Red Line Club Membership Gasser Set Black Blue Red

Gearheads aren't typically what you would call fashion-conscious individuals. We spend most of our free time underneath the hoods of our cars and usually won't be found within 200 yards of a mall. But on the weekends cruising the streets or hanging out at the dragstrip of Anytown, USA, we all put on our car shirts that have been acquired over the years.

It can be difficult to add respectable shirts to your collection. Sure, you can find "car shirts" at the local department store or even at your local parts shop, but they tend to carry sizes that don't fit us or the prints are a little cheesy – or both. Randy Ranew, owner and founder of Red Line Shirt Club offers guys (and gals) just like us a growing line of USA MADE vintage-style automobilia t-shirts. You order them via a monthly subscription through the RLSC site, and you won't ever be disappointed.

We've shown off some of their shirts before, and below is the official press release discussing Randy's latest shirt, and to prove he's a laid back car guy like the rest of us, he loves to get into the history and ad-lib like we do.

Official Release:

Red Line Shirt Club's 1941 Willys Tee

Back in the early days of drag racing, drag cars were evolving from factory type street cars with modified engines to what would eventually be known as the Funny Cars of the late 60s and 70s. Starting in the mid to late 50s, the cars of choice to go hot rodding in were the Willys, the Anglia, and Austin, among others. They had a rare unmistakeable shape that looked cool on the street and intimidating on the track. These are the machines that became known as the "Gassers". The Gassers are quite simply one of the earliest modified cars which held a categorized class at drag racing events.

These cars ranged from daily driven cars to drag race only cars supercharger equipped — always running on gas, never alcohol or nitro. The original gasser body styles selected became popular on the race track simply due to their availability or inversely for their unpopularity at Saturday night cruise events or as a household family car. As the cars became popular at the drag strip, the sport reflected the racer's and fan's love for the Gassers and the sport began to really grow. Match races were held nearly every day of the week all over the country with 'big names' scheduled for appearances.

The rock stars of this class were "Ohio George," Stone, Woods and Cook, Big John Mazmanian, KS Pittman, Jr. Thompson, the Kohler Brothers and Shores and Hess. The Gasser craze helped guide the sport to sponsorship through the incorporation of engine parts manufacturers selecting teams to use and promote their speed equipment. These short wheel based cars with high horsepower and ground shaking wheelstanding launches established drag racing legacy with near out of control ¼ mile full throttle passes. One of the fastest and most feared Gassers was Jr Thompson's 1941 Willys. Thompson teamed with Chuck Poole to set the national record for C/GS in 1962 and still held the record when Thompson went into B/GS division in 1964. In 1965 Jr. Gassers were the reason most people went to the drags back then. They weren't the fastest out there, but they were loud, outta control, short-wheel based show stoppers that the average guy could relate to.

These were fairly stock appearing cars from the outside, with the exception of their tires and their ride heights, but from the inside…well from the inside it was all about pure speed and power. And back then you could easily identify a Ford or a Willys or a Thames or a Fiat or even the occasional Dodge or Plymouth that ran in the G or A class. Each car was unique, both inside and out. Racers just took whatever lightweight car they could find, swapped in some big blown power, put on some slicks, and jacked around endlessly with the suspension. Gassers were the real "Hot Rods" of drag racing, they were the cars you might actually see tooling down the local boulevard on Saturday night, blower and all, and the next day see the same car at the track. How cool is that?

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Source: https://www.streetmusclemag.com/news/new-products/latest-red-line-shirt-club-release-immortalizes-the-60s-gasser-wars/

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