22-05-2025
- Automotive
- Hamilton Spectator
Father/son team from Ridgeway part of Gassers comeback
They were one of the most popular classes in drag racing in the 1960s before the advent of the Funny Car. They were quick, small and colourful, and could provide unpredictable passes blasting down the quarter mile.
The class, known as Gassers, has made a comeback in the past few years, and a part of that comeback is an Ontario-based group known as the True North Gassers.
There were two dozen of the cars competing during the Victoria Day Weekend Spectacular on the Cayuga Dragway of Toronto Motorsport Park. The father-and-son duo of John and Aaron Reid from Ridgeway, west of Fort Erie, were one of the teams.
The Reids' 1933 Willys-bodied Gasser raced by Aaron runs in the Double-A class with its powerful supercharged engine. Cars employing fuel injection or carburetors compete in the single-A class and are a little slower down the quarter mile. Some of the cars employ a short wheelbase of 100 inches or less, which can make driving them hard to master in cars originally designed for 50 horsepower. Over the weekend, the Cayuga pits included a variety of Willys, obscure Austins, a Henry J. Kaiser and a gaggle of 1955 Chevrolets, complete with straight axles at the front. Although the cars look old school, they feature completely modern safety equipment. Rules allow operation of period-correct items, such as engine parts and wheels, if they pass tech requirements.
'There's no electronics in this car,' said John Reid about his little coupe. 'The injector and wheels are all period pieces from decades ago. Some of the car bodies are old fibreglass bodies, but there are a lot of original steel-bodied cars in our group.'
Reid, a retired postal worker, said the Willys develops about 1,200 horsepower, is worth $70,000 (U.S.), and has travelled the eighth mile in 4.8 seconds at 146 m.p.h.
'They can be hard to get down the track,' said Aaron, who at 37 has raced since he was 10. 'It was a struggle in learning how to drive. The learning curve was huge. For us, the suspension setup was tough, but we got the wrinkles out of it.'
Now with a race-ready car, the Reids do some tweaking on the car and enjoy their time at the track. The elder Reid organizes the race events, and last weekend's show was the first of six for the True North group in Ontario. They also race in the U.S., and many of the cars at the Cayuga show were from New York state.
There is some prize money involved, but for the group the social aspect is important. 'We've got rules and our cars are 100 per cent legal,' said John. 'But we're here to have fun. Winning is more about bragging rights than the money. We want everyone to be safe, stay out of trouble, and put the car back on the trailer at the end of the day.'
Weekend winners:
Alex Dumas won both opening rounds in the Canadian Superbike Championship, held at Shannonville. Jordan Szoke of Lynden took a second and a third in the races, and Thornbury's Ben Young placed third and second. Taking fourth spot in both events was Hamilton's David MacKay … Last year's World of Outlaws champ, David Gravel of Connecticut, won both A-Mains during the two-race return of the Outlaws at Ohsweken Speedway last week. Dylan Westbrook of Scotland placed third in the second race … Winning the Clarington 200 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, the first round in this year's NASCAR Canada series, was Marc-Antonie of Quebec … Also at CTMP, two rounds were held in the Nissan Sentra Cup, and the two races were won by Simon Vincent and Valerie Limoges, both from Quebec … Flamboro Speedway played host to the Canadian Vintage Modifieds Saturday night. Kitchener's Ricky Willigar took the first CVM feature in his 1932 Frontenac, and winning the second feature was Rodney Rutherford of Dundas with his 1940 Hudson … James Friesen of Niagara-on-the-Lake won the 358-Modified feature at Merrittville Speedway Saturday night, while Ridgeway's Gary Lindberg took the Victoria Day 40-lap 358 Modified event.
