1955 Chevy Gasser - Monument
Originally Published in the July 2008 issue of HOT ROD Deluxe.
Saved. It's that incredible sense of accomplishment that makes BillFowler proud. The owner of the performance automotive/apparel lines SoloSpeed Shop and Hot Rods Plus, Bill had been looking really hard for anoriginal Gasser. He wanted one with a pedigree, one with history, and,specifically, a straight-axle. He'd found and sold a couple of Gassersalready, but they just weren't what he was looking for. He hadwell-placed people searching, and while it did take a few years, it wasthat path that helped him find one particular straight-axle Gasser hehad heard was stashed away in Long Beach, California. Bill calls itdestiny that the car and the owner would one day be together.
Destiny? That's the place and time when a car, a track, and anenthusiast all merge. Call it the small-world principle. Our example inthis issue of HOT ROD Deluxe is this '55 Chevy. It was less than a yearold when Lions Associated Drag Strip opened on October 9, 1955, underthe leadership of Mickey Thompson. The track that this Gasser would callhome from 1966 and on was also the location of its most successfulcampaigning.
Similarly, Bill was just over a year old when Lions opened. In an effortto stay true to the history, he has stayed in contact with Don Nunes,the man who raced and owned it prior to Bill's acquisition.
The story goes that Nunes was racing a '57 Chevy in the '60s at Lions,when one day a well-to-do kid approached him in the pits about a Blair'sSpeed Shop-built Gasser that he had to sell.
In the mid-'60s, Pasadena, California's Blair's Speed Shop was the placeyou went when you wanted a straight-axle setup in a Gasser-style '55-'57Chevy. In the article "Tube Axles for Chevys" (HOT ROD, Jan.'66), BudLang wrote, "Under the direction of Mike Hoag, Blair's chassisshop probably turns out a car a week, most of them Chevys, with a tubeaxle front end."
It was understood by Blair's customers that the wait to have a car setup required patience, but that wasn't the case with this particular
Gasser. According to legend, junior's dad waved ample cash to move thiscar up to the front of the line so his son would be able as a highschool senior to drive it to school. Spoiled kid. Rich dad. Opportunity.
Along with Blair's frontend setup, Southern California luminary TonyNancy did the interior and, at the time, a brand-spankin'-new big-blockChevy provided the power. That would be a class ride for a high schoolkid looking to impress his chums. However, only a few days after the carwas completed, it was stolen and stripped of its drivetrain. After thecar was recovered, another big-block was installed and its young ownerwas again driving it to school.
You know where this is going: The car was stolen again, and after it wasrecovered for the second time, the owner's father, who was footing thebills for the street Gasser, demanded that the car be sold.
Enter Don Nunes. The kid approached him in the pits and began suggestingthat Don trade his '57 plus offer cash for the '55 he had. Don, atalented doorslammer racer, had a '57 Chevy that he had campaignedsuccessfully and that even ended up on the pages of the weekly newspaperDrag Digest as a class winner and record setter.
Don, who now lives on Oahu, Hawaii, notes, "I was quite happy with my street-driven '57. However, after half-listening to this kid and the description of this tube-axled '55, I recognized it would be an even better drag car than mine." He dealed and got the drivetrainless '55 a few days later.
Because the new big-block Chevys cost a fortune, Don chose to install aHilborn-injected 301 small-block that he already had. As a class racer,Don was skilled in setting up the car in a manner that allowed him tomake class changes at the track. Don says, "I'd bolt in weight where thegas tank was. I even had it down to where removing the rear seat andarmrests would give me a class advantage. My goal was to always run in aclass where there were more than six competitors. More competitors meantmore runs. So when C/Gas had a light field, I'd add a little weight andrun D/Gas. There were times when I'd run a C/ or D/Altered, as I hadfuel injection. It just came down to how many cars showed up in theclass.
Another advantage Don had was that he lived about 4 miles from Lions. "Inever put the car on a trailer; I'd tow-bar it to the track. It was abudget deal."
Don and the '55 would go on to race from 1966 until December 1972. Yes,the tragedy of shutting down Lions the first weekend in December 1972was more than the loss of 1,320 feet of pavement at sea level; it wouldalso be this Gasser's last drag race.
Don remembers the weekend: "On the first day, the doorslammers ran, andon the final day, the pro cars ran. The '55 ran its last race at Lionsin 1972. I don't remember how I placed, but after the race, I parked thecar for the next 30 years."
So that should show you that the livery displayed here is not how thecar was campaigned in the late '60s and early '70s. As the before photosindicate, the '55 was dark green with the only drag-branding being thestickers in the rear quarter-glass. "I never changed the paint on it.However, I did place a $100 deposit to do a ruby-redpearlescent/metalflake paint job on it, but never completed the task,"says Don. "Then they shut down Lions and it sat in my side yard from1972 to 2001, when Bill came to retrieve it."
Bill Fowler's story coincides perfectly. "In 1999, I had been to amedia-blasting company in Chatsworth, California, and in their shop wasa killer '55 Chevy. I asked the owner, Damian, if he knew of any '55Chevy Gassers for sale. He replied immediately that he had a friendnamed Dean, who had a good friend named Don Nunes, who had raced a '55at Lions. It was possible that the car was for sale, as Don waspreparing to move to Hawaii."
