Okay, so I have shown you some of the best examples of Funny Car paint schemes and lettering from back in the day. You know the type of racer who wouldn’t leave home or unload his race car without it looking perfect. Well, this isn’t about that type of racer, but just the opposite. Of course, where there is good, there’s going to be bad and there are going to be ugly race cars. Many of these cars seem to be the product of bad taste.
Great paint and lettering were very important for car owners and racetrack promoters. Good-looking cars were a great attraction for the fans in the stands and also for photographers and reporters. To be honest, ugly cars got passed over by many photographers and racetrack reporters. For me, a good-looking car could mean a center spread, cover or color page in a national magazine. This would also make the race car owners’ sponsors very happy.
Many of these cars were passed over by other photographers, but not by this one. I photographed pretty much anything that moved. If it moved, I shot a photo of it. I learned this as a struggling kid photographer at Fremont. Having even the ugliest car on film could mean a photo sale, and that’s what helped me continue attending many races in NorCal and SoCal. So, with or without paint and lettering, my camera was ready to capture the action of these so-called ugly race cars.
It’s 1966 at Fremont, and Dave Dozier is debuting his “Kop Kar” Barracuda Funny Car. It’s really Dozier’s “Pure Fury” A/FD with a ’Cuda body mounted on it. Dave didn’t even bother to change the front wheels from dragster-style wire wheels to regular Funny Car-style wheels. The “Kop Kar” wasn’t around for a long time.
Fremont resident John Skinner homebuilt his “Man from Smoke” Barracuda Funny Car. He traded in his Top Gas dragster for this Funny Car. I can’t say much about this direct-drive Funny Car other than it was very unpleasant to look at when it ran. John did throw a coat of white paint on it with some better lettering, but still, it wasn’t received well by NorCal Funny Car fans.
Okay, just imagine if you put an 8-year-old in a paint booth with a whole lot of spray guns full of paint and then rolled a Funny Car into the booth. This is what you’d get as the end result: the Carter & Little “Kolor Kart” Funny Car, circa 1968. It was the former “Chevy II Heavy” Funny Car before the nose was lengthened and this paint job was applied. Yes, the paint job was quickly redone because the owners were not too happy with some of the comments made by other racers and Funny Car fans in NorCal.
It’s 1968, and owner Kip Brundage has redone the paint on his Parts Mart Camaro Funny Car. He had a local NorCal painter, who shall remain anonymous, do this rather strange paint scheme using candle smoke. Sorry, Kip, it sure didn’t work for me, but hey, I only take photos and don’t own a Funny Car. Brundage kept the paint for the whole 1968 racing season.
This one is just plain horrible: Joe Lee’s Barracuda AA/FC. Lee came from the Top Fuel ranks and began racing this hideous ’Cuda in 1971. I must admit that his next couple of Funny Cars were a vast improvement over this one. His Dodge Charger in 1972 was red metalflake, and the 1973 car was a very nice two-tone Plymouth Satellite AA/FC.
Jimmy Boyd’s “Red Turkey” hurt your eyes if you stared at it long enough. Race fans’ eyes lucked out because Boyd’s AA/FC was only around for one full run, and on that run he exploded a blower. That explosion destroyed the body and put the bucks-down Boyd on the trailer for good in 1972.
A pair of “Uglies” square off at Irwindale, Calif., in 1973. Gerry “The Hunter” Glenn is driving the Plueger & Gyger Ford Mustang AA/FC against Jim Dunn in the Dunn & Reath AA/FC. I would guess both teams were in such a great hurry to get to the track that they couldn’t even slap on some lettering. This kind of showing really gave racetrack promoters gray hair and turned off many race fans.
John Bateman always had great-looking Top Fuel dragsters, and even his first Ford Mustang Funny Car was very nice-looking, but not so much his Ford Maverick AA/FCs. This is his second Ford Maverick. The first was destroyed in a spectacular crash at Lions with John Collins driving. Collins was injured in the crash that totaled the AA/FC. This second car has Pat Foster at the controls.
Now, this car could make your eyes water, it was so ugly. Why owner John Powers approved this color scheme is beyond me. All I know is this car is plain hideous, and I shot a color photo of it because no one would believe me about how ugly this car was back in the day.
It’s ugly but not horrible. That’s how I would describe the “Nutcracker” AA/FC driven by Gary Read. The lettering stands out nicely on this car, but the paint scheme is ugly. With the right paint, this car could have stood out among the SoCal AA/FCs.
Always the racer, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme is here at Irwindale, Calif., after slapping on some sponsor deals and stickers and going racing with his “Black Snake” ’Cuda. This kind of stuff had track promoters pulling their hair out because the people in the stands could not tell who it was. It would be very hard for novice fans to identify this car and driver.
Gene Conway’s Corvette roadster-style AA/FC has seen better days in SoCal. Hey, but at least he did paint his name on the side. Conway’s Corvette would not stay this way much longer. He painted the car white with some really well-done flames and nice lettering.
