Funny Cars – An Introduction

Trish | May 7, 2018 More

(Mike Neff does a Burnout at LVMS April 1st 2012. Photo by Gsenkow)

Funny cars are drag racing cars that have their own class in races organised by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). The name funny car was originally used as a derogatory term but the name stuck and is still in use today. They got this nickname because they do look quite different compared to other drag racing cars. The story goes that an announcer was overheard saying that the modified Chrysler car that was part of a race was ‘funny looking’ and they have been referred to as funny cars ever since.

The design of the funny car largely depends on the type of car that is most popular at the time as this is the trend that it tends to follow. This is similar to the way that Canada Online Casinos base their slot games on themes that are particularly popular at the moment. The style of the funny car has changed considerably over the years as it is kept up with the fashions of the time in terms of car design. In some ways this does make sense because it also means that manufacturers are able to use their latest designs and do not need to come up with anything too different when they are producing their funny cars, but they can be treated with a normal automotive service that you can find at sites like http://www.atloceanside.com.

The history of the funny car can be traced back to the 1960s. Modifications began to be made to stock cars to make them more likely to win races. The fact that they began to not look so much like stock cars anymore led to them being referred to as funny cars. Chrysler were the first manufacturer to make some of these modifications. The wheelbase was altered and this gave the car a rear center of gravity. This was offset by moving the engine the front of the car which was a feature that no other drag racing car had at the time. In order to reduce the weight of the car the body was made of fiberglass or carbon fiber. The body of the car was also able to tilt up and this added to the strangeness of its appearance because it was not something that people were used to.

Chrysler’s funny car began to race in 1965 and it was not long before other manufacturers such as Ford started to design similar cars. As these cars began to grow in popularity the NHRA were introduced races just for these types of car. This culminated in the creation of the Funny Car Eliminator in 1969 at the Winternationals. From this year onwards the funny car has been recognised in its own class by the NHRA and the cars have got faster as the years have gone by.

Today funny car racing is more competitive than it has been in years. John Force Racing dominated the sport for a long time but this has not been the case since 2006. Since this time the competition has opened up a lot more and there have been a variety of different winners. Funny cars have been an integral part of drag car racing for the last fifty years and this is something that does not look likely to change any time soon.