Bill and Don would talk several times over the next year and a halfafter being introduced by Dean. One day, opportunity came in a phonecall. "I'm ready to sell the car," said Don, and Bill agreed to theprice and bought the car sight unseen. Don recalls, "I told him what itwas like and everything. I really didn't want to sell it, but as it gotcloser to me moving to Hawaii, I realized I had to get rid of some of mystuff."
When Bill came over to pick up the car with his truck and trailer plusthe requisite cash in hand, he saw the car for the first time.
"Wow!" Bill's jaw dropped.
Maybe it was not such a good deal. For the last 30 years, not only had afamily of rats taken refuge in the car, but a chain-link fence had beenbuilt around the car itself to keep the dogs and other people away. Billconcurs, "It took a full day to dig it out of the hole, take down thefence, and cut the bushes down around it." Despite the urge to back outof the deal, Bill, being a man of his word, made the transaction andheaded home with his Gasser.
Thus began the long process of restoring it, but not necessarily back tothe way Don raced it, instead, to an elevated status. Those of you whoare purists may have issues with the current lettering and livery. Billvehemently defends the historical yet fictional look of the car. "Sure,I could have bought any old '55 Chevy and claimed it was a '55 Blair'sGasser, but this car was truly built at Blair's."
Surveying the condition of the car when Bill got it, he knew they had alot of work to do. Bill says, "Plus, we had to be patient." Bill tookthe car to Jack White Restorations in Campo, California, which did thebodywork, with the qualification from Jack, "If you're in a hurry, I'mnot your guy." More than a year later, Bill had the '55 back.
Bill's best friend and artist, Brad Barrie, is credited with deftlyapplying all the lettering. Royal Muffler of Chatsworth, California,handled the installation of the Flowmaster exhaust system.
Inside, Mike Ambrose of North Hills, California, replicated the TonyNancy seat upholstery, and Jerry Harris of Bakersfield, California,restored the rear suspension. Bill is quick to source the rebuilding ofthe Oldsmobile rearend to Curt Hamilton of Van Nuys. Bill says, "No oneelse would touch it."
But if the car is a Blair's Speed Shop special, why the Solo Speed Shopconnection? Bill notes, "My focus was to show that our effort at SoloSpeed Shop is to celebrate and romance the greatest era of hot rodding.What we're trying to do is say that Solo is about being unique. As hotrodders, we're out there doing it our way. Solo. However, as much asbuilding this car was my individual decision, a project like this takesa community of guys who think alike. Hence, Solo Speed Shop, way up inthe Valley."
The Last Drag Race
Steve Alexander's homage to Lions in the HOT ROD article "The Last DragRace" in the Feb.'73 issue described both the original opening day andsummarized the Lions era.
"It was October 9, 1955--opening day at Lions Drag Strip in Wilmington,California. Mickey Thompson was the track manager and the only paidemployee. He and his all-volunteer staff had no idea what to expect.They were prepared to handle up to 2,500 people and possibly 50 cars.But over 10,000 people came swarming through the dusty field and down tothe track that day ... The portable toilets overflowed. The food supplyran out. The water, which had to be trucked in, ran out. The dust wasunreal. The crowd piled right onto the track to watch the action.Pandemonium prevailed. In other words, opening day at Lions was anunqualified success."
Later in the article, Steve related Lions' last stand: "It was December2, 1972--closing night at Lions Drag Strip in Wilmington, California.Track manager Steve Evans didn't know exactly what to expect. They wereprepared to handle a capacity crowd of 10,000 people. But over 20,000showed up by 6 p.m., when track officials were forced to close the gatesdue to the size of the gathering. Thousands were turned away butthousands more wouldn't be denied by the closing of the gates. Theysimply tore down some eight-foot cyclone fencing and made their way downto the strip. Woodstock Nation was on the rise again--this time to paytheir respects at this, 'The Last Drag Race,' the final event ever atLions Drag Strip." Check out the original article, "The Last Drag Race,"in its entirety at by clicking the link below.
Don Nunes on C.J. Hart
Everyone knows that C.J. "Pappy" Hart was the promoter of the Santa AnaDrags and the father of professional drag racing. However, when MickeyThompson quit Lions in 1965 to devote himself to his own businesscareer, it would be Pappy who would replace him at Lions.
In Steve Alexander's "The Last Drag Race," he noted that "under Pappy'sreign, the track continued to grow. In addition to a Top Fueltwo-out-of-three match race, Hart presented an eight-car field in TopFuel, Top Gas, Fuel Altered, Competition and Gas every Saturday night."
Proof of that fact is in Don Nunes' quote: "C. J. Hart was a great promoter--a real friend of the racers. He'd drive all over Lions on hislittle motorbike and checked in on us. He cared about the racers.
"I remember one time when I was out there and I had just picked up a new350 Chevy from the dealership. I didn't have time to survey its qualityand unfortunately it blew up as I went through the lights. When C.J.rode up to me I apologized profusely to him for the oil down. As I wasapologizing, he said, 'no problem, we can clean that up.' C.J. would goon and ask me how I was going to overcome this financial obstacle. Hewas more concerned about how I was going to afford racing than theimmediate concern of cleaning up the track."
Today, 67-year-old Don races a mini modified Sprint Car on dirt ovals in Hawaii. His Sprinter ran at Ascot in Gardena, California, and today is agas-fueled Esslinger four-cylinder that he races on the Big Island nearHilo.
Photo Gallery: Solo Speed Shop's 1955 Chevrolet Gasser
