Funny Car

Funny Car is a type of haul racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized haul racing. In the United States, the other professional haul racing classes are Top Fuel, Pro Modified, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Bike. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bods over a custom-made fabricated chassis, providing them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers’ showroom models. They also have the engine placed in front of the driver, as opposed to dragsters, which place it behind the driver. [1]

Funny car bods typically reflect the models of freshly available cars in the time period that the funny car was built. For example, in the 1970s, then current models such as the Chevrolet Vega or Plymouth Barracuda were often represented as funny cars, and the bods represented the Big Three of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. [Two] Presently, four manufacturers are represented in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car — Chevrolet with the Camaro, [Trio] Dodge with the Charger, [Four] Ford with the Mustang, [Five] and Toyota with the Camry. [6] Worldwide, however, many different assets styles are used. These “fake” assets shells are not just cosmetic; they serve an significant aerodynamic purpose. [7]

Today, fielding a Funny Car team can cost inbetween US$Two.6 and US$Trio million. [8] A single carbon fiber bod can cost US$70,000. [9]

Nitro Funny Car racing has never been more competitive than since 2006. [Ten] The dominance of John Force Racing ended in two thousand six and inbetween two thousand seven and two thousand fifteen was equalled by DSR, with three TF/FC titles each. [11] Funny Car is predominated by multi-car teams, with only Cruz Pedregon, Jim Dunn, and Tim Wilkerson maintaining the traditional one-car operation. [12]

The NHRA has stringent guidelines for funny cars. Most of the rules relate to the engine. In brief, the engines can only be V-8s displacing no more than five hundred cubic inches (8.Nineteen L). The most popular design is loosely based on the 2nd generation Chrysler four hundred twenty six Hemi “Elephant Engine” made from one thousand nine hundred sixty four to 1971.

There can only be two valves per cylinder. The goes are machined from aluminum billet and have no water jackets, as the high latent fever of the methanol in the fuel coupled with the brevity of the run precludes the need for water cooling of the cylinder goes. Superchargers are restricted to a basic Roots type—19-inch (480 mm) rotor case width with a breadth of 11.25 inches (286 mm). The rotors are not permitted to have more than a certain amount of helical twist in them so the blower does not become a screw-type supercharger in function. Only single camshafts are permitted. There are two common bore-stroke combinations: Four.1875 by Four.50 inches (106.36 mm × 114.30 mm) (called a Trio/Four stroker) and Four.25 by Four.375 inches (108.0 mm × 111.1 mm) (called a Five/8 stroker). The Trio/Four stroker is the most common combination used today and equals four hundred ninety six CID (8.1 L).

Crankshafts are CNC machine carved from steel billet then nitrided in an oven to increase surface stiffness. Intake valves are titanium and of Two.40-inch (61 mm) width, while harass valves are 1.90-inch (48 mm) width of Inconel. Every funny car has ballistic blankets covering the supercharger because this part of the engine is prone to explosion.

Funny car fuel systems are key to their immense power. During a single run (beginning, burnout, backing up, staging, 1/Four mile) cars can burn as much as fifteen US gallons (12 imp gal; fifty seven L) of fuel. The fuel combination is usually 85–90% nitromethane with 10–15% methanol. The ratio of fuel to air can be as high as 1:1. Compression ratios vary from 6:1 to 7:1. The engines in funny cars commonly exhibit varying piston heights and ratios that are determined by the piston’s proximity to the air intake. Funny cars have a immovable gear ratio of Three.20:1 and have a reversing gear; power is transmitted from engine to final drive through a numerous staged clutch which provides progressive incremental lockup as the run proceeds. The rate/degree of lockup is mechanically/pneumatically managed and preset before each run according to various conditions, in particular track surface. Wheelbase is inbetween one hundred and one hundred twenty five inches (Two.Five and Three.Two m). The car must maintain a 3-inch (76 mm) ground clearance.

Horsepower claims vary widely—from 6,978 to 8,897—but are very likely around 8,000 HP. Supercharged, nitromethane-fueled motors of this type also have a very high torque, which is estimated at about 7,000 ft·lbf (9,500 N·m). They routinely achieve a 6G acceleration from a standing embark.

Many safety rules are in place to protect the driver and fans. The more visible safety devices are the twin parachutes to help stabilize and decelerate the car after crossing the finish line. Less visible precautions include roll cages and fire extinguishers.

During safety evaluations in the wake of the fatal crash of Scott Kalitta on June 21, two thousand eight in Englishtown, N.J., the NHRA diminished the distance of Top Fuel and Funny Car races to 1,000 feet effective July Two, 2008. Pro Stock and sportsman classes still race to 1,320 feet.

In haul racing in the mid-1960s, Top Fuel horsepower began to be combined with bodied cars with altered wheelbases to produce the very first “funny cars” (originally a derisive term). [13] The very first funny cars were built in the early to mid-1960s. Funny Car as a class traces its roots to Super Stock, through “the intriguingly named Optional Super Stock class”, to A/Factory Experimental (A/FX), which NHRA introduced in 1962, and ultimately XS (experimental stock). [14]

At the begin, the rear tires (“slicks”) were made with a bias-ply construction (“wrinklewall” slicks had not been invented yet), which meant that grip upon launching was poor. 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. Because of these many demonstrable modifications they did not look stock, hence the name “funny”. [15] The wheelbases were switched to assist traction for the narrow (7 in (180 mm)-wide) slicks (required by NHRA rules), while keeping the mandatory factory distance inbetween axle centers. [16]

The very first of the “funny-looking cars” were a trio of Dodge Chargers, which debuted in March one thousand nine hundred sixty four at San Diego Raceway. [17] Funny Cars embarked as stockers, and were, at very first, unspoiled exhibition cars, in the Super/Factory Experimental (S/FX) class; NHRA treated them like a passing fad, [Legal] and attempted to “legislate them out of existence” by placing them in very first gas and then fuel dragster classes, with cars of half the weight and twice the horsepower. [Nineteen]

Funny car success followed the popularity of gassers, the previous dearest doorslammer class. [20] The precursor of the funny car, appearing almost a decade earlier, was John Bandimere’s gargled ’55 Chevy. [21] Funny cars were also preceded by the Modified Sport cars, which had fiberglass figures, tube frames, and supercharged set-back engines even before Super Stock was conceived. [22] Among the Modified Sport racers to challenge early funny cars was Roger Hardcastle, in an Astra J-5. [23]

The very first funny cars were Super Stock Chargers, ready, at the behest of Don Beebe, by Dragmaster’s Jim Nelson and Dode Martin. [24] Raced in the Supercharged Experimental Stock (S/XS) class, their original four hundred twenty six Max Wedges were substituted by jerked four hundred eighty cu in (8 l) Top Gas engines (virtual clones of the Top Gas Dodge Dart engines also built by Dragmaster). [25] (Thus, they were technically “funny gassers”, not fuel cars, unlike the later examples. [26] ) Despite their fuel limitations, however, they weree turning in E.T.s in the high 10s, with speeds around one hundred thirty mph (210 km/h), when Super Stock and FX cars were only running 11s at about one hundred twenty mph (190 km/h), clearly a winning edge. [27] They would also be the very first factory cars fitted with parachutes, and the very first to see the drivers wear firesuits. [28]

