Photos and Words by Chadly Johnson
No amount of blood transfusions can rid you of the drag racing bug once it has seeped into your veins. Such is the scenario with long time racer Al Tschida of St. Paul, MN who has come full circle, and once again finds himself at the controls of a fire breathing Willys gasser. It would seem that Al has been racing since he could see over a dashboard, but his first true drag car was a Pontiac colored burmer green metallic ’41 Willys gasser coupe. Al had heard that guys were running Willys coupes at the National events, so he sought one out locally, and built it for the track. The Willys ran a stout 283 bored .060 over a 292, and a Borg Warner 4 speed with hi nickel gears. The rear end was a full floater set-up which allowed Al to pull the caps and flat tow the beat to and from the track. The ability to flat tow was essential as money was low and a trailer out of reach. The Willys ran in Division 5 from 1963 through 65 at tracks in Indy, Sioux Falls, Iowa, and Minnesota. Al won many titles including the Indy Winter Nationals in 1965 before selling the coupe.
A couple years later Al moved his union card and himself west to California where he lived for the next 4 years working as a millwright. During his west coast years Al hung out with guys who raced and played around with their cars at the local tracks. Then in 1972 Al moved back to Minnesota and hit the racing scene again hard, this time in nitro funny cars. From 1972-78 Al ran a Woody Gilmour built Vega, then switched to a Bob Myer built Trans-Am from 78-84. Al hung racing up again in 84, but his buddies were relentless and Al gave in again in 1988 and raced another Trans-Am from 88 until 94. Al then took his longest break from racing, but his blood got to itching again in the early 2000s and he began to seek out another Willys coupe…where it all started.
Al heard of a gentleman who was planning to move to Tucson, AZ and was going to unload a bunch of cars, one being a ’40 Willys coupe. The story on the coupe was that it had come out of Canada where it had been turned into a big block powered street rod. The coupe was later split apart, moved around a few times, and then went into a slumber before the current owner purchased it. The owner was willing to sell the neglected coupe to Al, but only if he made it into a gasser, or no deal. Luckily for Al and the coupe, that is exactly what he had in mind.
Al worked on the ’40 over the next several winters with the intent of making it a close copy of his former coupe. The main difference being a Ford 9″ in place of the old floater rear ends as Al could now afford a trailer. The coupe came out amazing, and nearly 400 lbs. lighter than the old version. The stunning metallic paint is 2007 Viper Snakeskin green and dances beautifully in the sun. The coupe is so well built and spotless it is hard to believe Al races it, but there is no question about that. The nose high coupe debuted at its first race in Brainerd, MN in 2010 and has ran a best 11.50. Al still has a lot of adjusting and dialing in to do, and only races against himself as there is no class for the gasser. Since our photo shoot, Al has converted over to a Hilborn injection stack and soon plans to switch over to a 355 cubic inch engine that he is putting the finishing touches on. Lucky for all of us Al has given in to the drag racing bug once again, and is excited about the growing number of nostalgic race events where the Willys will actually have a class to compete in. Keep an eye open for this green beauty at the show scene and the track as Al is back at it again and collecting trophies and titles.
