Southern California Funny Cars

Southern California was the birthplace of organized drag racing, with the first organized race held at the Santa Ana airport in 1949 and the subsequent founding of the National Hot Rod Association in 1950. Over the next decade and a half, the dragster became the king of the quarter mile on Southern California drag strips. In 1964, veteran dragster owner/driver Jack Chrisman had an idea for something different to grace Southern California's drag strips. It was not a dragster but a stock-bodied race car using nitromethane for fuel in a supercharged engine. With the help of Gene Mooneyham, Mercury's Fran Hernandez, and sponsor Helen Sachs, Chrisman put together the world's first nitro-burning "funny car." It was a steel stock-bodied Mercury Cyclone with a supercharged 427 Ford engine running on pure nitromethane. Chrisman started the evolution that soon turned stock steel-bodied cars into fiberglass-bodied tube chassis funny cars. Southern California drag racers began to lead the way for racers all over the United States in the new funny car class.

Author: Steve Reyes
Publisher: Arcadia Pub (Sc)
Published: 06/19/2023
Pages: 130
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.38d
ISBN13: 9781540256867
ISBN10: 1540256863
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States | State & Local | West (AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT
- Sports & Recreation | Motor Sports | General
- Transportation | Automotive | Antique & Classic