The very first major altered-wheelbase car was Dick Landy’s class-legal SS/A one thousand nine hundred sixty four Dodge Coronet, which had front and rear axles moved radically forward, a high gasser-style front end and axle, and a four hundred twenty six hemi. It moved the rear wheels forward fifteen in (380 mm), the front ten in (250 mm), and eighty lb (36 kg) worth of fiberglass parts (including fetish mask, instrument panel, doors, front fenders, front deck lid, front bumpers) placed steel. [29] Very first appearing at the AHRA Winternationals at Phoenix, Arizona, 29–31 January 1964, the combination improved E.T.s from low 11s with speeds in the one hundred twenty mph (190 km/h) range to Ten.60s at almost one hundred thirty mph (210 km/h). [30] Only twelve were built. [31]

The three Chargers, wearing a color scheme of crimson assets sides and white roof, fetish mask, and trunk, with two blue longitunal stripes, [32] 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. [33] (Nix attempted to persuade Chrisman to get Mercury Racing Director Fran Hernandez to permit him to run his Comet’s four hundred twenty seven on nitro, as a way to build up leverage on NHRA, so Nix could use nitro himself). [34]

Their debut was at San Diego Raceway in March 1964, for a three-race exhibition. While in theory all were identical, Nix would switch slicks or add lead shot in the trunk of his Charger to improve traction. [35]

They were shortly turning in E.T.s in the low 11s and trap speeds of over one hundred forty mph (230 km/h); at Long Beach on twenty one March, an 11.49 pass at 141.66 mph (227.98 km/h) was recorded. [36] These cars ran in NHRA’s S/FX class, variously defined as “Super Factory Experimental” or “Supercharged Factory Experimental”. [37] For their part, the Dodge factory spent only US$250,000 on the inaugural season, insufficient for a single car, let alone three, [38] an amount arranged by promoter Don Beebe, who persuaded Wally Parks safety would not be compromised, promising the cars would be built to Super Stock standard. [39]

Three months after the Chargers’debut, the factory-backed Sachs and Sons one thousand nine hundred sixty four Mercury Comet, powered by a supercharged SOHC four hundred twenty seven “cammer”, made its debut, at the one thousand nine hundred sixty four Nationals in Indianapolis. [40] Driven by Jack Chrisman, and entered in B/FD, the Comet created a sensation. [41]

When Chrisman’s Comet very first ran in Indy, the Charger program had been waylaid by financial issues and parts shortages. Their final race appearance was at a Greer, South Carolina, dragstrip, in July 1964. Nix, disappointed, went back to TG/D. [42] Chrisman’s Comet was placed in the B/Fuel Dragster class at Indianapolis; he was defeated in eliminations, but not before recording a pass of Ten.25 seconds at 156.31 mph (251.56 km/h) mph. [43]

The success of these cars inspired other racers to give up class racing for supercharged exhibition cars, led by “Arnie Farmer” Beswick and his Pontiac GTO, Gary Dyer’s hemi Dodge A/FX (financed by Norm Krause, “Mister Norm” [44] ), and Bob Sullivan’s Pandemonium (a ’65 Plymouth Barracuda). Pandemonium joined about six other nitro-fuelled early funny cars facing fuel dragsters in the one thousand nine hundred sixty five season. [45] Dyer’s A/FX was the very first to have all four of the trademark early funny car features: altered wheelbase, supercharging, nitromethane fuel, and (then long-since ouf of production) three hundred ninety two hemi (rather than the Max Wedges of other Chrysler racers). [46]

Funny cars proved enormously popular, with cars driven by Chrisman and Beswick setting track records all over the U.S. [47] The very first wave of funny car development ended around 1965, when bracket racer Jim Liberman and squad chief Lew Arrington made a deal with Pontiac to supply uncommon hemis (remnants of Mickey Thompson’s gas dragster program). (The duo later switched to Chrysler powerplants.) [48] Two of the Dodge trio would come back in one thousand nine hundred sixty five as the Guzler Chargers team, powered by supercharged, nitro-fuelled hemis, with direct drive; both crashed the same year. [49] The popularity of funny car grew that year, with January’s AHRA Winternationals witnessing 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. [50] By June, the number was over a dozen, including factory Mustangs and Cyclones with four hundred twenty seven “cammers”. [51]

A dedicated funny car class was attempted by NHRA at one one thousand nine hundred sixty six national event, and at two in 1968, before Funny Car Eliminator was created in 1969. [52] The trend to flip-top fiberglass figures (“floppers”) began with Jim Lytle’s US$2000 Allison V-1710-powered chopped ’34 Tudor Big Al II. [53] It would inspire “every flopper figure ever formed”. [54] Chrysler’s dominance led Hernandez and Al Turner to attempt and turn things in Mercury’s favor; Don Nichsolson’s flip-top, tube-chassis Comet, arriving in 1966, switched everything. [55] The “flopper”-bodied Comets were very successful, in the forearms of Chrisman, Kenz and Leslie, and Eddie Schartman; at the one thousand nine hundred sixty six World Final, Schartman would become NHRA’s very first official Funny Car title winner. [56]

Tom McEwen, better known for his dragster racing, flirted with funny cars in 1965, as did Lou Barney, a veteran slingshot racer; Barney’s hemi-powered, mid-engined Barracuda proved unsafe, before being substituted by another, which turned out to be “one of the quickest early match racers”. [57] So did Gary Gabelich, [58] most likely better known for land speed racing, in the Beach City Chevrolet-sponsored Nibble Ray. [59]

Before TF/FC became an official class, funny cars were run as B/FDs and C/FDs (B and C/Fuel Dragster), [60] an odd classification, since they were bodied cars, not dragsters.

