THE BIRTH OF NITRO
FUNNY CARS, PART 4

By Frank Oglesby
P hoto by Bret Kepner
10/7/05

Click here to read Part 1
Click here to read Part 2
Click here to read Part 3

etween my last column and the writing of this one a lot has been said about the “rules” and the proper name for “Nitro Funny Cars not running national events,” but before we tackle that subject lets take a look at where we are now and how we got there.

During the early 80s there was still some Nitro FC match racing but the handwriting was on the wall as you could go to a nearby national event and see 22/24 Nitro Funny Cars. At that time they had recognizable bodies, did dry Hops and were running 95 percent nitro. In other words all the features which caused the fans to love them.

Even today all the viewer polls still show the Nitro FCs to be by far the most popular class but over the years three things happened that have contributed to a trend we see developing, the Nostalgia FC.

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The current bodies are no longer recognizable, probably first started by Kenny Bernstein’s “Batmobile” and continuing on with the pick-up truck bed rear spoiler on today’s cars. It is obvious this came from building more aero drag into the body to add more load which enabled you to burn more fuel and go faster but even the casual fan misses the bodies you could identify with.

Next we started with the rule changes and really never stopped. There are rules for the one brand of tire allowed—tire number—air pressure—rear gear—no transmission rule—number of clutch discs and ONE engine type, basically an aluminum replica of a '65 Plymouth Belvedere with a “spec” blower and injector. (Any one who uses the word "spec" in the same paragraph with the word "nitro" should have their mouth washed out with soap) Thirdly we then moved on into the era of "let’s “Slow them down”. The nitro percent was dropped first to 90 percent and then to 85 percent and now we have rev limiters (Yes I do know exactly how they work but their function is to be a rev limiter.)

The three key attributes that have always driven the popularity of Nitro FCs are:

1--recognizable bodies
2--The entire nitro experience including the NOISE, and
3--performance.

At national events we now have one of the three key elements “performance,” and even that is limited. Did I miss the memo where it was explained that professional nitro racing’s mission in life was to run the same forever and that hard work and applied intelligence was to be PENALIZED? Hey, what about partial lobotomies for the top three crew chiefs each season to make for closer competition.