Why are Funny Car chassis changes more prevalent now?
Change is inevitable. It’s safe to say this year in Funny Car we’ve already heard more about chassis changes than we did in the last decade. Why is that? There are two influencing factors in today’s racing world – safety and performance. In this scenario, the issue appears to be more of a performance nature. “I think it boils down to some drivers switched over to the slip-tube chassis because we though they were easier to drive,” Gary Scelzi said. “Now some of the drivers are switching back to the solid car.” There are two chassis being employed in today’s Funny Car division – the age-old rigid and the new kid on the block, the slip-tube chassis. The difference between the two is that rigid, as implied, has all of the junctions welded and doesn’t move to a great degree while a slip-tube car has sleeves around the frame rails at the tube junctions. The uprights and cross members are welded to those sleeves which are free to rotate around the rails thus making the chassis more limber. Th
