Funny Car History 1966 - 79 

The best funny car era.......EVER!

Man I got to tell you this is the best era of drag race ever.

Back when they dry hopped before the run. A great era of Funny Car history.

I am 68 and watching this makes me feel like a teenager again watching them at NY national speedway on Long Island.

Thank you for posting this video! Much of this footage I'd never seen before. A great tribute to the golden era of drag racing. 😊

An annual event in Seattle was called 64 Funny Cars at Pacific Raceways. Lined them all up along the track and fired em up all at once! Awesome sight

I've had some super amazing compliments on this video. Just want to thank all of you subscribers and newcomers for watching. It's support like that that keeps this sport alive!

Rip to Don and Roland it’s been a rough week for the greats

Thank you. I grew up reading and watching this stuff - my first AA/FD meet at CALDER PARK AUSTRALIA in 1970. CHEERS from AUSTRALIA.

Wow what memories! I was happy to see the Castronova brothers Custom Body "Utica Flash" driven by Tom Prock. I grew up in Utica and would hang around the Custom Body shop being a pest asking questions @12. The very first car they had was a metal flake green Anglia Gasser and they'd roll it out of the shop on Sunday morning when nobody was around and do test hits from the stoplight. They did get caught once. Lol

I could watch this stuff all day❤

Back when they looked like real cars. Now days unless you can see the name on the car, you can't tell what it's supposed to be!

Man talk about bringing good memories back . Great content . Thanks for posting.

I was at that Edmonton race in 79. I lived a few miles away from the Edmonton international speedway and was a regular with my dad, who knew the owner, Graham light, and we got tower passes for every race! Man those were the days.

I thoroughly enjoyed that. Thanks for compiling this.

I was at Orange county raceway in Cali in1984 for the last annual 64 funny car meet before the track closed forever, about 40 cars were there, they wheeled all the cars out accross the track raised the bodies, played the National Anthum, then lite up every cars motor , with the average Horsepower back then approx 3,000, i stood up in the stands with my arms in the air and felt approx 120,000+ Horsepower pit raps of those motors for 3 minutes...unreal.... also was at the Gator nationals in Florida in 1986 ,watched Big Daddy Garlits break 300 mph Top Fuel in his small front tire swamp rat dragster...stopped at his museum on the way home and he had a party with many big names, we hung out and met Don.

I remember when Robert Height hit 339.87 and Sonoma. I was there and almost immediately recalled watching Snake, the Mongoose, John Force when they were match racing at Sacramento Raceway.

Awesome, thanks! Takes me back to my childhood.

I had the honor of working with and getting to know Pat Foster, he was not only a genius of a man but very humble and boy did he have some stories as well! I also got to meet and talk with Mickey Thompson only because my boss at the time had worked for him for decades, so during the MTEG series Mickey would often come by and talk with us I ended up working for Danny, Mickeys son after his murder! That’s another story in itself!

EXCELLENT video.. !! Thanks for sharing.

Totally enjoyed this ,best era my childhood memories!

great footage 👍🏻 thank you!.. havent thought if some of these names in decades danny ongais connie kalitta don schumacher mcewen prudohmme ... built most of these cars myself as revell models!😂 going to lyons, pomona, and even ascott park

I was fortunate to watch most of these cars

OMG these cars are magnificent! Thought so when I was barely a teen and still think so today! Thank You for putting this vid together!

I used to live within ear shot from OCiR, near El Toro Marine base. Even if I couldn't make it to the race, I could hear and feel the nitro cars , wow, thanks.

Great show. Raced at Edmonton International in 1979 too. High school shoot out. Friends mothers VW van. Painted up hippy style. The guy in ghe 68 cougar red lighted. So we got 2 rounds and lots of cheers. Good days

This was a lot of fun! I was a teenager during this time and Fremont raceway was just 20 minutes from home. I was a little bummed to not see Jungle Jim, the dude rarely won but was a lot of fun! There is so much nostalgia for me in this vid :-)

Automatic thumbs up just for the subject matter- I was a bit too young for 60's drag racing, but I have MANY memories of the 70's going to see races at the old Tucson Dragway with my dad. Really loved the the annual Fuel Altered races- those things where CRAZY

RIP Don Schumacher.

Brings back memories. The only rules and regulations that was in place back in the early 70s, #1. Drive fast #2. Don’t get hurt

I love this stuff this is back in the best years of drag racing in my opinion. back when all the legends of Drag racing were at the wheel

Watching these races at night was incredible the flames shooting out of the exhaust😁

GOD BLESS the "Hawaiian" one of the best.

love the 70s funny cars,thankyou for these supertubr 👌👌👌

Sheril Greer ! Rest In Peace Racer

Fantastic Video.

Thank you! Awesome!!

Nice video ..👍👍👍

Cool video memories of good times favorites of the day.

I went to a lot of funny car races at Irwindale raceway in the late 60's early 70's some times 32 car events and east vs west meets. Now only a hand full of funny cats left. Sport got too expensive. Was fun watching them when they had automatic transmissions in them.

So great to see some of these from weekend TV again - (no way to record anything back then) Huge THANKS!

