Which car truly inspired the term Funny Car, and ultimately the creation of the most popular class in Drag Racing, is a topic of much debate. We don’t really care which one gets the credit. But we do know that the first cars to run blown and injected engines at NHRA tracks, were the S/FX Dodge Chargers of 1964. Until that point there were no blown and injected cars running because NHRA didn’t allow it. The only surviving Dodge Chargers car is for sale, and it’s cheap. Cheap is relative of course. Could be $3 Million. After all, what is the very first Funny Car worth?
There is a lot of information out in the world about these Dodge Chargers cars and the story is very cool. We’ll let the owner tell you part of it below. To check out the entire eBay listing, click here and start bidding.
From the eBay listing:
This is the only survivor of the three ’64 Dodge sedans that are now considered the roots of the Funny Car class. Built in late 1963 and early 1964, these cars would change drag racing forever. When promoter Don Beebe approached Chrysler with a proposal to build two new 1964 Dodge 330 sedans with GMC supercharged Hilborn fuel injected 480 cubic inch Max Wedge engines (the Hemi wasn’t ready for racing yet) and a third for a spare he was met with curiosity at first. But when he proposed these cars would race each other at drag strips across America AT NO CHARGE to the track owners and be available for display at Dodge dealerships during the week he really got their attention. Beebe would not generate any income from booking fees or display fees so this proposal was VERY expensive (said to be $250,000.00 in 1964 dollars) to Chrysler but they agreed to it. They knew the publicity would be overwhelming. But first permission would need to be granted by the National Hot Rod Association. There was not a class for them. The A/Factory Experimental class, the maxamum performance class for current year model stock bodied cars, did not allow supercharging and fuel injection. After many meetings NHRA president Wally Parks agreed to create a new class for these cars, Super/ Factory Experimental. But they could not change any of the suspension other than adding traction bars and they must retain a full stock interior. And, they could only make exhibition runs against each other. If those stipulations were not followed they would be banned from NHRA sanctioned tracks. The Dragmaster Company was hired to build the cars and a little known customizer, Dean Jeffries, was hired to do minor body modifications to distinguish them from Super Stockers and also apply custom red, white and blue paint. And two famous drivers were hired to drive the cars, AA/F Dragster pilot Jimmy Nix and NHRA Stock Champion Jim Johnson.
When these cars made their debut at San Diego Dragway in February 1964 the fans went crazy over the noise of a AA/G dragster coming from a new Dodge. Both drivers stayed busy the entire weekend signing autographs. It would be like that the rest of their racing season.. The cars were booked almost every weekend at a strip and during the week at Dodge dealerships across the country. One car was destroyed in 1964 and another in 1965. Luckily, my car survived
There has been much discussion over the last several years on what was the first Funny Car. Some consider the 1965 Altered Wheelbase Dodges/Plymouths whose funny looks created the name. Some consider Jack Chrisman’s nitro burning ’64 Comet the first. Some consider the Dick Landy/Ramchargers 2% Altered Wheelbase ’64 Dodges the first and some have other opinions. One thing that is known by all is these cars preceded them all. There can be no denying the roots of the Funny Car class can be traced back to this only survivor. The first to acknowledge this was Peterson Publishing’s HISTORY OF DRAG RACING published 30 years ago in 1981. It is believed that this is the only race car in any form of racing that a major racing class in that organization has only one car that represents the beginning of that class.
There is more info on the car in it’s Ebay Listing, so go check it out. And start bidding.