In 1965, Ford produced Holman and Moody-built fiberglass-bodied Mustangs for (among others) “Gas” Ronda, who was the most successful Ford racer. In 1966, Mercury suggested 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. [61] The car was built by Logghe Bros. (based in Detroit [62] ) (with bods by Fiberglass Trends), weighing in around 1,700 pounds (770 kg), making it stronger than most contemporary top fuel dragsters. [63] (It would be the very first Funny Car on the cover of Hot Rod, in April 1966. [64] ) Similar cars went to Chrisman, “Rapid Eddie” Schartman, and Kenz and Leslie. [65] These cars had the very first coilover suspension in funny car, and were powered by Hilborn-injected four hundred twenty seven SOHCs producing 1,000 hp (750 kW) on 80% nitro. [66] (Chrisman’s was the oddity, a roadster running a 6-71 GMC supercharger. [67] ) They were capable of mid-seven 2nd e.t.s at around one hundred eighty five mph (298 km/h). [68] Schartman (working with Roy Steffey, on the “Flip-Top Fueller”) would hammer Chrisman for Top Funny Car at the NHRA World Finals in one thousand nine hundred sixty six at Tulsa, Oklahoma, with a pass of 8.28 at 174.41 mph (280.Sixty nine km/h). [Sixty nine] Nicholson would fit a Pete Robinson-built Top Fuel four hundred twenty seven SOHC early in the one thousand nine hundred sixty seven season and turn 7.90s at around one hundred eighty mph (290 km/h), earning an eighty-six percent winning record. [70] (The success of the Top Fuel-engined Comets would eventually prompt both Ford and Chrysler to drop funny car sponsorship.) [71] In 1967, Doug Thorley would record the very first (unofficial) two hundred mph (320 km/h) funny car pass in his Corvair at Lions. [72]

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. [73] Of the privateers in this era, Bruce Larson’s USA-1 (a ’66 Chevelle with a Hilborn-injected four hundred twenty seven and four-speed) was the most successful. [74] Among other early funny car competitors were Hayden Proffitt, who faced Chrisman at Lions Dragway in one thousand nine hundred sixty six and won in a Hicks and Sublet-chassised Corvair. [75] Butch Leal would bod one of Logghe’s very first customer chassis with a fiberglass Plymouth Barracuda and run an inected four hundred twenty six Hemi on 100% nitro; this car’s best pass would be a 7.82 at 182.16 mph (293.16 km/h), [76] with a career win ratio of ninety percent. [77] In 1967, Proffitt would take over the failed Grant Rebel SST AMC Rambler, aided by Les Shockley, “Famous” Amos Satterlee, and Dwight Guild. [78] Gene Conway built the hemi Jeep Destroyer (sponsored by the U.S. Navy), and scored so much success, NHRA banned Jeep funny cars in 1967. [79]

Logghe proved incapable to keep up with request for 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. [80] Late in 1969, Pat Foster and John Buttera would devise a Top Fuel dragster-style chassis to substitute the “dune buggy” design common at the time. This would go under the Mustang Mach Is of Danny Ongais and Mickey Thompson. 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. [81]

In 1968, Doug Thorley would go after Don Garlits’ lead, driving a rear-engined Javelin, built by Woody Gilmore, powered by an AMC 401. [82] (This would later be substituted by a three hundred ninety two hemi ready by John Hoven and Glenn Okazaki.) That same year, Leal would sell his ‘cuda to Don Schumacher. [83]

NHRA created the fresh Funny Car (TF/FC) class at the NHRA Winternationals in 1969; Funny Car Eliminator (FCE) would be won by Clare Sanders, teammate of “Jungle Jim” Liberman. [84] Tragedy struck the same year, with the death of Jerry Schwartz in the ex-Foster Mach I. [85] In a virtually identical car (except the color), Ongais won a number of rounds, with passes frequently in the low sevens at over 182.16 mph (293.16 km/h), including taking Funny Car Eliminator at the USnats. [86] Gene Snow would record the very first official two hundred mph (320 km/h) pass in the Keith Black-engined, Logghe-chassised one thousand nine hundred sixty nine Dodge Charger, Rambunctious. [87] One of the most famous (and popular) funny cars in NHRA history would emerge in 1969: Chi-Town Hustler, a Charger ready by Fakonas and Coil (driven by Pat Minnick). [88]

Another Funny Car record was set in one thousand nine hundred seventy by Leroy Goldstein, then testing Firestone tires, with a 6.99 pass at Capitol Raceway, Funny Car’s very first under seven seconds. [89] By November, Jake Johnson in the hemi-powered Blue Max (driving for Harry Schmidt) turned in a 6.72 at two hundred eighteen mph (351 km/h), at OCIR. [90] The big news that year was the creation of Mattel Hot Wheels-sponsored team of Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen. [91]

Don Garlits’ one thousand nine hundred seventy one accident, which led to the creation of the revolutionary Swamp Rat XIV, did not produce the same kind of switch in Funny Car, tho’ there had been a number of rear-engined examples, including Thorley’s Javelin and Dave Bowman’s California Stud, which was the most successful of the rear-engined funny cars. [92]

The Funny Car Eliminator title at the one thousand nine hundred seventy one Winternats would go to Roland Leong’s Charger, Hawaiian. [93]

In 1973, Shirley Muldowney teamed up with Connie Kalitta as the Bounty Hunter and Bounty Huntress, in a pair of Ford Mustangs, hers a Buttera chassis, his a Logghe. [94]

Inbetween one thousand nine hundred seventy three and 1975, Ed McCullough would score eighteen wins at NHRA national events in the Revell-sponsored Dodge Dart, Revelloution. [95]

Shirl Greer would defeat Prudhomme in the final in one thousand nine hundred seventy four to take the very first NHRA Funny Car World Championship. [96] He would suffer severe burns in the final after an engine exploded. [97]

In 1975, Raymond Beadle and Harry Schmidt resurrected the Blue Max; built by Tony Casarez Race Cars, the Mustang II would win at Indianapolis. Beadle later bought out Schmidt and went on to seven funny car national titles, four with NHRA, three with IHRA. [98]

Mark Oswald, driving for Candies and Hughes (with Old Milwaukee sponsorship [99] ), in one thousand nine hundred eighty four did something no other driver has: he won both the NHRA and IHRA world championships. [100] The team took four IHRA titles inbetween one thousand nine hundred eighty three and 1987, including two in a row, one thousand nine hundred eighty six and 1987, as well as hammering John Force in the one thousand nine hundred eighty six Big Bud Shootout (losing to him the next year). [101]

Force inbetween one thousand nine hundred eighty seven and one thousand nine hundred ninety six won sixty-seven of two hundred three NHRA national events, four of nine Big Bud Shootouts, and six World Championships. [102] 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. [103] Force’s predominance in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine would only truly be challenged by Bruce Larson, a long-time East Coast match race, 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. [104] In 1992, the honor of putting Force on the trailer would go to Cruz Pedregon, driving the Larry Minor McDonald’s-sponsored Olds to the championship. [105] Pedregon was also one of the very first Funny Car drivers to clock a five-second e.t. [106]

Ed McCulloch in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight would claim the US$100,000 prize for winning both IHRA TF/FC events at Texas Motorplex; Eddie Hill would do the same in TFD that year. (Billy Meyer, who wielded IRHA and suggested the prize, would sell at season’s end.) [107]

Kenny Bernstein and tuner Dale Armstrong would turn to land speed racers the Arivett brothers to design Bernstein’s car in 1989. [108] This car would be dubbed the “Batmobile”. [109] It would profoundly switch Funny Car aerodynamics. [110]

In 1991, Jim White, driving for Leong, turned in two of the fastest Funny Car passes to date, at over two hundred ninety mph (470 km/h), and placed 2nd to Force in the championship. [111]

Al and Helen Hoffman, with tuner Tom Anderson, “were the antithesis of the corporate button-down T-shirt racers”. [112] Sponsored by BDS, [113] inbetween one thousand nine hundred ninety one and 1995, Hoffman earned eleven national event wins, as well as the one thousand nine hundred ninety one Winston Invitational and the Big Bud Shootout in 1991, 1994, and 1995. [114]

