Funny Car

Guidelines

The NHRA has strict guidelines for funny cars. Most of the rules relate to the engine. In short, the engines can only be V-8s displacing no more than 500 cubic inches (8.19 L). The most popular design is loosely based on the second generation Chrysler 426 Hemi "Elephant Engine" made from 1964 to 1971.

There can only be two valves per cylinder. The heads are machined from aluminum billet and have no water jackets, as the high latent heat of the methanol in the fuel coupled with the brevity of the run precludes the need for water cooling of the cylinder heads. 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 allowed 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 allowed. There are two common bore-stroke combinations: 4.1875 by 4.50 inches (106.36 mm × 114.30 mm) (called a 3/4 stroker) and 4.25 by 4.375 inches (108.0 mm × 111.1 mm) (called a 5/8 stroker). The 3/4 stroker is the most common combination used today and equals 496 CID (8.1 L).

Crankshafts are CNC machine carved from steel billet then nitrided in an oven to increase surface hardness. Intake valves are titanium and of 2.40-inch (61 mm) width, while exhaust 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 (starting, burnout, backing up, staging, 1/4 mile) cars can burn as much as 15 US gallons (12 imp gal; 57 L) of fuel. The fuel mixture 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 fixed gear ratio of 3.20:1 and have a reversing gear; power is transmitted from engine to final drive through a multiple staged clutch which provides progressive incremental lockup as the run proceeds. The rate/degree of lockup is mechanically/pneumatically controlled and preset before each run according to various conditions, in particular track surface. Wheelbase is between 100 and 125 inches (2.5 and 3.2 m). The car must maintain a 3-inch (76 mm) ground clearance.

Horsepower claims vary widely—from 6,978 to 8,897—but are probably 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 start.

Safety

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, 2008 in Englishtown, N.J., the NHRA reduced the distance of Top Fuel and Funny Car races to 1,000 feet effective July 2, 2008. Pro Stock and sportsman classes still race to 1,320 feet.

History

In drag racing in the mid-1960s, Top Fuel horsepower began to be combined with bodied cars with altered wheelbases to produce the first "funny cars" (originally a derisive term). The first funny cars were built in the early to mid-1960s. The name originated from the predecessors of the modern funny car, known as the "Altered Wheelbase Experimental" class, or "A/FX".

The first of the "funny-looking cars" were a trio of Dodge Chargers, which debuted in March 1964 at San Diego Raceway. Funny Cars started as stockers, and were, at first, pure exhibition cars, in the Super/Factory Experimental (S/FX) class; NHRA treated them like a passing fad, and tried to "legislate them out of existence" by placing them in first gas and then fuel dragster classes, with cars of half the weight and twice the horsepower. The wheelbases were changed to assist traction for the 7 in (180 mm)-wide slicks (required by NHRA rules), while keeping the mandatory factory distance between axle centers.

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

The first funny cars were Super Stock Chargers, prepared, at the behest of Don Beebe, by Dragmaster's Jim Nelson and Dode Martin. Raced in the Supercharged Experimental Stock (S/XS) class, their original 426 Max Wedges were replaced by stroked Top Gas engines, wearing a color scheme of red body sides and white roof, hood, and trunk, with two blue longitunal stripes. (The three Chargers were driven by Jimmy Nix, who previously ran a Top Gas dragster; Jim Johnson, who ran a Dodge stocker; Jim Nelson; and Dode Martin.) By March 1964, they were turning in E.T.s in low 11s and trap speeds of over 140 mph (230 km/h); at Long Beach on 21 March that year, an 11.49 pass at 141.66 mph (227.98 km/h) was recorded. For their part, the Dodge factory spent only US$250,000 on the inaugural season, insufficient for a single car, let alone three. Three months after the Chargers' debut, Jack Chrisman rolled out a supercharged 1964 Mercury Comet.

Even so, funny cars proved enormously popular, with cars driven by Chrisman and "Arnie Farmer" Beswick and setting track records all over the U.S. The first wave of funny car development ended around 1965, when bracket racer Jim Liberman and crew chief Lew Arrington made a deal with Pontiac to supply rare hemis (remnants of Mickey Thompson's gas dragster) program. (The duo later switched to Chrysler powerplants.) A dedicated funny car class was tried by NHRA at one 1966 national event, and at two in 1968, before Funny Car Eliminator was created in 1969.

