“This year we had over 500 cars making passes on the strip, about 25 of the real old gassers, and the grandstands were packed,” he added. “It takes us back to the ’60s, the real peak of the home-built gasser cars, the Willy’s and Anglia’s with the big V8 and the wheelstands.
“Dayton was a hot bed of gassers, George Montgomery was the best, and he made it famous right here, along with Fred Hurst, Jerry Ault and the others. At one time, there were more gassers in Ohio than California according to the NHRA.” Crowder said.
The Gathering of the Geezers is all about pure old drag racing, with super stock, street cars, gassers or front engine rail dragsters.
“We race them heads up, and for the ‘Grandpa Eliminator.’ We even use a flag man instead of a Christmas tree to start the race,” Crowder said. “We also allow the racers to have a passenger, so they can take their wife or kids along for the ride, and people love that.”
The third Gathering of the Geezers was held in mid-August at Kil-Kare, and local drag racer and builder Jim Unger used it to shake down his nostalgia rail dragster.
“I’ve been working on it off and on for two years,” said Unger, who owns Jim Unger Racing, a Dayton shop that builds nostalgia cars and other types of drag racing chassis and parts. “I designed this car to be like the old days, but fast and safe.”
Unger’s 185-inch rail uses a blown and fuel injected V8 that produces about 800 horsepower on alcohol.
“I made about five passes on the day, and every one was solid,” he said. “I only ran the 1/8th mile, and turned a 5.90 at 125 MPH right off the trailer. This things drives like a straight-line Cadillac.”
“I try to build one rail car each year, but before I’ll sell it, I drive it myself to make sure it is safe and reliable,” Unger explained. “Unlike most dragsters, this car has rack and pinion steering and I set the engine a little further out front so it would be more stable.”
Mike Thompson was making some passes at Kil-Kare in his 1948 Anglia C/Gasser. “This is my first time back at Kil-Kare in 40 years. I used to race this car here all the time,” the longtime drag racer said.
“When I was younger, I mostly did huge wheelstands with it and broke lots of axles and suspension parts,” he said with a laugh. “Now I have it figured out and it’s a lot of fun to get out here and stand on the gas.”
Crowder is already planning the fourth Gathering of the Geezers for August 2012.
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