Tom McEwen would build his “gorgeous” replica ’57 Funny Car, running it as an NHRA exhibition vehicle and creating Nostalgia Funny Car, even tho’ the car would not (now) be legal in that class. [115]

Major corporate sponsorship money came to Funny Car embarking in 1997, leading to significant switches in the sport. Multi-car teams, with several tuners each, became commonplace, and single car teams “had a very slender chance of winning an NHRA World Championship”. [116] Force’s supremacy would proceed, with ten NHRA FC World Championship wins from one thousand nine hundred ninety three to 2002, including six straight 1997-2002; his success was so amazing, he was accused of cheating (and was willing to de-robe off his firesuit to prove he was not). [117] Inbetween one thousand nine hundred ninety seven and 2006, Force went to the final in one hundred five of two hundred twenty eight events and took sixty-one tour wins, as well as qualifying for all ten Big Bud Shootouts, winning in two thousand and 2006. Inbetween one thousand nine hundred ninety seven and 2006, Force went to the final in one hundred five of two hundred twenty eight events and took sixty-one tour wins. [118] On top of that, he had ten of the quickest or fastest passes in Funny Car. [119]

In latest years, a resurgence of interest in vintage haul cars has created many fresh “nostalgia” funny cars, which are freshly made vintage-style funny car figures mounted on modern funny car frames or, in certain cases, freshly built frames that look close to the originals and are made NHRA legal. These “Nostalgia Funny Cars” often rival in various nostalgia haul racing events, such as the NHRA Heritage Hot Rod Racing Series, which includes the National Hot Rod Reunion and the California Hot Rod Reunion.

In 2007, NHRA limited technical innovation in Funny Car, as well as introducing a 1,000 ft (300 m) track length and limitations on maximum engine revs. [120]

Nitro Funny Car racing has never been more competitive than since 2006. [121] The dominance of John Force Racing ended in two thousand six and inbetween two thousand seven and two thousand fifteen was equalled by DSR, with three TF/FC titles each. [122] Funny Car is predominated by multi-car teams, with only Cruz Pedregon, Jim Dunn, and Tim Wilkerson maintaining the traditional one-car operation. [123]

1969 Clare Sanders (Funny Car Eliminator)
1974 – Shirl Greer
1975 – Don Prudhomme
1976 – Don Prudhomme
1977 – Don Prudhomme
1978 – Don Prudhomme
1979 – Raymond Beadle
1980 – Raymond Beadle
1981 – Raymond Beadle
1982 – Frank Hawley
1983 – Frank Hawley
1984 – Mark Oswald
1985 – Kenny Bernstein
1986 – Kenny Bernstein
1987 – Kenny Bernstein
1988 – Kenny Bernstein
1989 – Bruce Larson
1990 – John Force
1991 – John Force
1992 – Cruz Pedregon
1993 – John Force
1994 – John Force
1995 – John Force
1996 – John Force
1997 – John Force
1998 – John Force
1999 – John Force
2000 – John Force
2001 – John Force
2002 – John Force
2003 – Tony Pedregon
2004 – John Force
2005 – Gary Scelzi
2006 – John Force
2007 – Tony Pedregon
2008 – Cruz Pedregon
2009 – Robert Hight
2010 – John Force
2011 – Matt Hagan
2012 – Jack Beckman
2013 – John Force [124]
2014 – Matt Hagan
2015 – Del Worsham
2016 – Ron Capps

Presently, John Force is the driver in the Funny Car class with the most wins, having sixteen championships, over 1,000 round wins and over one hundred forty five National Event wins. He is also the proprietor with the most funny car championships with Legal, since Tony Pedregon (2003) and Robert Hight (2009) have each won one title while on his team. Force’s former team chief, Austin Coil, also has logged the highest number of wins in that position.

Funny Car

Funny Car is a type of haul racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized haul racing. In the United States, the other professional haul racing classes are Top Fuel, Pro Modified, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Bike. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bods over a custom-built fabricated chassis, providing them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers’ showroom models. They also have the engine placed in front of the driver, as opposed to dragsters, which place it behind the driver. [1]

Funny car bods typically reflect the models of freshly available cars in the time period that the funny car was built. For example, in the 1970s, then current models such as the Chevrolet Vega or Plymouth Barracuda were often represented as funny cars, and the bods represented the Big Three of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. [Two] Presently, four manufacturers are represented in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car — Chevrolet with the Camaro, [Three] Dodge with the Charger, [Four] Ford with the Mustang, [Five] and Toyota with the Camry. [6] Worldwide, however, many different assets styles are used. These “fake” figure shells are not just cosmetic; they serve an significant aerodynamic purpose. [7]

Today, fielding a Funny Car team can cost inbetween US$Two.6 and US$Trio million. [8] A single carbon fiber bod can cost US$70,000. [9]

The NHRA has rigorous guidelines for funny cars. Most of the rules relate to the engine. In brief, the engines can only be V-8s displacing no more than five hundred cubic inches (8.Nineteen L). The most popular design is loosely based on the 2nd generation Chrysler four hundred twenty six Hemi “Elephant Engine” made from one thousand nine hundred sixty four to 1971.

There can only be two valves per cylinder. The goes are machined from aluminum billet and have no water jackets, as the high latent fever of the methanol in the fuel coupled with the brevity of the run precludes the need for water cooling of the cylinder goes. Superchargers are restricted to a basic Roots type—19-inch (480 mm) rotor case width with a breadth of 11.25 inches (286 mm). The rotors are not permitted to have more than a certain amount of helical twist in them so the blower does not become a screw-type supercharger in function. Only single camshafts are permitted. There are two common bore-stroke combinations: Four.1875 by Four.50 inches (106.36 mm × 114.30 mm) (called a Trio/Four stroker) and Four.25 by Four.375 inches (108.0 mm × 111.1 mm) (called a Five/8 stroker). The Three/Four stroker is the most common combination used today and equals four hundred ninety six CID (8.1 L).

Crankshafts are CNC machine carved from steel billet then nitrided in an oven to increase surface firmness. Intake valves are titanium and of Two.40-inch (61 mm) width, while harass valves are 1.90-inch (48 mm) width of Inconel. Every funny car has ballistic blankets covering the supercharger because this part of the engine is prone to explosion.

Funny car fuel systems are key to their immense power. During a single run (beginning, burnout, backing up, staging, 1/Four mile) cars can burn as much as fifteen US gallons (12 imp gal; fifty seven L) of fuel. The fuel combination is usually 85–90% nitromethane with 10–15% methanol. The ratio of fuel to air can be as high as 1:1. Compression ratios vary from 6:1 to 7:1. The engines in funny cars commonly exhibit varying piston heights and ratios that are determined by the piston’s proximity to the air intake. Funny cars have a motionless gear ratio of Trio.20:1 and have a reversing gear; power is transmitted from engine to final drive through a numerous staged clutch which provides progressive incremental lockup as the run proceeds. The rate/degree of lockup is mechanically/pneumatically managed and preset before each run according to various conditions, in particular track surface. Wheelbase is inbetween one hundred and one hundred twenty five inches (Two.Five and Trio.Two m). The car must maintain a 3-inch (76 mm) ground clearance.

