If you’re looking for the finest in old-school drag cars, the Gasser will always be at the top of a very short list, and they’ve played an integral role in the nostalgia movement in drag racing. These cars can take a delicate hand to pilot, though, and racing veteran Jim Fissel found out just how quick and hard one of these cars can bite you when he skipped his Anglia Gasser off the retaining wall at the Throwdown In T-Town spring event this weekend.
Gassers like Fissel’s Anglia tend to be quite unruly due to their relatively short wheelbase, higher center of gravity, light weight, and big horsepower. The nostalgia crowd loves these hot rods because they represent just how raw drag racing was during its infancy, and they always put on a show thanks to their unpredictability.
At the Throwdown in T-Town at Tulsa Raceway Park, Fissel was part of the robust Gasser class on hand at a race that had everything from radial tire cars to Pro Mods. Everything looked fine as Fissel began his burnout, but things got hairy in a hurry after he lifted off the throttle when he was done smoking the hides.
According to Fissell, when the car got out of the groove and he lifted the right rear hooked off the wheelie bar and pushed the car left into the wall. As you can see from the Urban Hillbilly Videos footage, the car rode the wall before it came off and slid on its side towards the center of the track. Thankfully Fissell wasn’t hurt during his wild ride and already has intentions of making repairs and returning to the strip.