FEEDBACK ITEM – 3rd TOYOTA FUNNY CAR 


Can you please tell me what exactly Ford, GM, and now

Toyota have contributed to the Funny Car's successes?


Before you begin to rattle off a bunch of tripe, let

me go ahead and tell you:
  Nothing!


They have contributed absolutely nothing. Not one

frikken bolt on these cars was ever developed within their engineering

departments. On the other hand, they all run Chrysler power. And please do not

go down the road of ……"well these are specifically designed engines built by

Allan Johnson, Keith Black and so on". That won't hold water. The reason is,

when you go to any manufacturer's web site like Allan Johnson's, or any of the

other's who make heads and blocks, they all refer to them as Chrysler Hemis. So

in what capacity does the word "effort" (quoting you) does this apply? Other

than writing a check that is.


I find it odd that the Ford, GM, and Toyota cars can

get away with using "Chrysler" power, but the same engine was outlawed in Pro

Stock years ago….don't you? Why do the Ford's not use Ford engines, GM use GM

engines, and Toyota use Toyota engines? I'll bet you don't know the

answer.


I await your reply with eager

anticipation.
Scott Oliver, Nashville, Tenn.


 


 


Some years back a highly respected journalist

offered the opinion that “John Force never ‘sold” a single Oldsmobile, a single

Pontiac or a single Ford.’
  I disagreed with that

statement then, and continue to disagree with it now.


There’s no statistical “proof” either way about a

racer’s ability to “sell” a car, BUT, if the auto manufacturers didn’t believe

there was value in promoting their cars through Funny Car racing they wouldn’t

be involved.
  Of course, the closer one of

those race cars appears to the “real thing,” the better it is for the

manufacturers.


Funny Cars are all about image, and very little

about beneath-their-skins technology, so let’s stick with that outside

shell.


On the contrary, there’s been significant factory

involvement in the development of successful Mustang, Charger and Monte Carlo

shells, and, one assumes, Toyota also played some role in the development of the

body that bears their name.
  We know for sure that some

early development shells of today’s cars were rejected as “not good enough” by

the factories, so if they played no role in their coming to the track, why would

they have even cared?


In an era where name-badging an engine is

tantamount to having a “real” engine in competition, we’re wondering where

you’re coming from.
  Everyone knows that engines

developed by, say, Cosworth Engineering have, from time to time, been called

everything from Fords to Chevrolets.
  Even though the cognoscenti know these engines have

absolutely no relation to showroom powerplants, to the general public there’s a

real Ford out there racing a real Chevrolet, and if that satisfies them and

keeps them interested, so what?


Decades ago the infamous Manufacturers Meet at the

late, lamented Orange County International Raceway used to divide their Funny

Car teams into distinctly Chevy, Ford, Dodge and Plymouth

groupings.
  That worked fine as long as

“real” engines were being used in those cars.
  However, when the aftermarket began producing

blocks and heads that were so obviously better than the OEM-blessed parts, team

makeup became a beauty contest only, i.e., if it looked a Chevy, it was on the

Chevy team regardless of what was under the body.


While today’s aftermarket engine parts

manufacturers often refer to their products as Hemis – for that’s what they are

– we can’t recall a single instance in years in which these engines have been

referred to as “Chryslers.”
  They are decidedly NOT

Chrysler Hemis, but only derivatives of the original OEM design.


If you’re truly the purest you profess to be, don’t

watch Pro Stock or, heaven forbid, Funny Car, where aftermarket engines are the

rule, not the exception.
  If you want to see

Ford-powered Fords and Chevy-powered Chevrolets, stick to Stock eliminator and

the like, where the “real thing” is still under the hood.


For the rest of us, those hooked on the excitement

of the two aforementioned categories, we’ll continue to pull for our favorite

kind of car out there, regardless of what’s under the hood, or under the body.


– Jon Asher


 


 


 



FEEDBACK ITEM – 3rd TOYOTA FUNNY CAR 


Can you please tell me what exactly Ford, GM, and now

Toyota have contributed to the Funny Car's successes?


Before you begin to rattle off a bunch of tripe, let

me go ahead and tell you:
  Nothing!


They have contributed absolutely nothing. Not one

frikken bolt on these cars was ever developed within their engineering

departments. On the other hand, they all run Chrysler power. And please do not

go down the road of ……"well these are specifically designed engines built by

Allan Johnson, Keith Black and so on". That won't hold water. The reason is,

when you go to any manufacturer's web site like Allan Johnson's, or any of the

other's who make heads and blocks, they all refer to them as Chrysler Hemis. So

in what capacity does the word "effort" (quoting you) does this apply? Other

than writing a check that is.


I find it odd that the Ford, GM, and Toyota cars can

get away with using "Chrysler" power, but the same engine was outlawed in Pro

Stock years ago….don't you? Why do the Ford's not use Ford engines, GM use GM

engines, and Toyota use Toyota engines? I'll bet you don't know the

answer.


I await your reply with eager

anticipation.
Scott Oliver, Nashville, Tenn.


 


 


Some years back a highly respected journalist

offered the opinion that “John Force never ‘sold” a single Oldsmobile, a single

Pontiac or a single Ford.’
  I disagreed with that

statement then, and continue to disagree with it now.


There’s no statistical “proof” either way about a

racer’s ability to “sell” a car, BUT, if the auto manufacturers didn’t believe

there was value in promoting their cars through Funny Car racing they wouldn’t

be involved.
  Of course, the closer one of

those race cars appears to the “real thing,” the better it is for the

manufacturers.


Funny Cars are all about image, and very little

about beneath-their-skins technology, so let’s stick with that outside

shell.


On the contrary, there’s been significant factory

involvement in the development of successful Mustang, Charger and Monte Carlo

shells, and, one assumes, Toyota also played some role in the development of the

body that bears their name.
  We know for sure that some

early development shells of today’s cars were rejected as “not good enough” by

the factories, so if they played no role in their coming to the track, why would

they have even cared?


In an era where name-badging an engine is

tantamount to having a “real” engine in competition, we’re wondering where

you’re coming from.
  Everyone knows that engines

developed by, say, Cosworth Engineering have, from time to time, been called

everything from Fords to Chevrolets.
  Even though the cognoscenti know these engines have

absolutely no relation to showroom powerplants, to the general public there’s a

real Ford out there racing a real Chevrolet, and if that satisfies them and

keeps them interested, so what?


Decades ago the infamous Manufacturers Meet at the

late, lamented Orange County International Raceway used to divide their Funny

Car teams into distinctly Chevy, Ford, Dodge and Plymouth

groupings.
  That worked fine as long as

“real” engines were being used in those cars.
  However, when the aftermarket began producing

blocks and heads that were so obviously better than the OEM-blessed parts, team

makeup became a beauty contest only, i.e., if it looked a Chevy, it was on the

Chevy team regardless of what was under the body.


While today’s aftermarket engine parts

manufacturers often refer to their products as Hemis – for that’s what they are

– we can’t recall a single instance in years in which these engines have been

referred to as “Chryslers.”
  They are decidedly NOT

Chrysler Hemis, but only derivatives of the original OEM design.


If you’re truly the purest you profess to be, don’t

watch Pro Stock or, heaven forbid, Funny Car, where aftermarket engines are the

rule, not the exception.
  If you want to see

Ford-powered Fords and Chevy-powered Chevrolets, stick to Stock eliminator and

the like, where the “real thing” is still under the hood.


For the rest of us, those hooked on the excitement

of the two aforementioned categories, we’ll continue to pull for our favorite

kind of car out there, regardless of what’s under the hood, or under the body.


– Jon Asher

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