In the 1960s, the wild and colorful Willys gassers were among the most popular cars in drag racing. Here are five examples that are still fondly remembered today.
From 1933 through 1942, the struggling Willys-Overland Company of Toledo, Ohio manufactured a series of light, small economy cars with four-cylinder engines and minimal features. Less than stellar sellers in the showrooms, these models wouldn’t find popularity until decades later, when their dinky proportions and light weight made them ideal platforms for the new sport of drag racing, especially in the Gas Coupe and Sedan categories—better known as the gassers.
Originally intended by drag racing’s rules makers as dual-use machines for both street and track, the gassers quickly evolved into radical, all-out race cars with only the thinnest pretensions to road use. Soon, the class had its own large and loyal fan base. The Willys-based gassers, due to their short wheelbase and high center of gravity, were especially entertaining for the fans in the stands—all over the track, standing on their bumpers, never doing the same thing twice. In fact, the fans are still talking about these wild and crazy racers today. Here are five Willys gassers that left an indelible mark on the sport.
One of the best-known gassers to turn a wheel, the Stone, Woods, and Cook ’41 Willys from Los Angeles was actually a series of cars that raced under the Swindler A and Swindler B names all through the 1960s. First powered by a hefty supercharged Olds V8, the coupe(s) was later upgraded to a blown 392 Chrysler hemi stroked to 454 cubic inches. Drag strip legend Doug “Cookie” Cook performed the driving and tuning duties, backed by car owners Fred Stone and Leonard Woods.
Also hailing from Southern California, the ’41 Willys of Big John Mazmanian was built for maximum eye appeal with its blazing Candy Apple Red paint and chrome-plated everything. A champion at both show and go, the Willys was powered by a big, blown Chrysler hemi coupled to a four-speed GM Hydramatic transmission and wheeled by a series of drivers including Dick Bourgeois and Hugh Tucker. Big John (he was 6’5″) would later enter the funny car wars with an equally beautiful series of Plymouth Barracudas.
Charlie Hill and Porky Zartman of Hanover, Pennsylvania took the opposite approach with their small-block Chevy-powered 1940 Willys. The construction of this gasser was so rough it became known as the “Filthy Forty.” The sketchy presentation didn’t hurt the C/Gasser’s popularity with the fans, however. Old Filthy is still recalled warmly today for its violent starting line antics, including bumper-dragging wheelstands. Photo by John Durand at Capitol Raceway, 1963.
Built in 1968 using the latest techniques, the F Troop 1933 Willys of Detroiters Tom Prock and Jay Howell was a latecomer to the gasser scene. Unfortunately, NHRA technical inspectors looked over its flip-top fiberglass body and semi-space frame (Howell was shop manager at Logghe Stamping, a leading funny car builder) and turned thumbs down. The pair then campaigned the Willys on the match racing circuit, running low 8-second times at 180+ mph on nitromethane. This photo shows F Troop in its early form with green paint and a big-block Chevy V8. Later, the WIllys sported a rainbow color scheme and a 426 Mopar hemi.
Ohio George Montgomery’s 1933 Willys was a winner in NHRA national competition for nearly a decade. Pictured here at the 1959 U.S. Nationals in Detroit, the Dayton-based baby-blue coupe (also shown in the lead photo) continually evolved over the years, advancing from OHV Cadillac V8 power to a supercharged small-block Chevy and ultimately a 427 CID SOHC Ford V8. Today, the immaculately constructed racer is a proud possession of the Henry Ford Museum.
I must have seen The Filthy Forty run a thousand times at York US30 Dragway and other drag strips in the Philadelphia area. Who needs paint when you can have primer and greasy handprints instead?
The Shaker from South bend Indiana
Thomas E Loughlin Jr It was a match race between Phil Castronovo in the Custom Body Agitator Hemi Willys vs Sheets and Sheets Plastering’s 409 Willys (’41 versions) at Utica Rome Dragway. It was the first drag race I ever saw. the ram 409 beat the blown hemi two out of three …and I was hooked on drag racing FOR LIFE. Willys did it !!! I went on to personally promote and conduct national championship motorcycle drag racing events under the AMA- DRAGBIKE! and DRAGBIKE! USA banner in 67 American cities.from 1977-1992.
Consider adding a 6th, KS Pittman
I think you missed Jack Merkle of Ridgewood NY
Filthy Forty photo JohnDurand @ Capital Raceway 1963
The Prock and Howell Willys is a match race car and not a 60’s gasser, It should be replaced by K S Pittman’s Willys Hal Canode in Indian
I agree
what about ollie olsen’s *williemeaner*? i may have the name spelled incorrectly.
Ollie built all my race motors, we spent the summers in the Bahamas, and Ollie would always dock next to us on his boat the 007!!
wow, thanks so much for the reply! i don’t know how i missed this…so glad i came back to leave another message….! he and blanche were big into boating when i knew him first in the mid/late seventies. did you know him up until his death? and can you tell me more? what were you racing and where? would love to get in touch and talk some more if possible… thanks again….
What about Jr. Thompson and Ernie Nickolson out of So. Cal. both held top venue at all three tracks at the same time, but different times….
National record holder and all together strange Willys, “The Chicken Picker” of M. A. Madden of Anniston, Alabama. Four door sedan, perhaps the only four door gasser ever.
anybody remember Ollie Olsen racing one of these back in the day? don’t know where he lived at the time, but he wound up in west palm beach with his wife/blanche and a garage by the tracks off southern blvd. would love to hear of anything related. thanks in advance
You guys need to do your research before posting. The Prock and Howell car was NOT a legal gasser. It was a very cool car and way ahead of it’s time but was not a gassers. The flip up body should have gave it away even to the ones that don’t know gasser history.
If you bother to read the story, you will see the F Troop Willys is clearly described as a match racer. Match racing was a huge part of the ’60s gasser scene. I was there to see a lot of it.
I agree that match racing was a big part of Gasser history but it confuses a lot of the younger fans when pics of this car and several others get posted and called a gasser. Again I will say it was a very cool car. Gasser history is getting changed so bad in the last 20 years that before we know it nobody is going to know what one really was. I’m just trying my best to protect what’s left of the gasser name for your younger readers.
there was more to gassers other then 4 speeds and fuel injection. AA/GS cars had blowers & B&M hydros back in the period correct 1967 era. I know because I was a teenager back then and watched them run at Conn. drag way
“Golden Gasser” out of Gilmer, Texas was my favorite gasser.
I feel Virgil Cates Willys should be in this mix cause lets face it, it won the 1965 World Championship. How many Willys have won a World Championship?
Use to sit on our bikes, me and my brother and watch the gasers trailered on the highway to US30 race track. Now I got me one, an all steel 33, with all that history.
was called smilin jack back in the 60-70s.