NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The Moon Equipment Company is honoring nitro legend Jim Dunn by turning over the sides of the Jim Dunn Racing Funny Car normally adorned in Pomona with the trademark Mooneyes logo to allow the team to run a tribute paint scheme honoring Dunn’s iconic Fireman’s Quickie cars of the 1980s.

The tribute car is the brainchild of Moon owner Shige Suganuma and company president Chico Kodama, who were looking for a way to honor their longtime friend and partner, who is still going strong at age 89.

“Shige is the one who said he believes it was time to honor my father and do a tribute car to give him the recognition he deserves for more than 70 years of driving, owning, and tuning race cars,” said team manager Jon Dunn, the son of the legendary Funny Car racer. “We put our heads together, and this is what we came up with, which is a great chance to see one of his old cars go down the track again. We still have the iconic Moon-equipped logo as big as day on the hood of this car, but they gave away the right to have a full Mooneyes car to honor my dad.

“The Fireman's Quickie cars that he drove in the 1980s were some of his most famous and loved cars back in the day when Funny Cars had cool names instead of sponsors on their sides. My dad was just honored last weekend at the Nitro Revival event in Irwindale and is being inducted into the Lions Museum Hall of Fame this Thursday, so we just felt the timing was right.”

Jim Dunn was a member of the Los Angeles County Fire Department for more than 30 years, splitting his time between putting out fires and sending scorching header flames from his Funny Cars.

“We sold a ton of Fireman’s Quickie T-shirts back in the day with the slogan 'Everyone loves a quickie,' and you can assign whatever meaning to that you want, but we know everyone will love seeing the Fireman's Quickie go down the track in Pomona,” said Jon Dunn.

"As a kid, seeing that Fireman's Quickie car race up against the top names was always exciting, and when my dad was driving it, he was always extremely competitive, and it was exciting to see him do that. It's great timing, too, because our car, with driver Alex Laughlin, is running so well right now. We've won five rounds at the last four races, and we're in the Top 10 and could easily get as high as fifth or sixth with a good weekend. That would be the ultimate tribute to my dad and to our friends at Moon.”