This is completely Awesome!! Cheers from Huntington Beach CA 🇺🇸

California Flash use to live down the road from my Grandparents in Visalia and my cousins dad was related to them

Thanks for that, Nice job.

I have a 1963 Chevy II altered wheelbase in my shop now. Rebuilding the entire underside and replacing the whole drivetrain. I have built many cars over the years as an expense hobby. To me, my AFX car is my favorite. I grew up in that era. All we had was racing. This video is AMAZING!! I stopped watching drag racing in the early 80’s. It never dawned on my why. After seeing this video, it became clear. It is simply BORING! I had forgotten how fkn VIOLENT the cars once were! Today it is too sanitary and the cars’ manners are so comparatively tame. This is progress I suppose. But the death of interest too. Thank you SO MUCH for this video! I sent it to all my remaining gearhead buddies. The others? RIP.

I was in Gainsville in 77. Cool to watch something that I saw 46 years ago

I agree with you , back in those day's the funnies and fuelers were super smoker's , those were the best of time's at the drag's.

Wow no johnny Loper He was a world record holder back in the 70s. And he wasn't corporate. He was doing it from his shop Loper's performance here in Phoenix. And he was also king of the gassers ...

My generation of drag racing I watch it today and I'm lost

very good a pleasure to watch from the UK

man great vid makes you wanna build one juss too see what they felt like going through the quarter😁🤩😎

In 1967 or 68 (not sure which) I went to a nearby drag strip to see a 'funny car.' I had never seen one before, not even on tv. It was an old school dragstrip and not much safety rules in place. Spectators could get very close to the track and cars. I was standing right next to the funny car when it started up to get ready for its solo demonstration run. I had never heard a car that ran on nitro before. It was a monster, screaming like some ancient animal. When it left the line it was like a rocket. After that the stock hemi cars that ran seemed like Grandma's grocery car in comparison.

bada$$ dou cant stop starin an watchin thx 😁🤩😎

Lov'it..... Cowboy Up!!!!!!

Wow Great Name's in The Day in Funny Car .How The Cars have Change and Speed's Been Watching Drag Racing from 72. but only in UK at Santa Pod Raceway . Still 2 day . Great Vid .

AKA Fuel Coupe 😁

I was at that last race in Edmonton...yah I'm old :)

Fun fact, the Mongoose owner made BMX bikes for his son and friends, becoming an early well built brand in the 80's.

Some of these races I remember watching with my uncle on ABC's Wide World of Sports back in the 70's. I specifically remember the Snake / Mongoose race because there were many an argument is school who was better. That was the culmination and decision winner for that year.

Very nice work!

Free video thanks for sharing

Rest in peace Roland.

Thanks ,,, loved it!

This is the good old days where I grew up and what we watched these were the days

The "lead-in" photo for the video showed the Grand Spaulding Dodge Funny Car, but I didn't see it in this. GSD's driver was Gary Dyer, who went on to found Dyer's Blower Service. He pioneered "kits" to bolt a Roots blower onto your car. Both of my Uncles were HEAVILY into Dodges in the late 70's - Uncle Paul had a '69 Super Bee with a 440 6-pack, then Uncle Ronnie bought a '70 Challenger RT/SE with a 426 Hemi for "his wife's car". Uncle Paul then bought a '72 Dodge Demon GSS (Grand Spaulding Special) - 340 with a Paxton blower (they wanted all of them to be automatics, but my Uncle INSISTED on HIS being a 4-speed).The whole "Van Craze" can *probably* trace back to my Uncles as well. Norm and Lenny (the brothers who owned GSD) had my Uncles re-carpet their ever-expanding offices/show rooms - and requested a "Cocoon" of carpet inside one of their commercial vans. Double-sided Tape didn't work out as expected - but they LEARNED from it.

15:37 Jim McKay bringing up writer Horatio Alger in a funny car race whaaaaat lol

Racing, Racing DRAG RACING,,, BE THERE,, SUNDAY, SUNDAY

Nice video!

I wouldn't know the slightest bit of any thing about dragster racing . We just don't have dragster racing in Wales .

No track prep back then. No prep events have become very popular now.

Ramchargers challenger !!!!!! What a unit !!!! Bad ass 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

Funny car started with Jack crisman comets , 1964, 1965. Look it up.

they were called funny-cars because the early ones had altered wheelbases/ wheelwells

Anyone have more information on the dragster or driver at 2:10, Greg Gibson from white plains New York? Thanks

Thumbnail is my avatar, in 1/16 scale

Awesome.

Off the start of the video, I just have a slight wiff of burning rubber and nitro-methane - those were the day - why, oh why did OCIR have to go!?

😂😂😂🎉

16:01 30k for a funny car 🤯 my new Chevy 4x4 cost over double that!

I grew up in New Jersey we used to go to Englishtown Raceway, Raceway Park, then they closed it down for some reason I don't know an insurance company bought it I have no idea.

They didn't have GoPros back then

Not one thing about Art Christenson

Somehow, I didn't see Gas Ronda 1965 or 66.

I used to use bleach on the burnouts

And they all had blown hemis no matter what body they used.

Ford had the first real fiberglass funny car

Where is dirty Don ?

90% of them funny cars ran HEMIs Ford GM now adays they all are HEMIs..CHRYSLER MADE NHRA