Pump Gas Wars Words and photos by Jeff Burk 5/18/05

Whatever the rules are, the basic premise is that the cars have to be completely street legal and street driven. Other rules such as fuel, open headers, roll cages, etc. vary from organization to organization.

I had the pleasure of attending Hot Rod Magazine's second annual "Pump Gas" time trials at Memphis Motorsports Park on May 13. Based upon what I've seen and been told, the "Pump Gas" drags (which is the brainchild of Hot Rod Magazine editor David Freiburger) probably have the cars that are closest to actually being real street cars.

The HRM staff invited 50 drivers and 10 alternates. All 60 cars presented themselves at the Comp Cams parking lot in Memphis, Tennessee where NHRA tech inspectors strictly teched the cars. Since almost all of the cars were capable of running the quarter mile in under 11 seconds and over 150 mph, the cars had to have fully legal roll cages, harnesses and chutes. The cars were also required to have all of the lights, turn signals and horns operational. Not all of the cars passed tech and there were plenty of last second wiring jobs and chassis work being done in the parking lot or local shops.

The 49 cars that passed tech had their fuel tanks drained completely and each received their supply of 93-octane pump gas that had to get them through the cruise and three laps at the track. The fuel supply was the first and almost the only controversy at the event. The drivers of the turbocharged and supercharged cars cried "foul" when their fuel supply was dropped from the 15 gallons they had in 2004 to the announced 10 gallons for 2005. (It sort of reminded this author of the fighting and bickering over rules between the Pro Modified nitrous cars and supercharged cars.)

In the end, HRM dictator-for-a-day David Freiburger (as a magazine editor he has plenty of experience being one) compromised by setting the fuel limit at 12 gallons.

As the group of cars pulled out to begin the cruise to the racetrack, the Burkster set the over and under for the number of cars that would drop out at eight. Wrong again -- only four cars dropped out, and these guys drove in some real serious traffic both in rain showers and in hot and muggy Memphis weather. After following the cars through town I was very impressed. Make no mistake these cars can be driven (carefully) on the street.