Member Inducted 2010
Al O' Conner
History
The name Al O'Conner first appeared in a drag racing publication
when he put an ad in Drag Racing & Hot Rod Magazine in 1966
asking for a four barrel Carter carb for a Buick V8. He would have
been a teenager back then and was already modifying cars. Al got a
'59 Dodge which he gave a flame paint job and fitted a 354 Hemi,
but he couldn't wait to get to Santa Pod and ended up loosing his
licence for six months after getting busted for street racing.
After that Al decided to do all his racing at the Drags and got
himself a '58 Ford Zephyr. He kept the straight six and added
triple carbs, fitted a 4-speed box and gave it a flame paint job
and the name "Rocky II" (Rocky I was his son). Al ran it in
D/Modified during 1970 clocking mid 15s. The following year Al gave
"Rocky II" a roof chop and fitted black perspex windows then in
1972 the straight six went in Al's tow-car and a 383 Chrysler was
slotted into "Rocky II" along with a straight tube front axle and
Jag rear. It was now a Street Altered and the times came down to
low 13s.
At the end of 1973 the Gleadow bros' Chevy powered Ford Pop
"Motor Psycho" came up for sale. Al snapped it up and spent the
winter turning it into "Al's Gasser" which he debuted at Santa
Pod's Easter Springnationals in 1974. It was an instant crowd
favourite with gleaming black paint, sign writing on the doors and
of course flames on the front. At the Gasser's second meeting Al
took the win in Super Street beating Dave Lee Travis in "Tender
Trap" and by the end of the year had run an 11.45/119m.p.h. and
another win at the Fireworks Meet.
1975 started with a Super Street win at the Springnationals
followed by many more Eliminator wins and Al got the Revell Crowd
Pleaser Award at the end of the year.
During 1976 Al ran in Middle Comp Altered and had some exciting
duels with the Jag/Mini van "Stripteaser" both cars pulling huge
wheelstands off the line and running 10sec ETs, then in 1977 &
'78 Al was running in Top Modified and the Gasser clocked up many
Eliminator wins but at the 1978 August Supernationals in the Top
Modified final against Dave Stone, "Al's Gasser" got out of shape
at the three-quarter mark, rolled and crashed. Al was rushed to
hospital with head injuries which turned out to be not serious
while Ronnie Picardo and Roz Prior started off a blanket collection
towards a rebuild of the Gasser which raised £1561 such was the
popularity of both car and driver.
A new "Al's Gasser" hit the strips in 1979 with a state of the
art Pro Stock chassis built by Allan Herridge and the engine and
box out the old car and Al continued his winning ways in Top
Modified and then moved onto Super Gas in 1985.
In November 1987 "Al's Gasser" was loaded into a container to be
shipped to the USA to be joined by Al and Leslie Digby who toured
the American race circuit with the car during 1988.
They returned to the UK in 1989 full of new ideas learnt in the
States and Al took the BDRA and John Everitt Jewellers Super Gas
Championship that year.
Al and the Gasser continued to race in Super Gas at selected
meets in the 90s and into the 2000s and now also races with the
Outlaw Anglias.