History For the "old guy's", who built the 1st "funny car"?

the 1st "altered chassis, shortened wheelbase" funny car ? Pelligrini's was the 1st fiberglass mustang, Landy's was the 1st "mopar",..........anybody know FOR SURE who it was that built/ran the 1st one ?

 

According to many fellows here on the HAMB, it was Garlits. He supposedly was the one to do EVERYTHING first...

 

No, wasn't Garlits his name didn't even come up in ANY of my first 100 "searches"

 

Many say it was Dandy Dick Landy's 64 Dodge S/FX car.
If the definition of Funny car is Tube frame and Fiberglass body, then Ron Pellegrini's Mustang in 65
Then there was Chrimans first Comet in 64 (the glass car didn't come until later)

The problem is unless you define "what" a funny car is, then it really goes back to the A/FX cars and the fact that people said they looked "Funny". If the def is tube frame, glass body then it is probably Pellegrini's Mustang.

 

You funny Ed

 

I always thought it was Chrisman's Comet or the first fliptop car, Dyno Dons "Eliminator" in 65/66

 

those two (the flip top Comets) didn't come along until 66, after Ron.

 

Chrysler Corporation and the altered wheelbase 65 Dodges and Plymouths.
(They looked FUNNY.) First flip top, MERCURY.

 

first, you'll have to define, "funny car".

good luck with that...

 

well, before this ends ass over teakettle...the term came from the "funny" looking altered wheelbased cars, so that would pre-date any tube-framed, flip-top anything....
So, based on AWB on a stock-bodied car....I'd lean towards Landy or the Ramchargers

 

IMHO It would be Jack Chrisman

The funny looking altered wheel base cars were really FX or altereds
The flip top was the first real funny car.

http://www.nhra.net/50th/top50/J_Chrisman23.html

 

I would have guessed Gene Snow

 

Chrismans Comet was basicaly stock wheelbase, not AWB, which was the "odd" look that the announcers coined as "funny"

Chrisman's was, IMO, the first exhibition car

 

Dodge Chargers? I thought Chrismans car was built to compete with them, but it was so much faster that Dodge ordered Nix & Johnson not to run with them.
Larry T

http://www.allpar.com/racing/chargers.html

 

Chrisman's '64 Comet was the first blown fuel coupe that can be considered an ancestor of the current funny cars. The name came from the description of the '65 Plymouth and Dodge racers that were supposed to race A/FX, but were disallowed by NHRA.

 

The reason for my post here is, I've been working with Doug Thorley in doing some "poster's" of several of his cars from back in the day, he told me he thinks this Nova was the 1st ? say's there were NO funny cars running when he built this one in 1964/1965 ish ? goes on to tell me that when he built this car NOBODY gave much interest in it, magazine writer's wouldn't give him the time of day about it ? I'm NOT a drag race guy per say although I did grow up in the Long Beach area back in the '60's and spent many a weekend at lions. I just trying to avoid the "forth coming shit storms" If I were to bill this as the 1st . If any of you guy's know Doug you KNOW he's NOT one to "beat his chest" about what he's done in the drag racing world ...........I swear I'd have an easier time getting him to sit still an let me pull a few teeth!! than to have him give me the "stories" , an he's got those, lot's of them. I've tried to find ANY official records etc on the funny car class, but for the most part all I find is 1974 and up.

 

ya have to think about it from the perspective of the drag strip announcer's.
Here you have these odd wheelbased cars showing up that did look "funny" aka "odd".
Thats where the term came from.
Therefore that was long before the fiberglass bodied cars came into being.
Jack's Comet was not AWB, therefore, not "funny" looking.

 

I'm thinkin herein lies "my problem"

 

Mr. Thorley commands everyone's respect to be sure, but he might also have his own definition of the funny car, too. It's gotten pretty jumbled up over all these years.
I remember his car at Lions and it was not the first AWB car. But maybe he is defining things differently than me.

The engineers at Chrysler found the loophole in the rule book and were the first ones to tweek the wheelbase, thus giving one track announcer the reaction to call them "funny (looking) cars".

But, I'm no expert compared to Mr. Thorley. He's the legend, not me.
I do believe though that the definitions are pretty loosey-goosey with all of us.

I do know one thing....THOSE were the best days of racing EVER.
When gassers, fuel altered, fed's, jr. fuelers, and the developing AWB-funny cars-floppers were the big show every weekend at Lions, Irwindale or Fontana.....
Glad I have a good memory, 'cause there will never be anything like it again.

and thank Mr. Thorley for some wild runs that made our hair stand on end each weekend!!!

 

One of the early ones was the Brutus GTO

 

Wouldn't claim it to be first, but surely one of the first all fiberglass was Len Silver's '66 Dart. Shown at the Dayton Calvalcade of Customs Jan. 1966, Won at NACTA Winternationals in Deland, Fl in Feb. 1966. Called Experimental Stock with NHRA and Ultra Stock IHRA

 

yes the mopar AFX cars were called funnycars how about going by the classified funny cars as in when did IHRA NHRA or other sanctioning bodies actually create the funnycar class? wouldnt that mean that one of the cars that was classified as a funny cay to race in that class would of been the first car and couldnt you go buy class number to further narrow it down?

 

well, being that the term "funny car" was first used to describe the altered wheelbase cars because they were "funny looking",
and being that the first altered wheelbase cars were Mopars,
and being that the question was "who built the first funny car?".....
then the answer would be...............

The Alexander Brothers..... whos shop was the one that altered the first race cars wheelbase in 1964.
Just a few inches...but altered none-the-less.
Yes, that Alexander Brothers shop

 

Mopar did the altered wheel base basic car ... it was called funny car but it was a stock chassis with the body moved aft and the wheel wheels moved for weight distribution

 

I laugh my ass off every time I see my neighbors 1978 Chevy Chevette back out and drive down the street. Does that count???

 

Not the first I'm sure (looks like a 69 Camaro in the background) but I love this concept. Found these pictures in the Comp Coupe thread. Would like to know more about the car/rail if any one has any info.

 

I saw an altered wheel base tube chassis xke jaguar race an altered wheel base jeep race at lions back in the 70s. DOES THAT COUNT AS ANYTHING?

 

I'll bet if you went back to the mid 50's and asked someone what a funny car was, they would probably tell you about some crazy guy sitting behind the rear wheels, knockin the sox off everyone

 

Brothers Walt & Bucky Austin out of Tacoma, Washington dropped that body on their dragster chassis, Dave Grassi was the driver. They wanted in on some of the promoters money that was being thrown around at the time for "funny car" shows. Car was a slug....

 

Don Gay sr. of Texas had a 1960 Pontiac sedan with a blown fuel injected nitro burning pony engine in 1960. Was he the first? Don't know, but he had to be close.