There is no clear reason why they are called funny cars, but maybe it is the fact that their fiberglass or carbon fiber tilt-up bodies appear to be caricatures of newly available cars. But there is ...
The heyday for the National Hot Rod Association's (NHRA) Top Gas dragster class was 1961 to 1971. Unlike their nitro-huffing counterparts in Top Fuel, Top Gas cars used regular old pump gas.