Time Travel to a ’60s Dragstrip on Your Lunch Break
Motorsport and racing is on a never-ending rollercoaster of evolution that all but ensures things will never be the same for long. Well, at least for any of the ones that focus more on the podium than the experience for racers and fans alike. Southeast Gassers and their traveling horsepower show, on the other hand, is as much about capturing a cherished moment in time as it is seeing who crosses the line first.
Dylan Horton is there to capture the time-warp experience of the Southeast Gassers, and he does so in shimmering images that get wedged in my brain hard enough that even one of his 10-second reels will have me dreaming of bang-shifting a top loader for at least a week.
His latest YouTube upload shares the emotions of dreamers like us who occasionally long for a time we never genuinely experienced. He grew up immersed in the culture, hearing first-hand accounts and stories from family. Then came attending events and making new memories, turning today into one of the good old days. A passion for cars led him into videography, and anyone with an eye for video and heart for horsepower dreams of the vivid colors, emotion, and straight-axle lifts on pie-crust slicks that fill his videos of the Southeast Gassers. The visual he creates makes us yearn for those moments even more.
And a little bit for good reason, as Horton points out in the video. It was a simpler time and the cars had tons of individual personality—to say nothing of adding the drivers into the mix. And those seeking proof that it was a simpler time needn’t look any further than the rulebook. Give a gander at the 1965 NHRA rule book for the Gas — Coupe/sedan class. It’s in plain English, straightforward, and can be read beginning-to-end in a couple minutes. It allows anyone with an interest in racing to get in and have fun.
Now, we get to create an even better version of the past. The wonderful choice to add in modern safety and tuning which helps dial back—but certainly does not eliminate—the risk. These cars are running fast as ever and I would be willing to wager have fewer significant safety incidents. It’s really fun to play with these old cars—we more or less know what works and what doesn’t since someone’s been developing many of these designs for the better part of 60 years. That’s not to minimize the effort—quite the opposite. It still takes dedication to build an authentic car, and that is an admirable task.
More than anything though, it keeps the history alive. It would be one thing to read about gassers in books and see pictures, but to go out and experience the sights and sounds brings history to life. Or even just watching clips on YouTube over your lunch break—I could watch that red wheel-standing Ford Falcon all day. Horton and everyone in the Southeast Gassers are doing yeoman’s work preserving and sharing this gem of an era in drag racing.
Dylan First off let me say WELCOME HOME from your tour of duty. That in it self says more about the man (you) then anybody facing the line. Your are apart of that history, you may not have drove but you were there. If you ask any one of the people involved you are the true sense of it all keeping it alive and passing it on to the future generation. BLACK HORSE!
I was just at the Vintage Drags at Little River Dragway here in Texas. It’s one of my favorite motorsports events. The setting is as old school as the cars.
I’ve run on that strip a few times. Very nice venue with the authentic old school vibe.
Fallout drags is on my bucket list for next year.
I miss those days of yore. Thanks for printing this and other stories of such ..
Rule of thumb – always have a few greenbacks in your pocket and always follow the cars being trailered with Hoosier decals on them.
Kyle, you obviously went out of your way to shoot pictures that make it look like they were taken in the 60s. Were you shooting film? Or just applying a filter in post?
All of the photos in this article were pulled from the video and are credited to Dylan Horton, the creator or said video. I believe he uses a mix of post production options and techniques to achieve the vintage look.
The video has a cool look, it fits with the very cool cars here.
Not old days pics. Fat guys in cut off shorts not a 1960″s onward thing
Two words for those of a certain age- “Jungle Pam”
Jungle Pam……….ah yes, the good old days. For me it was driving down to LA from Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada to take in the 1977 and 1978 NHRA World Finals and the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis in 1979. John Force was a rookie in 1977…….still in the game. Something missing at todays events and not just the NHRA.
Well yeah, she’s memorable, but Jungle Jim drove Funny Cars, not Gassers – IIRC.
I wasn’t giving a single thought to the cars or drivers.
Understood🤔
Re your comment, …”dreamers like us who occasionally long for a time we never genuinely experienced.” I was there in the ’60’s and both remember and cherish them. Little River Dragway is a snapshot of an era now largely gone.
PS: Loved the video!
I never had a gasser, but I was on track with other drag cars during the gasser heydays. With the possible exception of F/A cars like Bantams, there were no more exciting cars to watch in those days, IMO.
I grew up in the 60’s and my Pa and I built my first hot rod together starting in 1963 , a neighbor ladies 6 cylinder two door 62 Chevy Nova that had been punched in the nose. Fast forward almost 2 years I ended up with a A /gasser that somehow I was able to make ,,,somewhat ,,,street legal and which I took my drivers test in , much to the chagrin of the motor vehicle test person. He had a “white knuckle death grip ” on the dash and roll cage the whole time during the road test and all he kept saying is ,,,”IS THIS DAMN THING EVEN LEGAL ” ? Of course it had a inspection sticker so it must have been ,,right? LOL
Being from VT I had few options but the Sanaire drag strip in Canada, Hudson Falls and the Milton drag strip and one or two in NH I forget the names of , those were my local places to go growing up .
Obviously I never did as , fast forward to 2024 and many many hot rods later and at 74 I just acquired a fresh built turtle back 23 T < a month ago to go along with my 71 Riviera and my 83 C-10 step side low rider Pro Stocker so be forewarned , once the bug bites , you just may end up with a life long addiction as I have !
Come next Spring when I have everything dialed in and the motor broken in , "T Lisous " and I will be back on the track again doing what I've always done . Going to the drag strips and going to car shows with all my other "antique friends" that were bitten by the same bug early in life too ! We have 2 club members in the 2 different clubs I ride with that are pushing 90 and both are looking at a new rides too.
So I guess some kids just never grow up , that you can ask both my X wives about and I'm sure they'll whole hardheartedly agree , it's just to bad they both did . Funny part is that I still have one hot rod that pre dates my second wife of almost 38 years that still wears it's original paint , long after that relationship faded away and fell apart . My C-10 "Lowdown" is still going strong and winning trophies though.
A tip of the hat to you, sir. Love the road test story!
Remember those gassers and times well and really appreciate the video and retrospect. Thanks from those of us from that era.
U S 30 dragway York,Pa. In 60s. Memories
I loved those gas coupes back in the 60s. The only drag strip left in SoCal is Pomona, and OCIR, Lions, Riverside are all housing tracts today.
We still have an active drag strip outside Boise. Sometimes those old dream cars show up, and I fall in love all over again.
I’ll bet you and I have been at that track at the same time many times, Jim. I used to race at Thunder Ridge outside of Star, and was out at Firebird in a ’56 Chevy on opening day in 1968. When the nostalgia cars run, I’m transported back to my teens and twenties all over again.
I was a National Record Holder in my class in 69
I took my completely stock 38 Ford deluxe V8 sedan to Kingdon Drag Strip in Stockton CA, in the way early 60s. I was pitted against an old Plymouth 6 cylinder something with no front bumper. The Plymouth won, it had to be the missing front bumper thing. I turned about 68 MPH in like 19 seconds. That was my first and last drag race, on a drag strip.