Southern California Funny Cars by Steve Reyes
Southern California was the birthplace of organized drag racing, with the first organized race held at the Santa Ana airport in 1949 and the subsequent founding of the National Hot Rod Association in 1950. Over the next decade and a half, the dragster became the king of the quarter mile on Southern California drag strips. In 1964, veteran dragster owner/driver Jack Chrisman had an idea for something different to grace Southern California's drag strips. It was not a dragster but a stock-bodied race car using nitromethane for fuel in a supercharged engine. With the help of Gene Mooneyham, Mercury's Fran Hernandez, and sponsor Helen Sachs, Chrisman put together the world's first nitro-burning "funny car." It was a steel stock-bodied Mercury Cyclone with a supercharged 427 Ford engine running on pure nitromethane. Chrisman started the evolution that soon turned stock steel-bodied cars into fiberglass-bodied tube chassis funny cars. Southern California drag racers began to lead the way for racers all over the United States in the new funny car class.
Reyes, Steve: - Steve Reyes is the author of previous CarTech drag racing photo books Fuel Altereds Forever, Funny Car Fever and Quarter-Mile Chaos. He is one of the most noteworthy and respected drag racing photographers in history. Reyes is also recognized for his outstanding photography skills in other sports coverage as well, especially for his work covering NHL hockey. From the 1960s-1990s, he was the staff photographer for Popular Hot Rodding magazine and published both new and vintage imagery in every issue. He has also shot and written car features for Super Chevy and Street Rodder magazine, along with a wide range of motorcycle and chopper magazine features.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781467109727 |
| ISBN 10 | 146710972X |
| Title | Southern California Funny Cars |
| Author | Steve Reyes |
| Series | Images Of America |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Arcadia Publishing (SC) |
| Year published | 2023-06-19 |
| Number of pages | 128 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |