Mason Dixon Dragway, Eastern Museum of Motor Racing, South Mountain Raceway – When you think of dragsters, you think of huge engines behind the driver, producing insane amounts of horsepower (usually guessed to be anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 hp) and ridiculous speeds over 300 mph. None of this would be possible without the pioneers of the sport who took things to the limit and gave us designs that evolved into what goes down the track today. A lot of people won’t remember what the old dragsters were like, but that’s where the Gunther Brothers come in. They set out to keep the history of their dad’s dragsters alive, and in doing so, have given us a glimpse into what was.

I watched the Gunthers (Jeff and Kevin) running the car at Mason Dixon Dragway as part of Gary Gore’s Rocking Chair Nationals, showing it at EMMR for the Drag Racer’s Reunion, and continuing the Drag Racer’s Reunion the next day by running it at South Mountain Dragway. It was at South Mountain where I asked Jeff Gunther about the car and how it came about.

According to Jeff, “Basically my dad ran a small-block Ford dragster from 1964 on up to 1972. He set a lot of national records, he won a lot of races, he ran nitro, 98% nitro. Once the big Hemis came in the picture he was still racing with them, but then they decided to make another class called Junior Fueler and my dad and another buddy of his Bud Hahn, raced that class. They did real well in that, that was for a small block Ford or Chevy small cubic inch motor and they did real well there [in the class]. They branched out and was running a lot of races up and down the east coast, they ran a lot of match races, so they did real good with the car. I got a lot of history on the car, a lot of pictures a lot of records, national records, so when I got older I tried to find the car. My dad passed away and I tried to find the car, couldn’t find the car, I come to find out he built 6 different dragsters, I couldn’t find any of ‘em. So we decided to build our own car. I found a guy up in Pittsburgh with a full running car. It had a small block chevy in it, the chassis was the right, period correct. The wheels and everything looked like one of my dad’s cars. We bought the dragster out of Pittsburgh, took it back to my shop, tore everything completely apart. [We] changed everything, did bodywork on the car, my brother painted the car to the original orange color my dad ran, we lettered it in black lettering just like my dad’s cars, and we’re running, believe it or not, his factory block, his factory crank, his factory rods, his factory heads, the valve covers, the magneto, the zoomie pipes, the oil pan so we were running basically his same type of engine.”

Of course, the car being completed, it was time to ask what they’ve been doing since it was done. Jeff enthusiastically responded, “Now we’re running around to all the nostalgia races and racing it and we’re trying to get the car fast like my dad’s. It’s been a struggle the past three years to get it like my dad’s times, but we’re slowly getting there. He ran 98% nitro, pretty much illegal nowadays. We’re up to 50% nitro and we’re having a blast. People love it. A lot of people come up to me and talk about the car and wonder if it’s the same car and they tell me a lot of history about this car. We’re enjoying ourselves going to all the vintage shows and racing and we’re having a great time. It’s amazing how all the people still know the car, and people come up and walk around it and look at it and then look at it again and then they ask me a lot of questions. The car has a lot of history. It’s not the original car, but we got a lot of the original parts off the [original] car, getting as close to it as possible.”

Operating a nitro-breathing dragster is no small task, even with a small-block engine. Jeff Gunther was quick to give credit to those who help make their race days and shows possible. “Ronnie Smith is the crew chief. Believe it or not I got like four or five other crew members that help out tremendously. This car needs a lot of attention and a lot of people to help with the car, the car doesn’t have a battery so we need someone to hook up the battery, we need someone to prime the engine, so it takes a lot of people. I got a real good crew. I couldn’t do it by myself, there’s a whole lot to it.”

One of the best things in drag racing is when people like the Gunther Brothers do their best to preserve the history of the sport and give everyone a show reminiscent of what it was like in the beginning, back when guys would strap themselves into a race car without the benefit of today’s safety systems with the only goals in mind being going faster and beating the guy in the other lane. If you’re at a nostalgia event and catch a whiff of nitro, look around. You may find yourself face to face with the Gunther’s small-block Ford dragster. A genuine showpiece of a simpler time in racing.