Funny Car Chaos – The Biggest Funny Car Race in the World
They say everything is bigger in Texas, and if you were at the Texas Motorplex on March 25-26 for the Funny Car Chaos Classic, you would have to agree. This wasn’t just another drag race, it was THE biggest funny car race in the world. The staging lanes looked like a fiberglass forest with funny cars stretched as far as the eye could see.
Fifty-seven funny cars came to Texas from all over the United States to be a part of this historic event. Brad Tuttle drove the Nitro Bandit to the number-one spot with a 3.329-second blast at 264mph on the eighth-mile. Legendary names from the past, such as Brutus and the Blue Max, also qualified for the show. The quickest 32 cars were divided into four 8-car fields based off of their qualifying times.
At Funny Car Chaos any funny car is welcome. That means any body style and engine combination is allowed, so you never know what you will see: modern-day nitro-guzzling floppers, top alcohol funny cars, nostalgia funny cars, injected floppers, even an A/Fuel funny car, all racing side by side to the eighth-mile.
While the funny cars took center stage, the event also featured the Outlaw Fuel Altereds and those wild and crazy Dirty South Gassers. The Texas Drag Racing Association was also part of the show, bringing the total car count to more than 200 entries.
With more than $60,000 up for grabs, the racing was fierce. The four funny car winners were Lyle Greenberg (A Field), Donald Knoblauch (B Field), Clay Cunningham (C Field), and Steve Timoszyk (D Field).
Funny Car Chaos is a throwback to the early days of funny car racing. Their events remind us of the old the match-racing days, and racing under the lights is a big part of that. In the ’70s the atmosphere was electric: the track lights would shine through the tire smoke still lingering in the air and the excitement would build as the next pair of cars sat beneath the tower waiting to fire up. It just has an old-time feel. You still get that same vibe today and if you listen closely, you’ll swear you hear Steve Evans’ voice in the background.
Until someone builds a time machine that can take us back to those legendary 64-Funny Car shows at Orange County International Raceway or one of the famous funny car extravaganzas at Seattle International Raceway; Funny Car Chaos may be the next best thing.
Photos by Marc Gewertz