Horsepower claims vary widely—from 6,978 to 8,897—but are most likely around 8,000 HP. Supercharged, nitromethane-fueled motors of this type also have a very high torque, which is estimated at about 7,000 ft·lbf (9,500 N·m). They routinely achieve a 6G acceleration from a standing begin.

At the begin, the rear tires (“slicks”) were made with a bias-ply construction (“wrinklewall” slicks had not been invented yet), which meant that grip upon launching was poor. 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. Because of these many visible modifications they did not look stock, hence the name “funny”. [15] The wheelbases were switched to assist traction for the narrow (7 in (180 mm)-wide) slicks (required by NHRA rules), while keeping the mandatory factory distance inbetween axle centers. [16]

The very first of the “funny-looking cars” were a trio of Dodge Chargers, which debuted in March one thousand nine hundred sixty four at San Diego Raceway. [17] Funny Cars embarked as stockers, and were, at very first, unspoiled exhibition cars, in the Super/Factory Experimental (S/FX) class; NHRA treated them like a passing fad, [Eighteen] and attempted to “legislate them out of existence” by placing them in very first gas and then fuel dragster classes, with cars of half the weight and twice the horsepower. [Nineteen]

Funny car success followed the popularity of gassers, the previous beloved doorslammer class. [20] The precursor of the funny car, appearing almost a decade earlier, was John Bandimere’s deep-throated ’55 Chevy. [21] Funny cars were also preceded by the Modified Sport cars, which had fiberglass bods, tube frames, and supercharged set-back engines even before Super Stock was conceived. [22] Among the Modified Sport racers to challenge early funny cars was Roger Hardcastle, in an Astra J-5. [23]

The very first major altered-wheelbase car was Dick Landy’s class-legal SS/A one thousand nine hundred sixty four Dodge Coronet, which had front and rear axles moved radically forward, a high gasser-style front end and axle, and a four hundred twenty six hemi. It moved the rear wheels forward fifteen in (380 mm), the front ten in (250 mm), and eighty lb (36 kg) worth of fiberglass parts (including rubber hood, instrument panel, doors, front fenders, front deck lid, front bumpers) placed steel. [29] Very first appearing at the AHRA Winternationals at Phoenix, Arizona, 29–31 January 1964, the combination improved E.T.s from low 11s with speeds in the one hundred twenty mph (190 km/h) range to Ten.60s at almost one hundred thirty mph (210 km/h). [30] Only twelve were built. [31]

The three Chargers, wearing a color scheme of crimson figure sides and white roof, rubber hood, and trunk, with two blue longitunal stripes, [32] 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. [33] (Nix attempted to persuade Chrisman to get Mercury Racing Director Fran Hernandez to permit him to run his Comet’s four hundred twenty seven on nitro, as a way to build up leverage on NHRA, so Nix could use nitro himself). [34]

Funny cars proved enormously popular, with cars driven by Chrisman and Beswick setting track records all over the U.S. [47] The very first wave of funny car development ended around 1965, when bracket racer Jim Liberman and squad chief Lew Arrington made a deal with Pontiac to supply infrequent hemis (remnants of Mickey Thompson’s gas dragster program). (The duo later switched to Chrysler powerplants.) [48] Two of the Dodge trio would come back in one thousand nine hundred sixty five as the Guzler Chargers team, powered by supercharged, nitro-fuelled hemis, with direct drive; both crashed the same year. [49] The popularity of funny car grew that year, with January’s AHRA Winternationals observing 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. [50] By June, the number was over a dozen, including factory Mustangs and Cyclones with four hundred twenty seven “cammers”. [51]

A dedicated funny car class was attempted by NHRA at one one thousand nine hundred sixty six national event, and at two in 1968, before Funny Car Eliminator was created in 1969. [52] The trend to flip-top fiberglass bods (“floppers”) began with Jim Lytle’s US$2000 Allison V-1710-powered chopped ’34 Tudor Big Al II. [53] It would inspire “every flopper assets ever formed”. [54] Chrysler’s dominance led Hernandez and Al Turner to attempt and turn things in Mercury’s favor; Don Nichsolson’s flip-top, tube-chassis Comet, arriving in 1966, switched everything. [55] The “flopper”-bodied Comets were very successful, in the palms of Chrisman, Kenz and Leslie, and Eddie Schartman; at the one thousand nine hundred sixty six World Final, Schartman would become NHRA’s very first official Funny Car title winner. [56]

Before TF/FC became an official class, funny cars were run as B/FDs and C/FDs (B and C/Fuel Dragster), [60] an odd classification, since they were bodied cars, not dragsters.

In 1965, Ford produced Holman and Moody-built fiberglass-bodied Mustangs for (among others) “Gas” Ronda, who was the most successful Ford racer. In 1966, Mercury suggested 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. [61] The car was built by Logghe Bros. (based in Detroit [62] ) (with bods by Fiberglass Trends), weighing in around 1,700 pounds (770 kg), making it stronger than most contemporary top fuel dragsters. [63] (It would be the very first Funny Car on the cover of Hot Rod, in April 1966. [64] ) Similar cars went to Chrisman, “Swift Eddie” Schartman, and Kenz and Leslie. [65] These cars had the very first coilover suspension in funny car, and were powered by Hilborn-injected four hundred twenty seven SOHCs producing 1,000 hp (750 kW) on 80% nitro. [66] (Chrisman’s was the oddity, a roadster running a 6-71 GMC supercharger. [67] ) They were capable of mid-seven 2nd e.t.s at around one hundred eighty five mph (298 km/h). [68] Schartman (working with Roy Steffey, on the “Flip-Top Fueller”) would hit Chrisman for Top Funny Car at the NHRA World Finals in one thousand nine hundred sixty six at Tulsa, Oklahoma, with a pass of 8.28 at 174.41 mph (280.Sixty-nine km/h). [Sixty nine] Nicholson would fit a Pete Robinson-built Top Fuel four hundred twenty seven SOHC early in the one thousand nine hundred sixty seven season and turn 7.90s at around one hundred eighty mph (290 km/h), earning an eighty-six percent winning record. [70] (The success of the Top Fuel-engined Comets would eventually prompt both Ford and Chrysler to drop funny car sponsorship.) [71] In 1967, Doug Thorley would record the very first (unofficial) two hundred mph (320 km/h) funny car pass in his Corvair at Lions. [72]

NHRA created the fresh Funny Car (TF/FC) class at the NHRA Winternationals in 1969; Funny Car Eliminator (FCE) would be won by Clare Sanders, teammate of “Jungle Jim” Liberman. [84] Tragedy struck the same year, with the death of Jerry Schwartz in the ex-Foster Mach I. [85] In a virtually identical car (except the color), Ongais won a number of rounds, with passes frequently in the low sevens at over 182.16 mph (293.16 km/h), including taking Funny Car Eliminator at the USnats. [86] Gene Snow would record the very first official two hundred mph (320 km/h) pass in the Keith Black-engined, Logghe-chassised one thousand nine hundred sixty nine Dodge Charger, Rambunctious. [87] One of the most famous (and popular) funny cars in NHRA history would show up in 1969: Chi-Town Hustler, a Charger ready by Fakonas and Coil (driven by Pat Minnick). [88]

The Funny Car Eliminator title at the one thousand nine hundred seventy one Winternats would go to Roland Leong’s Charger, Hawaiian. [93]

In 1973, Shirley Muldowney teamed up with Connie Kalitta as the Bounty Hunter and Bounty Huntress, in a pair of Ford Mustangs, hers a Buttera chassis, his a Logghe. [94]

Inbetween one thousand nine hundred seventy three and 1975, Ed McCullough would score eighteen wins at NHRA national events in the Revell-sponsored Dodge Dart, Revelloution. [95]

Mark Oswald, driving for Candies and Hughes (with Old Milwaukee sponsorship [99] ), in one thousand nine hundred eighty four did something no other driver has: he won both the NHRA and IHRA world championships. [100] The team took four IHRA titles inbetween one thousand nine hundred eighty three and 1987, including two in a row, one thousand nine hundred eighty six and 1987, as well as hitting John Force in the one thousand nine hundred eighty six Big Bud Shootout (losing to him the next year). [101]

Force inbetween one thousand nine hundred eighty seven and one thousand nine hundred ninety six won sixty-seven of two hundred three NHRA national events, four of nine Big Bud Shootouts, and six World Championships. [102] 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. [103] Force’s predominance in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine would only indeed be challenged by Bruce Larson, a long-time East Coast match race, 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. [104] In 1992, the honor of putting Force on the trailer would go to Cruz Pedregon, driving the Larry Minor McDonald’s-sponsored Olds to the championship. [105] Pedregon was also one of the very first Funny Car drivers to clock a five-second e.t. [106]

In 1991, Jim White, driving for Leong, turned in two of the fastest Funny Car passes to date, at over two hundred ninety mph (470 km/h), and placed 2nd to Force in the championship. [111]

Major corporate sponsorship money came to Funny Car kicking off in 1997, leading to significant switches in the sport. Multi-car teams, with several tuners each, became commonplace, and single car teams “had a very slender chance of winning an NHRA World Championship”. [116] Force’s predominance would proceed, with ten NHRA FC World Championship wins from one thousand nine hundred ninety three to 2002, including six straight 1997-2002; his success was so amazing, he was accused of cheating (and was willing to de-robe off his firesuit to prove he was not). [117] Inbetween one thousand nine hundred ninety seven and 2006, Force went to the final in one hundred five of two hundred twenty eight events and took sixty-one tour wins, as well as qualifying for all ten Big Bud Shootouts, winning in two thousand and 2006. Inbetween one thousand nine hundred ninety seven and 2006, Force went to the final in one hundred five of two hundred twenty eight events and took sixty-one tour wins. [118] On top of that, he had ten of the quickest or fastest passes in Funny Car. [119]

In latest years, a resurgence of interest in vintage haul cars has created many fresh “nostalgia” funny cars, which are freshly made vintage-style funny car figures mounted on modern funny car frames or, in certain cases, freshly built frames that look close to the originals and are made NHRA legal. These “Nostalgia Funny Cars” often contest in various nostalgia haul racing events, such as the NHRA Heritage Hot Rod Racing Series, which includes the National Hot Rod Reunion and the California Hot Rod Reunion.

In 2007, NHRA limited technical innovation in Funny Car, as well as introducing a 1,000 ft (300 m) track length and limitations on maximum engine revs. [120]

1969 Clare Sanders (Funny Car Eliminator)
1974 – Shirl Greer
1975 – Don Prudhomme
1976 – Don Prudhomme
1977 – Don Prudhomme
1978 – Don Prudhomme
1979 – Raymond Beadle
1980 – Raymond Beadle
1981 – Raymond Beadle
1982 – Frank Hawley
1983 – Frank Hawley
1984 – Mark Oswald
1985 – Kenny Bernstein
1986 – Kenny Bernstein
1987 – Kenny Bernstein
1988 – Kenny Bernstein
1989 – Bruce Larson
1990 – John Force
1991 – John Force
1992 – Cruz Pedregon
1993 – John Force
1994 – John Force
1995 – John Force
1996 – John Force
1997 – John Force
1998 – John Force
1999 – John Force
2000 – John Force
2001 – John Force
2002 – John Force
2003 – Tony Pedregon
2004 – John Force
2005 – Gary Scelzi
2006 – John Force
2007 – Tony Pedregon
2008 – Cruz Pedregon
2009 – Robert Hight
2010 – John Force
2011 – Matt Hagan
2012 – Jack Beckman
2013 – John Force [124]
2014 – Matt Hagan
2015 – Del Worsham
2016 – Ron Capps

Presently, John Force is the driver in the Funny Car class with the most wins, having sixteen championships, over 1,000 round wins and over one hundred forty five National Event wins. He is also the possessor with the most funny car championships with Legal, since Tony Pedregon (2003) and Robert Hight (2009) have each won one title while on his team. Force’s former team chief, Austin Coil, also has logged the highest number of wins in that position.

Funny Car

Funny Car is a type of haul racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized haul racing. In the United States, the other professional haul racing classes are Top Fuel, Pro Modified, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Bike. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive figures over a custom-built fabricated chassis, providing them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers’ showroom models. They also have the engine placed in front of the driver, as opposed to dragsters, which place it behind the driver. [1]

Funny car figures typically reflect the models of freshly available cars in the time period that the funny car was built. For example, in the 1970s, then current models such as the Chevrolet Vega or Plymouth Barracuda were often represented as funny cars, and the figures represented the Big Three of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. [Two] Presently, four manufacturers are represented in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car — Chevrolet with the Camaro, [Three] Dodge with the Charger, [Four] Ford with the Mustang, [Five] and Toyota with the Camry. [6] Worldwide, however, many different assets styles are used. These “fake” figure shells are not just cosmetic; they serve an significant aerodynamic purpose. [7]

Today, fielding a Funny Car team can cost inbetween US$Two.6 and US$Trio million. [8] A single carbon fiber assets can cost US$70,000. [9]

There can only be two valves per cylinder. The goes are machined from aluminum billet and have no water jackets, as the high latent warmth of the methanol in the fuel coupled with the brevity of the run precludes the need for water cooling of the cylinder goes. Superchargers are restricted to a basic Roots type—19-inch (480 mm) rotor case width with a breadth of 11.25 inches (286 mm). The rotors are not permitted to have more than a certain amount of helical twist in them so the blower does not become a screw-type supercharger in function. Only single camshafts are permitted. There are two common bore-stroke combinations: Four.1875 by Four.50 inches (106.36 mm × 114.30 mm) (called a Trio/Four stroker) and Four.25 by Four.375 inches (108.0 mm × 111.1 mm) (called a Five/8 stroker). The Trio/Four stroker is the most common combination used today and equals four hundred ninety six CID (8.1 L).

