Ironically, most drag racing
historians consider the MOPAR-altered wheelbase design the
father of the Funny Car, because
Mercury’s Fran Hernandez,
upon seeing the Chrysler AWBs
for the first time, immediately
commissioned a fleet of one-piece fiberglass-bodied, tube
framed “floppers—the first “real”
Funny Cars as we know them
today.
Since ’ 62, Chrysler had been
actively telling its racers how to
move the wheels around under
their cars to get more weight
on the rear tires for improved
traction. But this was peanuts
compared to what Chrysler
was about to do for 12 lucky
racing teams: with the help of
Southern California’s “Dandy”
Dick Landy, Chrysler built six
Plymouth Belvedere and six
Dodge Coronet hardtops that
had their rear wheels moved
forward an amazing 15 inches,
and their fronts shifted forward
by 10. To say these cars looked
funny was an understatement;
the rear wheels wound up right
behind the doors, leaving six feet
of body cantilevered behind the
rear axle, and the front wheels
were stationed so far forward,
they almost touched the front
bumper.
to look good. ;e net result of all
that axle-shifting skullduggery
was a five inch reduction in the
wheelbase—and a readjustment
of balance. Fifty-six percent of
an AWB’s mass sat atop the rear
wheels when parked; on launch,
that figure could get to 100%—all
of the weight transferred to the
rear wheels—and as a result, the
cars loved to wheelstand. In the
interest of dropping weight, the
steel bodies got acid-dipped,
removing 200 pounds; they
also ran lightweight hoods,
front bumpers, front fenders,
doors, and trunk lids, Plexiglas
windows, a magnesium intake
manifold and o;ered seating
for just the driver. A 60-pound
truck battery in the right rear
corner of the trunk completed
the package, and helped o;set
torque-loading on the rear
wheels.
It wasn’t long before the racers
of these cars had switched pretty
much all of their attention to the
crowd-pleasing match racing
circuit, where drag strip owners
paid them bags of appearance
money to come and put on a
show. Advertising and hype
played a big role in building
enthusiasm for these events,
and really packed the folks in.
Soon, the carburetors were gone,
