LAST REAL HOT RODS

THE CHANGES IN DRAG RACING KEPT COMING FAST AND RELENTLESSLY AS THE 1960S WOUND down. The growth of Gassers, American- and foreign-built early production-based coupes and sedans with their supercharged V-8s running racing gasoline, had literally evolved from the moment that drag racing was first created in the late 1940s. Every drag pit area had always been well-stocked with these supercharged hybrids, which were the outgrowth of the homebuilt creations that defined the American hot rod. In the end, Gassers were simply the logical apex of development of a fast moving sport, their supercharged gas-swilling mega-inch V-8 engines pouring out way more horsepower than any stock-based, short-wheelbase chassis was ever intended to manage. The crowds absolutely loved them.

Tastes of the masses, however, can be notoriously fickle, as was proved when factory-supported drag teams began doing all sorts of weird things with tube-frame Chevrolet Novas and Chevelles, Pontiac GTOs, Ford Mustangs, and Mopar A990 hardtops at the midpoint of the Sixties. Inexorably, the new Funny Cars began to elbow the Gassers, hard, off their long-held pedestal as drag racing’s eternal fan favorites. The stalwart drag racing photojournalist