Funny Car
Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers' showroom models.
[2] Currently, four manufacturers are represented in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car: Chevrolet with the Camaro,[3] Dodge with the Charger,[4] Ford with the Mustang,[5] and Toyota with the Supra.
Racers who performed these altered wheelbase modifications found it shifted the center of gravity rearward, which placed more weight on the rear wheels, enhancing traction from these bias-ply slicks.
[14] The wheelbases were changed to assist traction for the narrow (7 in (180 mm)-wide) slicks (required by NHRA rules), while keeping the mandatory factory distance between axle centers.
[22] The three Chargers, wearing a color scheme of red body sides and white roof, hood, and trunk, with two blue longitudinal stripes,[18] were driven by Jimmy Nix, who previously ran a Top Gas dragster; Jim Johnson, who ran a Dodge Polara stocker, and who had won the B/SA title in 1963; Jim Nelson; and Dode Martin.
)[25] Two of the Dodge trio would return in 1965 as the Guzler Chargers team, powered by supercharged, nitro-fuelled hemis, with direct drive; both crashed the same year.
[13] The popularity of funny car grew that year, with January's AHRA Winternationals seeing seven entrants: the Ramchargers, ”Dandy Dick” Landy, and Bud Faubel, in Dodges; and Butch Leal, Sox & Martin, the Golden Commandos, and Lee Smith in Plymouths.
[17] The trend to flip-top fiberglass bodies ("floppers") began with Jim Lytle's US$2000 Allison V-1710-powered chopped '34 Tudor Big Al II.
"[21] Chrysler's dominance led Hernandez and Al Turner to try and turn things in Mercury's favor; Don Nicholson's flip-top, tube-chassis Comet, arriving in 1966, changed everything.
In 1966, Mercury offered a revolutionary flopper-bodied Comet, as exemplified by Don Nicholson's Eliminator I, which clocked a 7.98 at Detroit Dragway in its debut season, the quickest of the fuel injected cars.
[29] The car was built by Logghe Bros. (based in Detroit[30]) (with bodies by Fiberglass Trends), weighing in around 1,700 lb (770 kg), making it heavier than most contemporary top fuel dragsters.
[34] Schartman (working with Roy Steffey, on the "Flip-Top Fueler") would beat Chrisman for Top Funny Car at the NHRA World Finals in 1966 at Tulsa, Oklahoma, with a pass of 8.28 at 174.41 mph (280.69 km/h).
[34] Nicholson would fit a Pete Robinson-built Top Fuel 427 SOHC late in the 1967 season and turn 7.90s at around 180 mph (290 km/h), earning an eighty-six percent winning record.
[27] Even in 1965, Ford factory support wavered since the manufacturer did not build street versions of the radically altered cars; by 1968, pioneering Chrysler was also considering withdrawal.
[38] Among other early funny car competitors were Hayden Proffitt, who faced Chrisman at Lions Dragway in 1966 and won in a Hicks and Sublet-chassised Corvair.
[34] Butch Leal would body one of Logghe's first customer chassis with a fiberglass Plymouth Barracuda and run an injected 426 Hemi on 100% nitro; this car's best pass would be a 7.82 at 182.16 mph (293.16 km/h),[34] with a career win ratio of ninety percent.
[36] In 1967, Proffitt would take over the failed Grant Rebel SST AMC Rambler, aided by Les Shockley, "Famous" Amos Satterlee, and Dwight Guild.
[39] Logghe proved unable to keep up with the demand for their chassis, leading to the creation of a funny car chassis-building industry, which was soon joined by Dick Fletcher, Don Hardy, Ronnie Scrima, and a number of others.
[40] Late in 1969, Pat Foster and John Buttera would devise a Top Fuel dragster-style chassis to replace the "dune buggy" design common at the time.
Similar chassis would be built by Logghe, Scrima, Buttera, Woody Gilmore, Don Long, and Steve Plueger, among others; this design remains the standard in TF/FC.
[43] One of the most famous (and popular) funny cars in NHRA history would appear in 1969: Chi-Town Hustler, a Charger prepared by Fakonas and Coil (driven by Pat Minnick).
[46] Between 1973 and 1975, Ed "The Ace" McCulloch would score eighteen wins at NHRA national events in the Revell-sponsored Dodge Dart, Revellution.
[48] In 1975, Raymond Beadle and Harry Schmidt resurrected the Blue Max; built by Tony Casarez Race Cars, the Mustang II would win at Indianapolis.
[48] Mark Oswald, driving for Candies and Hughes (with Old Milwaukee sponsorship[49]), in 1984 did something no other driver has: he won both the NHRA and IHRA world championships.
[51] In 1996, with Austin Coil tuning, Force went to the final round in sixteen of nineteen national events, taking thirteen wins, one of the best records ever in Funny Car history.
[52] Force's domination in 1989 would only really be challenged by Bruce Larson, a long-time East Coast match racer, with Outlaw sprint car driver Maynard Yingst as his tuner, winning six events and taking the runner-up spot five times, in an Oldsmobile sponsored by Sentry.
[54] In 1991, Jim White, driving for Leong, turned in two of the fastest Funny Car passes to date, at over 290 mph (470 km/h), and placed second to Force in the championship.
[59] Force's domination would continue, with ten NHRA FC World Championship wins from 1993 to 2002, including six straight 1997–2002; his success was so amazing he was accused of cheating (and was willing to strip off his firesuit to prove he was not).
In 2007, NHRA limited technical innovation in Funny Car, as well as introducing a 1,000 ft (300 m) track length and restrictions on maximum engine revs.
[11] Funny Car is dominated by multi-car teams, with only Cruz Pedregon, Jim Dunn, and Tim Wilkerson maintaining the traditional one-car operation.
