A Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. 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. They also have the engine placed in front of the driver, as opposed to dragsters, which place it behind the driver.
Funny Car bodies typically reflect the models of newly 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 bodies represented the Big Three of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. Currently, four manufacturers are represented in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car: Chevrolet with the Camaro, Dodge with the Charger, Ford with the Mustang, and Toyota with the Supra. Worldwide, however, many different body styles are used. These "fake" body shells are not just cosmetic: they serve an important aerodynamic purpose.The Serious Business of Funny Car Aerodynamics, General Motors Modern Funny Cars can rival or surpass Top Fuel dragsters. In 2016, fielding a Funny Car team could cost between US$2.6 and US$3 million.Burk, Jeff. "50 Years of Funny Cars: Part 3" in Drag Racer, November 2016, p.62. A single carbon fiber body can cost US$70,000.Burk, p.62.
Guidelines The NHRA has strict guidelines for Funny Cars. Most of the rules relate to the engine. In short, the engines can only be V8s displacing no more than . The most popular design is a Donovan, loosely based on the second generation Chrysler 426 Hemi.
Crankshafts are CNC machine carved from steel billet, then nitrided in an oven to increase surface hardness. Intake valves are titanium and of diameter, while exhaust valves are diameter, made from 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 of fuel. The fuel mixture is usually 85–90% nitromethane (nitro, "fuel") and 10–15% methanol (alcohol, "alky"). 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, the track surface. Wheelbases are between . The car must maintain a ground clearance.
Horsepower claims vary widely from 10,000 to 11,000 HP (7.5–8 MW). Supercharged, nitromethane-fueled motors of this type have a very high torque, estimated at . They routinely achieve a 6-G 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 (304 meters) effective July 2, 2008, as later did the National Drag Racing Championship in Australia. Pro Stock and sportsman classes still race to 1⁄4 mile (1,320 feet, 402 meters).
History Origins 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. The term "funny car" is attributed to Mercury's chief of racing, Fran Hernandez, as in "We need to beat those 'funny' cars." The 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).Burgess, Phil National Dragster Editor. "Early Funny Car History 101", written 22 January 2016, at NHRA.com (retrieved 23 May 2017) At the start, 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 obvious modifications they did not look stock, hence the name "funny". The wheelbases were changed to assist traction for the narrow (-wide) slicks (required by NHRA rules), while keeping the mandatory factory distance between axle centers.Wallace, p.28.
First Funny Cars (1964–1965) The first of the "funny-looking cars" were a trio of 1964 Dodge 330 Max Wedges which were named the "Dodge Chargers". They debuted in March 1964 at San Diego Raceway.Wallace, p.22 caption. 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,Wallace, p.22. 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. Funny Car success followed the popularity of gassers, the previous favorite doorslammer class.Wallace, p.24. 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.Wallace, p.32 caption. Among the Modified Sport racers to challenge early Funny Cars were Roger Hardcastle and Les Beattie with Stinger, sporting a blown, fuel injected Chrysler hemi in an Astra J-5, which in 1964 proved capable of 10.02 second E.T.s at Hot Rod Magazine, April 1964, pp.58–60.
The first Funny Cars were Super Stock 1964 Dodge 330 Max Wedges, named the "Dodge 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 (virtual clones of the Top Gas Dodge Dart engines also built by Dragmaster).Burgess, Phil National Dragster Editor. "Early Funny Car History 101", written 22 January 2016, at NHRA.com (retrieved 23 May 2017) (Thus, they were technically "funny gassers", not fuel cars, unlike the later examples.) Despite their fuel limitations, however, they were turning in E.T.s in the high 10s, with speeds around , when Super Stock and FX cars were only running 11s at about , clearly a winning edge. They would also be the first factory cars fitted with parachutes, and the first to see the drivers wear firesuits.
The first major altered-wheelbase car was Dick Landy's class-legal SS/A 1964 Dodge 330, which had front and rear axles moved radically forward, a high gasser-style front end and axle, and a 426 hemi. Converted by Landy to A/FX in September 1964, using a straight front axle (from a Dodge A100 van) to reduce weight, then moving the front wheels 6" forward and the 8¾" rear axle 8" forward by relocating the spring hangers. Aluminum parts (including hood, front fenders, radiator shroud, front bumper and supports) replaced steel. Considered to be the first 'Funny Car' (it just looked funny at the time). 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 range to 10.60s at almost .Wallace, p.26. For 1965, Plymouth Belvederes and Dodge Coronets were treated to the altered wheelbase configuration for their factory drivers. Only twelve were built.Wallace, p.28 caption.
The three Chargers, wearing a color scheme of red body sides and white roof, hood, and trunk, with two blue longitudinal stripes, 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.McClurg, Bob. "50 Years of Funny Cars: Part 2" in Drag Racer, November 2016, p.35.Burgess, Phil National Dragster Editor. "Early Funny Car History 101", written 22 January 2016, at NHRA.com (retrieved 23 May 2017) (Nix tried to persuade Chrisman to get Mercury Racing Director Fran Hernandez to allow him to run his Comet's 427 on nitro, as a way to gain leverage on NHRA, so Nix could use nitro himself). Their debut was at San Diego Raceway in March 1964, for a three-race exhibition. While in theory all were identical, Nix would change slicks or add lead shot in the trunk of his Dodge 330 to improve traction. For their part, the Dodge factory spent only US$250,000 on the inaugural season, insufficient for a single car, let alone three, 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.
Three months after the Chargers' debut, the factory-backed Sachs and Sons 1964 Mercury Comet, powered by a supercharged 427 wedge engine, made its debut, at the 1964 Nationals in Indianapolis.Wallace, pp.26, 30, 32 caption.Burgess, Phil National Dragster Editor. "Early Funny Car History 101", written 22 January 2016, at NHRA.com (retrieved 23 May 2017) Driven by Jack Chrisman, and entered in B/FD, the Comet created a sensation. When Chrisman's Comet 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. 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 10.25 seconds at mph.
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"). Funny Cars proved enormously popular, with cars driven by Chrisman and Beswick 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.)Wallace, p.21. 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. 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. By June, the number was over a dozen, including factory Mustangs and Cyclones with 427 "cammers". 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.
Funny Car in this period also saw twin-engined examples, like those in Top Fuel Dragster, among them the unusual slingshot-chassised Mustang-bodied Phony Pony, built by Alroy "Junior" Brogdon.YouTube
The flopper era (1966–1969)