Drag Racing History: Is This The Car That Killed The Gassers?
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2023
- Talk to a lot of drag racing history lovers and they'll tell you that Ohio George's Malco Mustang was the car that killed off the gassers. Are they right? In this video we tell the story of how the car came to pass, what it's effect was, and how history progressed for the gassers in the 1960s.
This is a deep dive into the incredible cars of Ohio George Montgomery and how they were so often the heaviest hitters in the gasser category. From a Willys with a blown Cadillac to the most advanced drag racing engine of the 1960s, this guy had his hands on all of it.
How did the Mustang come to exist? Did it kill the class? Here come to facts to let you decide! 
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My dad is in this video at 3:30 he’s in the back (far left) helping push Ohio George’s car. He passed in 2021 and one thing he always cherished, was his time working for George. My father was a drag racing fanatic until the end. With George’s recent passing, I hope they’re racing together once again up above. RIP Dad & George
Your Father is hangin with the Greats Again!
I'm disabled now, But I built and maintained NHRA cars till I couldn't anymore, Now I lay in bed and build custom Hot Wheels and custom model cars, Just told model buddy its time I build the Malco Gasser kit, No customizing needed, At All! George did awesome work! 😎
Sorry for your loss.
Im 60 years old and i freaking love history lessons like this. I hope that you keep doing this.
Like NASCAR with cars all the same and NHRA Pro levels basically all the same, it’s the lower ranks, of stock, super stock etc. are the real race cars, just like the Willys’s of the day.
Talked to OG at a meet 2 years ago. He told me he was a Chevy guy till he saw the Ford Cammer. When he got his hands on the engine it was over. His first year he went 11 of 12. He lost only 1 race, his wheely bar broke. When he went to Indy with the Cammer, he said he was a full second quicker than anyone. He peddled his way to a win, never making a full out run! Stone Woods, Big John and others saw what he had, and all signed a petition to ban his engine. OG told me he had a much better engine at home that was quicker than his current Cammer. And yup, it was another Ford engine.
That goes to show what sore losers ,Stone, Woods ,and cook and the others were to sign a petition to ban that Ford Cammers,it's competition why not build some thing to beat it, instead they were just being a bunch of crybabies😂
Happen to Ford alot. And hemi's in some classes too. Nhra must have had stock in gm.
@@AirsallyI think GM has stock on the different sanctions. Use to see similar in local stock car racing too. The far and few Ford powered cars were always being penalized with weight or spoiler changes.
@@danonoveh8114it’s just easier to pitch a fit and have a sanctioning body ban something than it is to spend time and millions of dollars trying to beat it. I blame the sanctioning body’s for their lack of balls for standing up for fairness!!! They buckle to who ever whines the loudest.
Yeah boys, I'm older than dirt also, I worked at blue max in dallas, We built offshore race engines, Roundy round engines, aries himi s
All of my chevy and mo par buddies, Argued with me, I told them that ford had the goodies, They argued it cost more, I told them horsepower cost money.
Pretty sure I owned the most h.p.that ever came out of detroit.
It was a pontiac big block, Somebody had ordered what was called a stage two cam for it, It was so bumpy, And idled so rough, Pontiac discontinued that cam after the first year.
I was turning low 10s, With an automatic, And cheater slicks. factory intake, factory cast iron exhaust, Factory factory factory.
I did put high octane fuel in it, I advanced the timing. But that was all I did, The damn thing was a torque monster, I could never get it more than half throttle, Till I was going eighty miles an hour, These are just the facts boys, Find an old pontiac dude, And he will tell you the same story.
Brain, I am 75 going on 76 and I clearly remember the early 60s of drag racing.
You are so right the Gassers were fantastic the sound was pure thunder and speed wo baby.
I did not get into drag racing until at a family reunion I met a long lost Uncle.
Bill GRUMPY" Jenkins and I hit it off right quick. I fact I bought a 68 Camaro and he steered me into a good quality
frame builder.And theone day I came home from work and was faced with two large wooden crates.
The sender was Jenkins Competion. In one box was a complete Chevy Small black. And the other was a Jenkins built 4 speed.
