, and the works! They were wild and unpredictable machines and they had a short time in the match racing sun before fading away.
Tod Barker apparently wants to bring some of that magic back and we’re 100% on board. This video made by the VictoryRedColorado channel on YouTube during the Meltdown Drags that were held at Byron Dragway in Illinois. The car fires, does a burnout and comes off the starting line well and just as the tires touch down the machine gets into this violent harmonic front end flopping situation. Forcing Barker to mash the brakes and nearly come to a complete stop on the track.
This car is awesome on every level. From the paint and the look to the fact that it is a big block Chevy engine that’s not afraid to chew on some of the world’s best racing fuel, nitromethane!
The dreaded “Death wobble” try a steering damper dude.
Yeah right – I could almost run the quarter quicker than that! Swap in a Hemi (and a steering damper) and you could run a 6 no problem. This could be a whole new class, nitroussers – so get building and make sure there\’s only one Chevy that always makes the slowest pass!
Car sounds great
Nice to see lights at the track to bad they are on wheels,