(Image/Mecum)
They looked a little weird—a little funny.
The dozen B-body Mopars Chrysler unleashed in 1964 for Factory Experimental drag racing had an odd-looking profile. Both the front and rear wheels had been moved forward significantly—up 15 inches in the rear and up 10 inches in the front to where the front tires were right on top of the bumper.
Because they look funny, that’s what race fans called them—“funny cars”—and so begins the story of a new drag-racing class, one that would see John Force turn into a household name in the 1990s and beyond, when there were only three years between 1990 and 2006 when he didn’t win the NHRA Funny Car title in the most dominate stretch in the history of motorsports.
But before there was John Force, there was Dick Landy and his altered-wheelbase 1965 Dodge Hemi Coronet AFX dragster.
(Image/Mecum)
Now, NHRA banned them pretty much right away, but Landy’s car, along with 11 other Hemi-powered Chryslers—five more Coronets, and six Plymouth Satellites—made names for themselves in AHRA Super Stock.
The Dick Landy Dodge is a drag-racing legend as it holds a unique place in the sport’s history, and will be sold along with a bunch of other cars you and us both want really bad at a Mecum-hosted auction in Kissimmee, FL scheduled for Jan. 5-14, 2018 at the Osceola Heritage Park.
You can learn more about the Dick Landy Dodge from this Hemmings article, and get more auction details by visiting Mecum.com.
If you’re like us, and don’t have the financial flexibility to add to this special piece of drag-racing history to your personal vehicle fleet, we found some more budget-friendly Dick Landy Dodge options for you, courtesy of our friends at Summit Racing Gifts, Clothing and Memorabilia:
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