When I got the car built a trip or three to the strip revealed 10.5 second times. And the car drove straight as a arrow. The power was smooth .
Oh yeah I wish I had that car now just as a collector. I know where the complete car is I offered to buy the car but pricewas 100,000 so nope.
What a lucky duck you are.
Fun fact no car is worth over a 100k. Max price for any car should be 50k. Sorry but blame auctions for artificially inflating the prices. Why I hate that big ass car auction that's always on TV. They control the prices on all used and new cars
To me that era of the gas-class cars was the most bad ass. Those Mustangs (Ohio George, Mallicoat Bros, Mike Mitchell's Corvette, Opels etc). Some of the meanest drag cars built. Thanks Mr. Lohnes for the memories, I'm going to search for a Malco Mustang model kit now. Let's keep our thoughts on Steve Magnante's recovery.
Yeah that man should be a car enthousiasts national treasure. He's a living encyclopedia.
I’ll be 60 this year. I’ve learned more on RUclips in the last 5 years than everything I learned in school. What a great time to be alive.
I'm 70 now,i had the great pleasure of watching George in his red Boss 429 win at the US NATIONALS. I'm very sorry to hear of his passing. Time marches on,& another drag racing hero of mine has left us. RIP sir,you were one of the best of the best.❤
I remember building the AMT plastic model of the Malco Mustang back in the day 😎👍
Ha ha… I think I still have one in the box.
My brothers and i all had those models too ! Loved those days....want them back
As it turns out I actually have the Gas Ronda model. I did build the Malco Gasser back in the day. I think it included two wheelbases even.
One of the coolest people I've ever had the chance to meet was George! Got to sit with him at the hot rod reunion in Columbus for an hour or so while it rained and just listen to stories about the racing the willys. Rank it right up there with being able to sit in Bill Jenkins office and do the same about L79 novas for a bit, and get a tour of the shop. Thanks B!
That Willys with the chopped-top and the big cammer was my favorite car of the day !!! Being a young lad nearing the age of 10, I witnessed the transition to the Mustang. But that Willys has always been near and dear to my heart !!!
For sure. I got to sit across from him at dinner at the FE Race in Beaver Springs and will cherish that forever. A great innovator and a great man.
@@tomp1612 Wow !!!
My oldest brother had a 56 Ford back in the early 60's. He came across a Latham Blower which he planted on his 312 Ford engine. Wanting to drag race with it, he was told that he would run C Gas Supercharged, but would have to have a roll bar in his car. being a welder and metal fabricator, he installed a removable roll bar and was allowed to run CG/S at Indianapolis Raceway Park. He never had any competition in his class and brought home a trophy every weekend. I think he ran in the low 14's. Yet another classic story of kids following their dreams and spending what we called CUBIC MONEY.
The best years were the 50’s and 60’s. I went to the Sumer Nationals in Indianapolis in the 1960’s. The biggest thrill I got at the Nationals was when the Freight Train made a pass down the track. What a beautiful sound. When you see that for the first time it is hard to believe your eyes! Thanks for the video Brian. It brings back memories!
By the 'Freight Train' I assume you are talking about the twin engine AA/ Gas Dragster. the AA/GD class was deleted and replaced by the Top Alcohol Dragster (TAD) class. Today's drag cars rarely have names and are updated and repainted each season. The drivers rather the car is the focus nowadays
First a big thanks to RUclips for recommending this video and leading me to Brian's channel.
Second, thanks Brian for telling George's story, as I feel he's often overlooked in favor of the California based Gas teams. As a kid who began his addiction to cars and drag racing in the mid-1960's, my admiration for Montgomery was fueled the magazines of the era, and by the model kits of the Malco Gasser Willys by AMT, and both the 1967 and 1969 Malco Mustangs by MPC.
Third, the legacy of Montgomery and his contemporaries is reflected in today's interest in Gas class race cars, with several vintage builds resurrected and racing again, and also participation by folks who were born a decade or more after the category ceased to exist.