The trend to flip-top fiberglass bodies began with Jim Lytle's US$2000 Allison V-1710-powered chopped '34 Tudor Big Al II. The idea was copied by Ford and Mercury for their Mercury Comet Cyclones. It would inspire "every flopper body ever formed". At the start, the rear tires 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 the weight of the car more on the rear wheels, enhancing the traction from these bias-ply slicks. Because of these many obvious modifications they did not look stock, hence the name "funny".

The first major altered-wheelbase car was Dick Landy's class-legal SS/A 1964 Dodge Coronet, which had front and rear axles moved radically forward, a high gasser-style front end and axle, and a 426 hemi. It moved the rear wheels forward 15 in (380 mm), the front 10 in (250 mm), and 80 lb (36 kg) worth of fiberglass parts (including hood, instrument panel, doors, front fenders, front deck lid, front bumpers) placed steel. (He would win 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 120 mph (190 km/h) range to 10.60s at almost 130 mph (210 km/h). Only twelve were built. At around the same time, Sachs and Sons were running a factory-backed Mercury Comet, powered by a supercharged SOHC 427. The success of these cars inspired other racers to give up class racing for supercharged exhibition cars, led by Arnie Beswick (nicknamed "The Farmer") and his Pontiac GTO, Gary Dyer's hemi Dodge A/FX (financed by Norm Krause, "Mister Norm")), and Bob Sullivan's Pandemonium (a '65 Plymouth Barracuda). Pandemonium joined about six other nitro-fuelled early funny cars facing fuel dragsters in the 1965 season. Dyer's A/FX was the first to have all four of the trademark early funny car features: altered wheelbase, supercharging, nitromethane fuel, and (then long-since ouf of production) 392 hemi (rather than the Max Wedges of other Chrysler racers).

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 replaced by another, which turned out to be "one of the quickest early match racers". So did Gary Gabelich, probably better known for land speed racing, in the Beach City Chevrolet-sponsored Sting Ray.

Before TF/FC became an official class, funny cars were run as C/FDs (C/Fuel Dragster), an odd classification, since they were 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 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. The car was built by Logghe Stamping Company (with bodies by Fiberglass Trends), weighing in around 1,700 pounds (770 kg), and similar cars went to Chrisman, "Fast Eddie" Schartman, and Kenz and Leslie. These cars had the first coilover suspension in funnycar, and were powered by Hilborn-injected 427 SOHCs producing 1,000 hp (750 kW) on 80% nitro. (Chrisman's was the oddity, a roadster running a 6-71 GMC supercharger.) They were capable of mid-seven second e.t.s at around 185 mph (298 km/h). Schartman (working with Roy Steffey, on the "Flip-Top Fueller") 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). Nicholson woulf fit a Pete Robinson-built Top Fuel 427 SOHC in his Logghe-built Comet early in the 1967 season and turn 7.90s at around 180 mph (290 km/h), earning an eighty-six percent winning record. (The success of the Top Fuel-engined Comets would eventually prompt both Ford and Chrysler to drop funny car sponsorship.) In 1967, Doug Thorley would record the first (unofficial) 200 mph (320 km/h) funny car pass in his Corvair at Lions.

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. Of the privateers in this era, Bruce Larson's USA-1 (a '66 Chevelle with a Hilborn-injected 427 and four-speed) was the most successful. 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. Butch Leal would body one of Logghe's first customer chassis with a fiberglass Plymouth Barracuda and run an inected 426 Hemi on 100% nitro; this car's best pass would be a 7.82 at 182.16 mph (293.16 km/h), with a career win ratio of ninety percent. In 1967, Proffitt would take over the failed Grant Rebel SST AMC Rambler, aided by Les Shockley, "Famous" Amos Satterlee, and Dwight Guild. Gene Conway built the hemi Jeep Destroyer (sponsored by the U.S. Navy), and scored so much success, NHRA banned Jeep funny cars.

Logghe proved unable to keep up with demand 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. 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. 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.

In 1968, Doug Thorley would follow Don Garlits' lead, driving a rear-engined Javelin, built by Woody Gilmore, powered by an AMC 401. (This would later be replaced by a 392 hemi prepared by John Hoven and Glenn Okazaki.) That same year, Leal would sell his 'cuda to Don Schumacher.