Funny car fuel systems are key to their immense power. During a single run (kicking off, burnout, backing up, staging, 1/Four mile) cars can burn as much as fifteen US gallons (12 imp gal; fifty seven L) of fuel. The fuel combination is usually 85–90% nitromethane with 10–15% methanol. The ratio of fuel to air can be as high as 1:1. Compression ratios vary from 6:1 to 7:1. The engines in funny cars commonly exhibit varying piston heights and ratios that are determined by the piston’s proximity to the air intake. Funny cars have a stationary gear ratio of Trio.20:1 and have a reversing gear; power is transmitted from engine to final drive through a numerous staged clutch which provides progressive incremental lockup as the run proceeds. The rate/degree of lockup is mechanically/pneumatically managed and preset before each run according to various conditions, in particular track surface. Wheelbase is inbetween one hundred and one hundred twenty five inches (Two.Five and Trio.Two m). The car must maintain a 3-inch (76 mm) ground clearance.

At the begin, the rear tires (“slicks”) were made with a bias-ply construction (“wrinklewall” slicks had not been invented yet), which meant that grip upon launching was poor. 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. Because of these many visible modifications they did not look stock, hence the name “funny”. [15] The wheelbases were switched to assist traction for the narrow (7 in (180 mm)-wide) slicks (required by NHRA rules), while keeping the mandatory factory distance inbetween axle centers. [16]

The very first of the “funny-looking cars” were a trio of Dodge Chargers, which debuted in March one thousand nine hundred sixty four at San Diego Raceway. [17] Funny Cars embarked as stockers, and were, at very first, unspoiled exhibition cars, in the Super/Factory Experimental (S/FX) class; NHRA treated them like a passing fad, [Eighteen] and attempted to “legislate them out of existence” by placing them in very first gas and then fuel dragster classes, with cars of half the weight and twice the horsepower. [Nineteen]

Funny car success followed the popularity of gassers, the previous beloved doorslammer class. [20] The precursor of the funny car, appearing almost a decade earlier, was John Bandimere’s deep-throated ’55 Chevy. [21] Funny cars were also preceded by the Modified Sport cars, which had fiberglass figures, tube frames, and supercharged set-back engines even before Super Stock was conceived. [22] Among the Modified Sport racers to challenge early funny cars was Roger Hardcastle, in an Astra J-5. [23]

The very first funny cars were Super Stock Chargers, ready, at the behest of Don Beebe, by Dragmaster’s Jim Nelson and Dode Martin. [24] Raced in the Supercharged Experimental Stock (S/XS) class, their original four hundred twenty six Max Wedges were substituted by masturbated four hundred eighty cu in (8 l) Top Gas engines (virtual clones of the Top Gas Dodge Dart engines also built by Dragmaster). [25] (Thus, they were technically “funny gassers”, not fuel cars, unlike the later examples. [26] ) Despite their fuel limitations, however, they weree turning in E.T.s in the high 10s, with speeds around one hundred thirty mph (210 km/h), when Super Stock and FX cars were only running 11s at about one hundred twenty mph (190 km/h), clearly a winning edge. [27] They would also be the very first factory cars fitted with parachutes, and the very first to see the drivers wear firesuits. [28]

The very first major altered-wheelbase car was Dick Landy’s class-legal SS/A one thousand nine hundred sixty four Dodge Coronet, which had front and rear axles moved radically forward, a high gasser-style front end and axle, and a four hundred twenty six hemi. It moved the rear wheels forward fifteen in (380 mm), the front ten in (250 mm), and eighty lb (36 kg) worth of fiberglass parts (including rubber hood, instrument panel, doors, front fenders, front deck lid, front bumpers) placed steel. [29] Very first appearing at the AHRA Winternationals at Phoenix, Arizona, 29–31 January 1964, the combination improved E.T.s from low 11s with speeds in the one hundred twenty mph (190 km/h) range to Ten.60s at almost one hundred thirty mph (210 km/h). [30] Only twelve were built. [31]

The three Chargers, wearing a color scheme of crimson bod sides and white roof, bondage mask, and trunk, with two blue longitunal stripes, [32] 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. [33] (Nix attempted to persuade Chrisman to get Mercury Racing Director Fran Hernandez to permit him to run his Comet’s four hundred twenty seven on nitro, as a way to build up leverage on NHRA, so Nix could use nitro himself). [34]

Funny cars proved enormously popular, with cars driven by Chrisman and Beswick setting track records all over the U.S. [47] The very first wave of funny car development ended around 1965, when bracket racer Jim Liberman and team chief Lew Arrington made a deal with Pontiac to supply uncommon hemis (remnants of Mickey Thompson’s gas dragster program). (The duo later switched to Chrysler powerplants.) [48] Two of the Dodge trio would comeback in one thousand nine hundred sixty five as the Guzler Chargers team, powered by supercharged, nitro-fuelled hemis, with direct drive; both crashed the same year. [49] The popularity of funny car grew that year, with January’s AHRA Winternationals eyeing 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. [50] By June, the number was over a dozen, including factory Mustangs and Cyclones with four hundred twenty seven “cammers”. [51]

A dedicated funny car class was attempted by NHRA at one one thousand nine hundred sixty six national event, and at two in 1968, before Funny Car Eliminator was created in 1969. [52] The trend to flip-top fiberglass bods (“floppers”) began with Jim Lytle’s US$2000 Allison V-1710-powered chopped ’34 Tudor Big Al II. [53] It would inspire “every flopper figure ever formed”. [54] Chrysler’s dominance led Hernandez and Al Turner to attempt and turn things in Mercury’s favor; Don Nichsolson’s flip-top, tube-chassis Comet, arriving in 1966, switched everything. [55] The “flopper”-bodied Comets were very successful, in the forearms of Chrisman, Kenz and Leslie, and Eddie Schartman; at the one thousand nine hundred sixty six World Final, Schartman would become NHRA’s very first official Funny Car title winner. [56]

Before TF/FC became an official class, funny cars were run as B/FDs and C/FDs (B and C/Fuel Dragster), [60] an odd classification, since they were bodied cars, not dragsters.