I met George at the NHRA Museum in Pomona in the 90s. I was able to set down with him and listen to his stories about his racing days.
I grew up around diggers but always loved the Gassers, so much that I'm finishing up on mine right now. A blown 57 Chevy gasser.
Hope your gasser is a blast to drive when you get it done
I got to communicate with Ohio George a bit when Robert Hill's Drag Racing Page was still a thing on FascistBook... still as sharp as ever and a true legend of drag racing... It was an honor...
75 years old. My first trip to a dragstrip was Deer Park, WA, N. of Spokane. Shortly after, 6 years in the Navy. BOY a LOT happened in those 6 years!! USN, 68-74, ETR-2, I maintained GCA RADAR and TACAN at then NAS MIramr, 70-74. Part time job at the auto hobby shop.
I hope to some races at the casino in airwayhights hope the get it going for race fans thanks for your service ny pops was in the navy also at the same time as you he was in the gulf of Tonkin on uss Mason thanks I miss him have a lot of respect for people who severed at that time
My dad made me a 10ft by 15ft poster of that picture of the winged express when I was 6. It still hangs in my living room to this day. The greatest car and driver to ever grace drag racing.
I think that first Malco mustang gasser is the coolest car ever. Actually have the completed model sitting right in front of me as I watch this. Brian we are always grateful for your awesome knowledge on all this stuff. Drag on brother!
Was it sold as a model or did p someone custom build it? That's awesome my dad used to make models of all the stock cars they raced back in the 60s and 70s and I have a few on my shelf. Cheers edit I see that it was sold as a model kit. That's great
Two of my most cherished old magazine's are ,1967 and 1968 Popular Hot Rodding Engine annuals , the 1967 edition has an advertisement for Crane Cams on the back page , with a photo of Ohio George Montgomery 's Malco gasser.
I can't believe his speed shop is still around! Checking it out tomorrow!
George told me the exact same thing you said at the 2004 Gasser Reunion at Thompson, Ohio. That man was a wealth of knowledge.
Grew up with these cars, we raced what we built. George's Malco mustang was state of the art.and a beautiful piece of work a d was super fast! There were a lot of cars in this class that were phenomenal!
George also progressively altered the Willys body...he trimmed the bottom a few times AND chopped the top, I think twice. And this was an excellent documentary, built on facts, though I still think the Gassers could have continued as a class...given the chance.
I didn't know what happened to the Gasser class. I never got to see any Gassers run at our local strip.They were apparently dying off before I got old enough to be interested in Drag Racing in the late 1960s. This is an interesting story. Drag racing history is always fun. Thank you for this video.
Love these history lessons! Keep up the great work @Brian Lohnes!
Just found your channel and I love the style. I'm a fan of motorsport in general so learning the histories of the different disciplines is always a good time. Keep it up mate.
Another great history piece. AMT tooled the Ohio George Mustang AND Willys gassers as 1/25 scale plastic model kits. The Willys was even molded in robins egg blue! Mouth watering stuff for kids of any age! -Steve Magnante
Thank you! It’s very good of you to shine some light on this evolution confusion.👍
Great video. I love the history lessons you offer in your content. Keep up the great work 👏 👏 👏
Another brilliant vid from Mr. Lohnes. Thankyou Brian.
awesome video sir, learned a whole lot from this. thank you
Cool video, Brian! I love learning stuff. I really miss the earlier days of drag racing, when innovation and creativity meant something.
Loving these videos. Please keep ‘em coming
Absolutely awesome video. I appreciate all of the history you have taught us in this.
Excellent video!
Thanks Brian I have been arguing about this with people for 40 years. I hope that you can keep on doing this. I love Super Stock, it was a neat era. The 427 Mustangs and Hemi Barracudas.
My family and I are Road Racers, but I was born in the 50s and you couldn't NOT be a fan of Drag Racing during this time. Thanks you VERY much for a well researched, well presented and VERY entertaining history of the Gassers and Drag Racing in general around that period!
