VINTAGE BLOWN 1965 CHEVY II “FUNNY” CAR THAT WAS SERIOUS BUSINESS

As Drew Hardin recalled, “Back in 1964, the term Funny Car wasn’t capitalized and was usually surrounded by quotation marks, because the cars those words described had altered wheelbases that made them look ‘funny.’

Steve Bovan from Blair’s Speed Shop in Pasadena, California, built one of the most memorable—and successful—early funny cars, with plans to match race it around the country.”

Bovan and fellow Blair’s employee Mike Hoag built the car using a 1965 Chevy II and one of, if not the, first 396 big-block Chevy engines on the West Coast. Both the car and engine were supplied by Indy racer Sam Hanks, a friend of Steve and Don Blair. Car Craft’s Bud Lang documented the Deuce’s buildup in a story called “The Circuit Rider” (Jan. ’66).