In 1965, Ford produced Holman and Moody-built fiberglass-bodied Mustangs for (among others) “Gas” Ronda, who was the most successful Ford racer. In 1966, Mercury suggested 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. [61] The car was built by Logghe Bros. (based in Detroit [62] ) (with bods by Fiberglass Trends), weighing in around 1,700 pounds (770 kg), making it stronger than most contemporary top fuel dragsters. [63] (It would be the very first Funny Car on the cover of Hot Rod, in April 1966. [64] ) Similar cars went to Chrisman, “Swift Eddie” Schartman, and Kenz and Leslie. [65] These cars had the very first coilover suspension in funny car, and were powered by Hilborn-injected four hundred twenty seven SOHCs producing 1,000 hp (750 kW) on 80% nitro. [66] (Chrisman’s was the oddity, a roadster running a 6-71 GMC supercharger. [67] ) They were capable of mid-seven 2nd e.t.s at around one hundred eighty five mph (298 km/h). [68] Schartman (working with Roy Steffey, on the “Flip-Top Fueller”) would hammer Chrisman for Top Funny Car at the NHRA World Finals in one thousand nine hundred sixty six at Tulsa, Oklahoma, with a pass of 8.28 at 174.41 mph (280.Sixty-nine km/h). [Sixty nine] Nicholson would fit a Pete Robinson-built Top Fuel four hundred twenty seven SOHC early in the one thousand nine hundred sixty seven season and turn 7.90s at around one hundred eighty mph (290 km/h), earning an eighty-six percent winning record. [70] (The success of the Top Fuel-engined Comets would eventually prompt both Ford and Chrysler to drop funny car sponsorship.) [71] In 1967, Doug Thorley would record the very first (unofficial) two hundred mph (320 km/h) funny car pass in his Corvair at Lions. [72]

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. [73] Of the privateers in this era, Bruce Larson’s USA-1 (a ’66 Chevelle with a Hilborn-injected four hundred twenty seven and four-speed) was the most successful. [74] Among other early funny car competitors were Hayden Proffitt, who faced Chrisman at Lions Dragway in one thousand nine hundred sixty six and won in a Hicks and Sublet-chassised Corvair. [75] Butch Leal would assets one of Logghe’s very first customer chassis with a fiberglass Plymouth Barracuda and run an inected four hundred twenty six Hemi on 100% nitro; this car’s best pass would be a 7.82 at 182.16 mph (293.16 km/h), [76] with a career win ratio of ninety percent. [77] In 1967, Proffitt would take over the failed Grant Rebel SST AMC Rambler, aided by Les Shockley, “Famous” Amos Satterlee, and Dwight Guild. [78] Gene Conway built the hemi Jeep Destroyer (sponsored by the U.S. Navy), and scored so much success, NHRA banned Jeep funny cars in 1967. [79]

The Funny Car Eliminator title at the one thousand nine hundred seventy one Winternats would go to Roland Leong’s Charger, Hawaiian. [93]

In 1973, Shirley Muldowney teamed up with Connie Kalitta as the Bounty Hunter and Bounty Huntress, in a pair of Ford Mustangs, hers a Buttera chassis, his a Logghe. [94]

Inbetween one thousand nine hundred seventy three and 1975, Ed McCullough would score eighteen wins at NHRA national events in the Revell-sponsored Dodge Dart, Revelloution. [95]

Force inbetween one thousand nine hundred eighty seven and one thousand nine hundred ninety six won sixty-seven of two hundred three NHRA national events, four of nine Big Bud Shootouts, and six World Championships. [102] 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. [103] Force’s predominance in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine would only indeed be challenged by Bruce Larson, a long-time East Coast match race, 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. [104] In 1992, the honor of putting Force on the trailer would go to Cruz Pedregon, driving the Larry Minor McDonald’s-sponsored Olds to the championship. [105] Pedregon was also one of the very first Funny Car drivers to clock a five-second e.t. [106]

Ed McCulloch in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight would claim the US$100,000 prize for winning both IHRA TF/FC events at Texas Motorplex; Eddie Hill would do the same in TFD that year. (Billy Meyer, who possessed IRHA and suggested the prize, would sell at season’s end.) [107]

In 1991, Jim White, driving for Leong, turned in two of the fastest Funny Car passes to date, at over two hundred ninety mph (470 km/h), and placed 2nd to Force in the championship. [111]

Major corporate sponsorship money came to Funny Car embarking in 1997, leading to significant switches in the sport. Multi-car teams, with several tuners each, became commonplace, and single car teams “had a very slender chance of winning an NHRA World Championship”. [116] Force’s dominance would proceed, with ten NHRA FC World Championship wins from one thousand nine hundred ninety three to 2002, including six straight 1997-2002; his success was so amazing, he was accused of cheating (and was willing to unwrap off his firesuit to prove he was not). [117] Inbetween one thousand nine hundred ninety seven and 2006, Force went to the final in one hundred five of two hundred twenty eight events and took sixty-one tour wins, as well as qualifying for all ten Big Bud Shootouts, winning in two thousand and 2006. Inbetween one thousand nine hundred ninety seven and 2006, Force went to the final in one hundred five of two hundred twenty eight events and took sixty-one tour wins. [118] On top of that, he had ten of the quickest or fastest passes in Funny Car. [119]

In latest years, a resurgence of interest in vintage haul cars has created many fresh “nostalgia” funny cars, which are freshly made vintage-style funny car figures mounted on modern funny car frames or, in certain cases, freshly built frames that look close to the originals and are made NHRA legal. These “Nostalgia Funny Cars” often challenge in various nostalgia haul racing events, such as the NHRA Heritage Hot Rod Racing Series, which includes the National Hot Rod Reunion and the California Hot Rod Reunion.

In 2007, NHRA limited technical innovation in Funny Car, as well as introducing a 1,000 ft (300 m) track length and confinements on maximum engine revs. [120]

1969 Clare Sanders (Funny Car Eliminator)
1974 – Shirl Greer
1975 – Don Prudhomme
1976 – Don Prudhomme
1977 – Don Prudhomme
1978 – Don Prudhomme
1979 – Raymond Beadle
1980 – Raymond Beadle
1981 – Raymond Beadle
1982 – Frank Hawley
1983 – Frank Hawley
1984 – Mark Oswald
1985 – Kenny Bernstein
1986 – Kenny Bernstein
1987 – Kenny Bernstein
1988 – Kenny Bernstein
1989 – Bruce Larson
1990 – John Force
1991 – John Force
1992 – Cruz Pedregon
1993 – John Force
1994 – John Force
1995 – John Force
1996 – John Force
1997 – John Force
1998 – John Force
1999 – John Force
2000 – John Force
2001 – John Force
2002 – John Force
2003 – Tony Pedregon
2004 – John Force
2005 – Gary Scelzi
2006 – John Force
2007 – Tony Pedregon
2008 – Cruz Pedregon
2009 – Robert Hight
2010 – John Force
2011 – Matt Hagan
2012 – Jack Beckman
2013 – John Force [124]
2014 – Matt Hagan
2015 – Del Worsham
2016 – Ron Capps

Presently, John Force is the driver in the Funny Car class with the most wins, having sixteen championships, over 1,000 round wins and over one hundred forty five National Event wins. He is also the holder with the most funny car championships with Eighteen, since Tony Pedregon (2003) and Robert Hight (2009) have each won one title while on his team. Force’s former team chief, Austin Coil, also has logged the highest number of wins in that position.

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