Thread: More old terminology..........

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...............with a drag racing bent. Found this while doing some other research and thought it interesting;



"A" or A-BONE: Model "A" Ford.

ALKY: Alcohol, used as a racing fuel and usually mixed with nitromethane.

BANZAI: An all-out run. Bringing the engine to absolute peak performance.

BENT STOVEBOLT: A Chevrolet V8 engine.

BIG END: The end of the quarter-mile distance. ...

BITE: Traction on the asphalt race course.

BLACKY CARBON: Gasoline.

BLOW: An engine failure.

BLOWER: A supercharger. Also known as a huffer, pump, stuffer, or windmill.

BORE: The diameter of the cylinder.

BOSS: The ultimate in perfection. Top quality.

BOX: Transmission.

BROKE: Out of competition due to mechanical failure.

BUCKS UP: Plenty of money.

BUG CATCHER: The scoop or hood around the injector system used on supercharged engines.

BUMP STICK: An engine camshaft. The term comes from the lobes on the cam.

BUTTONS: Chrysler Corporation stock cars equipped with pushbutton-operated automatic transmissions.

BYE: A single run made during eliminations.

CAN: Nitromethane racing fuel. [As in tip in the whole can - Ed]

CARBS: Carburetors.

CAROLINA STOCKER: A stock car running illegal equipment or engine size.

CHEATER SLICKS: Special tires made of racing-rubber compounds, but with tread

design to simulate regular street tires.

CHEVY: Chevrolet engine.

CHIZLER: Chrysler engine.

CHRISTMAS TREE: The electronic countdown starter.

CHRONDEKS: The electronic timing system used in drag racing.

CHUTE: Safety drag chute used to stop the high-speed racers.

COUGH AN ENGINE: An extreme engine failure.

CUT: To eliminate another car.

DEUCE: A 1932 Ford. One of the real pioneers of the hot rod movement.

DRAG: A quarter-mile acceleration race between two cars.

DRAGSTER: A specially designed racecar for quarter-mile acceleration events. The most popular design locates the driver behind the rear wheels for maximum traction, but there are no restrictions in this area.

DRAW: The methods of drawing opponents...

D-RING: The ring or handle the driver pulls at the end of the run to open the safety chute.

DROP THE HAMMER: The rapid engagement of the clutch at the start of a race.

E.T.: Elapsed Time.

ELIMINATED: Beaten in a race.

EYES: The light beams that start and stop the electronic timers.

FACTORY EXPERIMENTALS: A limited production stock car.

FIRE SUIT: The aluminized fireproof driver's uniform worn by drag racers in

open cars.

FLAME SUIT: Same as Fire Suit.

FLATHEAD: An early model Ford engine with the valves located in the block.

FoMoCo: Ford Motor Company.

FOUR BANGER: A four-cylinder engine, usually an early model Ford or Chevrolet.

GASSER: A car competition in either Gas Coupe/Sedan or Supercharged Gas

Coupe/Sedan (G/S) class.

HANDLER: Driver of a drag-racing car.

HAULER: An exceptionally fast car.

HEADERS: The start of the exhaust system which permits an uninterrupted expulsion of the burned gasses from the engine.

HEMI: An engine equipped with hemispherical combustion chamber heads.

HENRY: A Ford Motor Company product.

HONKER: An exceptionally fast or quick car, generally referring to a stock car.

HUFFER: A supercharger.

INJECTED: An engine equipped with a fuel injection system.

IN THE CHUTE: A car positioned in the staging area and ready to race.

JIMMY: A GMC truck engine modified for racing.

JUICE: Special racing fuels.

JUMP: To leave the starting line before the green light. This is a foul and the driver is eliminated.

LUNCH AN ENGINE: An extreme engine failure. To completely destroy an engine

during a run.

MAG: A magneto.

MAGS: Custom made magnesium wheels.

MoPar: Chrysler Corporation product.

NITRO: Nitromethane.

OUT TO LUNCH: A real nobody. A nothing.

PUT IT TO THE WOOD: Open the throttle to its maximum.

PUT IN THE CAN: Operate the race car on the largest possible percentage of fuel.

PUSH CAR: A regular car used to start a race car not equipped with a starter.

RAIL: A dragster.

RATCHET JAW: A person who talks a great deal without saying too much.

RAUNCHY: A poorly painted or appearing car.

ROLL BAR: A safety cage that protects the driver in case of accident.

ROLLER: A roller camshaft.

SANDBAGGER: A driver who holds back in the staging area in an effort to select his opponents during eliminations.

SLICKS: Wide, flat tires...

SLINGSHOT: A dragster design where the driver sits behind the rear wheels for

maximum weight distribution and traction.

SLUSH PUMP: Automatic transmission.

SOLO: A single run.

SOUTHERN STOCKER: See CAROLINA STOCKER.

STICK: A car equipped with a standard transmission.

STOCKER: A stock production automobile.

STOVEBOLT: A Chevrolet. See BENT STOVEBOLT.

STROKE: The distance the piston travels vertically in the cylinder.

STROKER: An engine with an increased stroke displacement over the original measurement.

STROKE IT: To take it easy.

STUFFER: Supercharger.

TACH: A tachometer, a device which shows the engine rpm.

T.E.: Top Eliminator, the major winner at a drag race.

TECH: Technical inspection.

TOP: Top Eliminator.

TOP END: The second half of the quarter-mile distance.

TOUGH: Something that is extra nice.

TOY: A race car.

TRAPS: A three-light system...

TROPHY RUN: The final run for a class or eliminator victory.

TUBE STEAK: A hot dog, the main staple of a drag racer's meal.

UNREAL: An exceptional car or performance.

WHEELIE: A Wheelstand. When the front wheels of a race car clear the asphalt

coming off the starting line.

ZOOMIES: Upswept exhaust headers on dragsters.


– Mike Bumbeck

This brings up a ? i saw on another forum, was Gow Job really a term used " back in the day"?Most of the older guys claimed it was not, so that leads most to believe that it is a made up statment.

The study of word origins is known as etymology. Knowing this is useful if you want to do a data search, you type in "etymology of gow job" for instance.

Here's one quote from one source;
gow Look up gow at Dictionary.com
1915, "opium," from Cantonese yao-kao "opium," lit. "sap;" used as such by Raymond Chandler, etc.; by 1950s meaning had expanded to "pictures of nude or scantily clad women," hence gow job "flashy girl," which in teenager slang came to also mean "hot rod."

Nude women, hot cars.....................hmmmmm, sounds reasonable to me.

Here's another source from the late forties where gow job was noted as new terminology. So yes, it's an "invented" term, but appropriate to immediate post war world, perhaps somewhat earlier;
http://books.google.com/books?id=egx...DhzdYQU_iOWTa4

I seem to remember it as "go job", meaning it was made to "go"!

Thats where i was going with the question, it seems everybody has heard the term, but nobody remembers its meaning, or when it was popular. I was told it was a bad word for a cheesy or dorky hot rod, like the local square who thought he had a cool car , but the real rodders laughed at it and called it a gow job, some kind of slang about the japs, kinda like the more modern term ni&&@r rigged, that was my understanding of it.

run it out the back door !