I remember going to drag races as a kid in the late 60's and early 70's. Unfortunately my family moved way far away from any track. Even finding magazines that would tell me about what was going on was impossible(we moved into the sticks). I eventually lost interest, as young kids are apt to do. Thanks for filling in the gaps, it is very interesting stuff!
Thanks..great story.. I appreciate how you lay it out chocked full of information.
Stellar content. I've seen you on Instagram. But I think the longer format really helps accentuate the story telling.
Great vid. I went to high school and Skip Hess' daughter and one of the Kohler Bros. Son's went to my school. They were alway trash talking each other. And since i only lived a couple of miles from Irwindale race way saw a lot of west coast gassers and funny cars. Great memories.
Absolutely incredible just how many gas and nitro cars there were JUST in the greater So.Cal.area!!
Local drag strips still host pre 68 old school style gassers, and there are lots of really cool videos of these straight axle heroes.
Saw most of those cars shown in this video.
It was a wild time.I'll bet I have some pics of George's cars stuffed in a box somewhere.
Wow, this was excellent, so many pictures 📸 📷 🖼 that i have never seen before, please 🙏 keep making more videos 📹 about car 🚗 racing like this...
I love this! thank you! And Dork-O-Motive podcast! keep up the great work!
Great vid, really enjoyed!!!! 👍🏁
really enjoyed this - thanks
Very well done! I thought I knew quite a bit of Ohio George's history; you not only enlightened me with a fair amount of new information, but presented it in a coherent, concise, even handed, and contextual manner.
Thank you!!!
Brian - Thanx for what you do !
Great history lesson!! I still love this era of drag racing.
Keep making these! Finally some history I don’t feel like I should be watching with someone who was alive when it occurred
65 years old, I grew up at Lyons dragstrip, Spent my 20's street racing SoCal and chasing fast women, Great cars, Great times!
Keep doing these! I love it.
Very well done video!
Excellent presentation. Substantial work exerted to produce this.
So glad you made a channel! ❤🤘
Thanks Brian that was great it also brought back many memories from years past
Very well done. Brings back fond memories.
Very interesting and enjoyable. Good job!
Funny cars are great, but nothing looks as fast standing still as a well done gasser.
Excellent Video!!!
Amazing video on 2 cars that were long running model kits as well. Please do more like this !!!! So cool
A fantastic education on the evolution of drag racing during its hey dey, the 1960's! Thanks for the very well done video!
Thanks for the story Brian I love the look of that car and others like it. How about a drag and drive version that would be cool. I know that’s a stretch.
That was very well done ! Many thanks for that; although I , like many others , still love Gassers.
Yep good report Brian. Technological advancement has brought on the changes in classes and rules. We were in awe of the gassers and altereds in the 60s. Now we're in awe of Pro Stock and Pro Mod. The A/FX cars became altered wheelbase match race cars and now TF Funny Car. I'm so glad I've been around to see it all happen.
The fact that they changed the rules so quickly to allow full tube frames shows how the cars were changing anyway and where the class was going. If it had really been some crazy rule bending car then they would have changed the rules to outlaw it.
Although, I’ve always been more fond of the fuel altered cars. About as rowdy and noisy as you can get.
Awesome video!
Was lucky to meet George, through Jay Brown, at PRI, and what a wonderful man he was. So nice, and knowledgeable. Great Video Brian!
Interesting content, great voice and narration. I love your channel.
Thank you!!!
I was lucky enough to have been at an OCIR weekly 8 car top fuel-AA/GS show in 1968. The socal AA/GS cars were beautiful and the drivers were first class showmen.
Great walk down memorie lane
Didn’t even realize you had a RUclips channel. This is awesome
What a great story, gave me goosebumps
Back in 2019, I was in Beaver, Utah fueling up and the Malco Gasser hauler was in the lot as well. I took a deep dive into Ohio George, but this video shed a lot more light on the subject for me.
The original Willys Malco Gasser is sitting in the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn Michigan.
