Soon after reading this month's story on Joe Jacono's Rollin' Stoned, we found this photo on the floor of our photo archives and started to think about when, exactly, Funny Cars became uncool. Fogies like to gripe that they just aren't fun anymore, but after flipping through a few decades of images, we decided that passion for Funnies is totally based on point of reference. The early cars may have the most character, but not every fan was around when they were new. The Fuelers of our own teen years were what triggered our interest, and they were of the era of these circe-1985 offerings: Dale Pulde and Mike Hamby's awkward Buick Somerset and Tom McEwen's C4 Corvette. Aside from the beer wars, it was a heyday in no one's eyes, but no one knew that at the time. Seeing these cars make fire at Pomona still meant everything to us as bleary-eyed fans, and for us local head-banging gearheads, it was especially sweet when Pulde was momentarily sponsored by Ratt in 1986. Orange County International Raceway shut down in 1983, and with only Pomona running Fuel cars after that, savoring the nitro was never to be missed when the digs came to town.
These days, surfing Pulde's site at www.wareagleracing.com brings many memories from fans through the generations. Meanwhile, Dale himself is playing in the Goodguys drag racing series, tuning on the nostalgia Funny Car class car of Jeff Gaynor. The class allows bodies resembling cars as new as '79s, as do several other new retro Funny races. So the age of nostalgia is creeping newer and newer. And, honestly, it's given us a new appreciation for the Funnies of today.-David Freiburger