64 FUNNY CARS IS A DREAM FOR CHAOS FOUNDER GRAVES, PLEDGES SERIES TO REMAIN GRASSROOTS

by Bobby Bennett    Sat, 2021-03-27 12:08

 

Chris Graves grew up a Texas Motorplex kid. As early as he could remember, Graves accompanied his father on trips to the Texas Motorplex. So it is only fitting, the driving force behind the Funny Car Chaos series staged one of the largest gatherings of Funny Cars since Bill Doner's 64-Funny Car events in the 1970s.

At last count Friday, there were over 70 entries on the grounds of the super track located outside of Dallas.

"When Funny Car Chaos started, would you have said there'd be 64 cars four years in on this deal? Graves asked. "I don't know. I might've believed you. After the first race, we proved that we had something there with the interest and that the racers turned out. We had 25 at the first race. We did baby steps, and we're still taking baby steps in what we're doing.

"But this race here at the Texas Motorplex, at the house that Billy Meyer built, with 69 or 70 cars supposed to be here, it's amazing, and everybody's really excited. To walk around and see the people walking around, and the guys shaking hands that maybe haven't seen each other in five or ten years, that's what it's all about for us, putting Funny Car racing back on the map and having fun."

Funny thing happened on the road to becoming one of the best drag racing photographers in the business; Graves, like Whit Bazemore, took a different turn. Bazemore became a driver, and Graves became a promoter.

"We [he and wife Tera] spent 15 years full-time doing photography with Max Cackle Photos, traveling all over the country," Graves said. "We haven't sold a photo in over two years. The promotion thing has become a full-time job. I like it a lot. I got to do a little bit of it here and there in smaller groups that we had formed and at exhibition races at certain tracks in Texas, and it's a full-time gig now with Funny Car Chaos and the Outlaw Fuel Altereds and a few other exhibition races we do."

Dave Kommel photo

Graves feels he's found his calling, and even more so to be mentioned in a conversation with the likes of the late Bill Doner, is enough to send chills up the youngster's "old soul" spine.

"To be compared to Bill Doder's a huge thing," Graves said. "I'm not about my ego or whatever. We just want to have fun, but I didn't get to live through that time of life. I was born in '84, so I grew up a 90s kid running around watching Scott and Connie Kalitta and Eddie Hill and K.C. Spurlock, and all these kinds of guys. So, I didn't get to see that. And to be able to recreate it as best we can here in 2021, it's an exciting feeling for what we got going on this weekend and for the future of Funny Car Chaos."

The performance-driven Graves realizes he might have just created a dilemma for himself with this weekend's successful outing. How does one top this?

"128," Graves quickly responded. "that's what 64 times 2 is. I don't know how to top 64 Funny Cars, honestly. But we're going to do it this weekend, and hopefully this weekend is a starting point for a traditional race here that we'd like to have at the Texas Motorplex to kick off Funny Car Chaos every year."

One of the keys to Funny Car Chaos's success is the diversity of the series, and Graves plans to continue driving this format.

"There are cars here that have your traditional style nitro stuff, you've got modern style nitro stuff, you've got alcohol cars," Graves said. "We've got a twin-turbo car, we have a nitrous-assisted car. I got word today that an injected fuel car is being built here in Texas very soon.

"The format of Funny Car Chaos caters to the owners and drivers being able to be creative about what they build, and they can build their cars the way they want. The ladders and the structure of the point system, and then the elimination ladder with the separate fields of eight, can make a nitro car and an alcohol car run side-by-side. That's what we want to provide is side-by-side racing, but we also want to provide a platform where a guy who wants to be a Funny Car racer can build a Funny Car how he wants to do it and still be competitive; where he's going."

Before one concludes that Funny Car Chaos has outgrown its humble roots; Graves is quick to point out the series will always cater to the ones that got him to the dance.

"Racing here at the Texas Motorplex is the biggest we've ever raced at," Graves explained. "I grew up here watching all the NHRA stars race. That means a lot to me because I'm a Motorplex kid. But Funny Car Chaos is built on grassroots race tracks, so that's where the rest of our series will hold its events. But being able to kick off the first race of the year here at Billy Meyer's Motorplex is excellent.

"We needed the room. We need the fast race track for the power that the cars here have brought. And we're excited. We're not in a transition. We have no desire to transition to a full national event track schedule. That's not going to happen. That's not why we built Funny Car Chaos.

"We enjoy going to the grassroots tracks, putting on Funny Car shows for grassroots fans in places that they can never see a nitro Funny Car run at that track that they live next to and have lived five miles away from for their whole life. We like bringing our show to tracks like that."

Money is not what fuels the series; it's the love of all things Funny Cars. And this, Graves believes, is what will discourage big show teams from coming in to scoop up easy money.

"Well, we don't pay big show money, I guess," Graves said. "We're close right now, I guess. But the money deal is, obviously, what gets heads-up drag racing in trouble. Whether you're running a Pro Mod or a small-tire car, or a nitro Funny Car, it eventually develops into a money situation. So, keeping the purses reasonable. We pay a purse from top to bottom that's pretty even, as opposed to a top-heavy payout where.

"That's what I believe in. Everybody that qualifies for our show, or comes to our show, has a darn good chance of leaving with gas money, hotel money, and maybe some money for oil and a blower belt and a set of spark plugs. It's not about taking home 20 grand to the winner, and everybody leaves with nothing.

"So, keeping the money even across the board, not getting out of hand with the payouts and things like that, that's going to keep John Force from coming to Funny Car Chaos. But it works great for the grassroots racer, and that's what we're appealing to. That's who we want to appeal to."

 

 

 

 
Categories: 
:::::: News ::::::