There wasn’t always a class for these “funny-looking” cars. In the mid-1960s, many of drag racing’s fastest drivers were outgrowing the Super Stock and Factory Experimental classes, building cars that stretched and eventually broke the rules. Promoters discovered they could pair up these altered-wheelbase, injected, blown machines in exhibition match races—and the spectators came running. Rivalries were born, the Funny Car class was created, and the cars kept getting faster and faster.

Funny Car Fever is a humorous, heart-felt, first-hand account of the most exciting and memorable years of the Funny Car class. Steve Reyes followed these fiberglass-bodied, nitro-burning machines and their drivers from the years leading into Funny Car class through its halcyon days. He’s included over 400 of his favorite images and more than a few never-before-heard stories to bring the feeling of the class and the era home to you.