Courtesy of the NHRA
GLENDORA – As part of NHRA’s 50th Anniversary of Funny Car celebration, fans will have the opportunity to vote for the cars they believe are the most important in the class’ history.
After hundreds of suggestions from fans, an expert panel of drag racing historians and journalists narrowed the final list to 20, based on the cars’ influence and success within the class.
NHRA legends such as John Force, Don “the Snake’ Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, and “Jungle Jim” Liberman all have cars on the list, which spans from 1966’s introduction of the class, as represented by Don Nicholson’s Mercury Comet, the first flip-top Funny Car, to 2015, as represented by “Fast Jack” Beckman’s national-record-setting Infinite Hero Dodge. The list includes record breakers, barrier breakers, race and championship winners, and cars that moved the class forward, either technologically, by sponsorship or by name association.
Exactly half of the cars on the list were from the 1970s, clearly one of the golden ages for the class. Four were from the 1960s, and six are from 1980 to present.
Voting on NHRA.com begins March 31 and runs through May 3. Fans can vote for their favorite NHRA Funny Car at NHRA’s Facebook page or at NHRA.com. Fans can click this link to go directly to a voting page: http://bit.ly/FCT20Vote.
The results will be revealed in reverse order in the weeks following leading up to the final two Funny Cars which will be announced in October at the NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas. At the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at Pomona, Calif. in November, the winning Funny Car will be announced.
Below are the 20 Funny Cars listed in chronological order:
Don Nicholson Eliminator I Comet (1966)
Jack Chrisman Comet (1967)
Chi-Town Hustler Charger (1969)
Danny Ongais/Mickey Thompson Mustang (1969)
Ramchargers/Goldstein Dodge Challenger (1970)
Don Prudhomme Hot Wheels Barracuda (1970)
Gene Snow Rambunctious Challenger (1970)
Ed McCulloch Revellution Duster (1972)
Pat Foster/Barry Setzer Vega (1972)
Jim Dunn’s rear engine Barracuda (1972)
“Jungle Jim” Liberman Vega (1973-74)
Raymond Beadle’s Blue Max Mustang II (1975)
Don Prudhomme Army Monza (1975-76)
Dale Pulde War Eagle Trans Am (1977)
Don Prudhomme Pepsi Challenger Trans Am (1982)
Kenny Bernstein Budweiser King Tempo (1984)
Kenny Bernstein “Batmobile” Buick (1987)
Jim White/Hawaiian Dodge (1991)
John Force Castrol Firebird (1996)
Jack Beckman Infinite Hero Dodge (2015)
