NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

As part of NHRA’s 50 years of Funny Car celebration, fans voted on a Top 20 list developed by respected drag racing historians and Funny Car experts.

The results are being revealed in reverse order at NHRA national events this season and simultaneous to a separate but parallel list created by former NHRA Funny Car champion and current NHRA FOX television analyst Tony Pedregon.

The next cars on the lists will be revealed during every subsequent NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event.

NHRA Fan Vote Top 20

20. Jack Chrisman Comet (1967)
Two years after blowing fans away with his original stock-appearing nitro-burning Comet at the 1964 Nationals, Chrisman’s lightweight flip-top Comet, with considerable engine setback, ran 190-mph speeds.

19. Gene Snow Rambunctious Challenger (1970)
“The Snowman’s” direct-drive Dodge was the unchallenged king of top speeds in the late 1960s and early 1970s and enjoyed success in multiple sanctioning bodies, including a three-win NHRA season that culminated in the class’ first NHRA world championship. 

18. Jim White/Hawaiian Dodge (1991)
Any number of Roland Leong’s Hawaiian entries could have made this list, but the White-driven Hawaiian Punch Daytona was a standout, running the class’ first 290-mph pass and winning both the Big Bud Shootout and U.S. Nationals in the same weekend en route to a second-place championship finish.

17. Don Prudhomme's Pepsi Challenger (1982)
The first Funny Car to exceed 250 mph, it carried “the Snake” to two wins in 1982 and one of the greatest runs in class history, a stunning 5.63 clocking at the U.S. Nationals.

16. Kenny Bernstein's Budweiser King Tempo (1984)
Bernstein and crew chief Dale Armstrong spent hours in the Ford wind tunnel perfecting the aero shape of this car with rounded fenderwells, a full belly pan, enclosed side windows, and more, beginning an attention to aero detail that continues to this day. 

15. Danny Ongais/Mickey Thompson Mustang (1969)
Built by Pat Foster, this car popularized the narrow-framerail chassis and dragster-style roll-cage design still used today. The car, along with Foster’s twin, was the first to use zoomie headers. The car won both the Springnationals and Nationals in 1969. 
 
14. Ed McCulloch Revellution Duster (1972)
This car, backed by Revell, maker of plastic model cars, really put “the Ace,” already a successful Funny Car pilot, on the map by winning four of eight events in 1972: the first three and the U.S. Nationals.

13. Pat Foster/Barry Setzer Vega (1972)
Although Foster’s national event statistics don’t bear it out, the pretty maroon and gold Vega, owned by textile magnate Setzer, was the baddest Funny Car on the planet in 1972-73, running low e.t. almost everywhere it went.  
 

Tony Pedregon’s Top 20
20. Tom Prock’s Detroit Tiger Monza (1975-76)
19. Dale Armstrong/Mike Kase Speed Racer Omni (1980-81)
18. Al Segrini's Black Magic Vega (1974-75)
17. Gordie Bonin's Bubble-Up Trans Am (1977)
16. Jim Green/Richard Rogers Green Elephant Vega (1977)
15. Dale Pulde War Eagle Trans Am (1977) 
14. Joe Pisano/Tom Ridings Arrow (1978)
13. Roland Leong/Ron Colson Hawaiian Monza (1977)