Description
By: Steve Reyes .
There wasn't always a class c ' s for these "funny looking" cars. In the mid 1960s, many of drag racing's fastest drivers were outgrowing the Super Stock and Factory Experimental classes, building cars that stretched and eventually broke the rules. Promoters discovered they could pair up these altered-wheelbase, injected, blown machines in exhibition match races—and the spectators came running. Rivalries were born, the Funny Car class was created, and the cars kept getting faster and faster. Funny Car Fever is a humorous, heart-felt, first-hand account of the'Admost exciting and memorable years of the Funny Car class. Steve Reyes followed these fiberglass-bodied, nitro-burning machines and their drivers from the years leading into Funny Car class through its halcyon days.
Reyes has included over 400 of his favorite images and more than a few never-before-heard stories to bring the feeling of the class and the era home to you.
In their unending quest for speed, drag racers have been known to push the boundaries of sanctioning bodies and class rules. As racers outgrew the Stock, Super Stock, and Factory Experimental classes, they pushed the envelope and modified their cars to run head to head in highly promoted match races. These often bizarre-looking purpose-built racecars were eventually shoehorned into the new Funny Car class.
Sometimes referred to as "plastic fantastics," these heavily modified machines were a new combination of all-out racecar and recognizable factory vehicle. As author Steve Reyes put it, "They resembled an altered-wheelbase thing with an injected, nitro-burning engine. Were they Super Stock cars on steroids?" The truth was Funny Cars were hard to categorize. Some were supercharged, some ran nitro, some had twin engines, and some ran Jeep bodies! Flip through Funny Car Fever and find your favorite cars and your favorite drivers—they're all inside.
A native of Northern California, Steve Reyes has been a dedicated drag racing fan since witnessing his first organized drag race at Fremont Drag Strip at the age of 15. He began taking pictures, and soon his photos began appearing in publications such as Drag News, National Dragster, Drag Digest, Drag World, Drag Racing Magazine, Drag Racing Almanac, and more. Before long, Steve found himself regularly covering major NHRA, AHRA, and IHRA races up and down the West Coast.
A former Argus Publishing chief photographer, Steve Reyes has covered drag racing and motorsport events all over the world, including the United States, England, Australia, and Japan. His work has adorned the pages of virtually every major hot rodding publication at one time or another - Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding, Car Craft, Rod &, Custom, etc.
A member of the Don Garlits International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, Steve also photographed Major League Baseball games from 1981 to 1985 and National Hockey League games between 1991 and 1995. Many of his photos are at the Pro Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, earning him a lifetime pass.