I miss those days. I was totally consumed in it Building Super stock and gassers. Great historical video. Well done. I'm 80 yrs old now and just live in my memories of the era. Lucky to have been there. Dandahermit
I saw the malco gasser willys run at sunshine speedway in largo/st, pete florida back in the 60's as a young track rat.What a bad ass machine it was.If memory serves me it had a beautiful metal flake paint job on it not seen in this video.After the run we all stood around it with our jaws hanging down like we were looking at a flying saucer .Also saw the stone,woods and cook willys run there as well.great memories.👏👍🧙♂️
Awesome!!!!! I was there for several years straight once I started driving. Every Wed for test and tune, Friday for eliminations. Then Thursday for roundy round practice and Saturday for racing. But this was early ‘00’s.
I was 12 years old when the Malco Mustang came out. I ate those gassers up in the pages of Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines.
This was GREAT!! New subscriber.
Thank you!
Your drag racing history videos are fantastic. do u like buddy Ingersolls turbo buick pro stock car? that would make a neat video.
Big misconception about that car. It was a comp eliminator car that IHRA allowed to run one pro stock race. Nhra never “banned” it from pro stock but it never fit tue rules, either.
Awesome car and story that is on my list!
Excellent video, thank you.
Glad you liked it!
I ran a 57 Chevy Gasser till '75 , Yeh it was at Local Tracks in Central Florida. Had a 301 SBC in 71-2 then a 327 in 72-3 & a 427 in 73-5 The induction was always a Dual Holleys & a Tunnel-Ram. I even drove it on the street (my Hi School car 70-2) till 73.
You are an excellent storyteller sir. Subbed
Thank you!
I love this stuff thank you so much⚙️⚙️⚙️🔥🔥🔥
always informative and well researched...this one a history lesson in just 12:55.
Great video. I loved the Gasser class.
Excellent, thanks Brother.
It's funny how things come and go....but then come back again.
There is a giant and fast growing old style Gasser movement all round the country thanks to a few dedicated racers who have kept it alive. The Southern Gasser Association, Southeast Gassers, Midwest Gasser Assoc. Rocky Mountain Gassers, etc...Not so much yet on the West Coast but no doubt it won't be long. There is quickly becoming way more interest in Nostalgia and Gasser racing than the once popular ET Bracket Racing....which in lots of people's opinions nearly killed the sport of Drag Racing...Drag Racing used to be a everyday Joe's sport...you could build a car in your own garage at home and go be competitive....the ET Bracket thing was supposed to do that but now it's become an elite sport as well where Bob down the street with a home built hot rod can't be competitive....well there is a dedicated group of old school racers like the Gasser FOLKS who are changing this and I for one am very glad.
I missed the gasser revolution. Excellent research Brian.
good stuff dou tanks😅😁scooter d😎ps grew up not far from ole george lubbed watch him run on the track🤗thanks for sharing 🤩
My dad watched Ohio George race back in the day at Detroit and Milan drag way. He use to race several cars in stock class including his 67 GTX 440. He Has George's die cast Willys and blue Mustang in his 200+ die cast car collection. He said Ohio George's shifts were some of the fastest he'd ever seen.
I met George at a nostalgia race about 10 years ago, nice guy. I built models of both his cars. He had the first successful turbocharged drag car.
Very well done. Brian, I've always thought of you as the second coming of Dave McClelland. This is more proof of that. Enjoy the rest of the season.
Just found your channel. I raced a V-8 vega in the 90's at Maple grove wheile I was in High school. Super cool video my friend. I am starting a RUclips channel as it gets warmer to finish assembling a small machine shop to support the restoration and building of pre War race cars..Hope to see you guys then...
Very cool video
Thanks from old New Orleans 😎 Jake's speed shop 😇
I have always loved gassers and this video got me excited again. I almost bought one last spring, I was looking at a 41 willys but for the price range I was in it needed a redo. Instesd decided on a late model pro charged mustang with 8oo hp. It was reday to go and needed nothing, having lots of fun. I have both the 33 willys and the mustang gasser model kits waiting to be built.
Nice great peace of history!!!!
loved the gassers , the stone woods and cook '41 willys was one of my favorites .
Seen this car many times, remember this Era so well, great video, gassers were fast exciting cars. Were many😂