Dethroned!

How top fuelers lost the title kings of speed to funny cars

- Jeff Burk

FROM ITS VERY BEGINNING AS A COMPETITIVE MOTORSPORT, SPEED HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE MARQUEE ATTRACTION AND THE MEASURE OF GREATNESS FOR ITS COMPETITORS IN DRAG RACING, FOR BOTH THE PROFESSIONAL AND SPORTSMAN CLASSES. Speed was king and the champions were Top Fuel cars.

For the past 60 years, drag racers have expended most of their energy and money attempting to figure out how to develop more horsepower and make their cars faster than their competitors. Until the last 10 years or so, racers, especially professional racers, and fans regarded the most significant accomplishments in the history of the sport to speed.

The first 200-mph-plus quarter-mile laps in Funny Car, Top Fuel and Pro Stock are mega-historical in the minds of racers and fans. Chris Karamesines, Don Garlits, Gene Snow, Bill Kuhlmann and Warren Johnson are all hugely important, ground-breaking figures in drag racing because each broke major speed barriers at a time where being the fastest car in a pro class was often as important as a national event win. For six decades, a nitroburning Top Fuel car has generally held the title of fastest car in drag racing. Occasionally, at some national events, nitro Funny Cars would record Top Speed of the meet, besting dragsters for the title, but overall, it was the dragsters that went fastest.