NHRA created the new 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. Tragedy struck the same year, with the death of Jerry Schwartz in the ex-Foster Mach I. In a virtually identical car (except the color), Ongais won a number of rounds, with passes frequently in the low sevens and over 182.16 mph (293.16 km/h), including taking Funny Car Eliminator at the USnats. Gene Snow would record the first official 200 mph (320 km/h) pass in the Keith Black-engined, Logghe-chassised 1969 Dodge Charger, Rambunctious. 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).

Another Funny Car was set in 1970 by Leroy Goldstein, then testing Firestone tires, with a 6.99 pass at Capitol Raceway, Funny Car's first sub-seven second pass. By November, Jake Johnson in the hemi-powered Blue Max (driving for Harry Schmidt) turned in a 6.72 at 218 mph (351 km/h),Mattel Hot Wheels-sponsored team of Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen.

The Funny Car Eliminator title at the 1971 Winternats would go to Roland Leong's Charger, Hawaiian.

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.

Between 1973 and 1975, Ed McCullough would score eighteen wins at NHRA national events in the Revell-sponsored Dodge Dart, Revelloution.

Shirl Greer would defeat Prudhomme in the final in 1974 to take the first NHRA Funny Car World Championship. He would suffer severe burns in the final after an engine exploded.

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.

Mark Oswald, driving for Candies and Hughes (with Old Milwaukee sponsorship), in 1984 did something no other driver has: he won both the NHRA and IHRA world championships. The team took four IHRA titles between 1983 and 1987, including two in a row, 1986 and 1987, as well as beating John Force in the 1986 Big Bud Shootout (losing to him the next year).

Force between 1987 and 1996 won sixty-seven of 203 NHRA national events, four of nine Big Bud Shootouts, and six World Championships. 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. Force's domination in 1989 would only really 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. 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. Pedregon was also one of the first Funny Car drivers to clock a five-second e.t.

Ed McCulloch in 1988 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 owned IRHA and offered the prize, would sell at season's end.)

Kenny Bernstein and tuner Dale Armstrong would turn to land speed racers the Arivett brothers to design Bernstein's car in 1989. This car would be dubbed the "Batmobile". It would profoundly change Funny Car aerodynamics.

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.

Al and Helen Hoffman, with tuner Tom Anderson, "were the antithesis of the corporate button-down shirt racers". Sponsored by BDS, between 1991 and 1995, Hoffman earned eleven national event wins, as well as the 1991 Winston Invitational and the Big Bud Shootout in 1991, 1994, and 1995.

Tom McEwen would build his "gorgeous" replica '57 Funny Car, running it as an NHRA exhibition vehicle and creating Nostalgia Funny Car, even though the car would not (now) be legal in that class.

Major corporate sponsorship money came to Funny Car starting in 1997, leading to significant changes in the sport. Multi-car teams, with several tuners each, became commonplace, and single car teams "had a very slim chance of winning an NHRA World Championship". 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). Between 1997 and 2006, Force went to the final in 105 of 228 events and took sixty-one tour wins, as well as qualifying for all ten Big Bud Shootouts, winning in 2000 and 2006. Between 1997 and 2006, Force went to the final in 105 of 228 events and took sixty-one tour wins. On top of that, he had ten of the quickest or fastest passes in Funny Car.

In recent years, a resurgence of interest in vintage drag cars has created many new "nostalgia" funny cars, which are newly made vintage-style funny car bodies mounted on modern funny car frames or, in certain cases, newly built frames that look close to the originals and are made NHRA legal. These "Nostalgia Funny Cars" often compete in various nostalgia drag 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 restrictions on maximum engine revs.

Nitro Funny Car racing has never been more competitive than since 2006. The dominance of John Force Racing ended in 2006 and between 2007 and 2015 was equalled by DSR, with three TF/FC titles each. Funny Car is dominated by multi-car teams, with only Cruz Pedregon, Jim Dunn, and Tim Wilkerson maintaining the traditional one-car operation.

NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car champions

Currently, John Force is the driver in the Funny Car class with the most wins, having 16 championships, over 1,000 round wins and over 145 National Event wins. He is also the owner with the most funny car championships with 18, since Tony Pedregon (2003) and Robert Hight (2009) have each won one title while on his team. Force's former crew chief, Austin Coil, also has logged the highest number of wins in that position.