It’s easy to just glance at these photos of time and place and miss all the things that are going on. The time was 1971–1975 and the place was Orange County International Raceway (OICR), and of course, these are Funny Cars on the line shot by Ron Lewis, a photographer that you can still find, on the line, at NHRA events.
The A-body belongs to Jim McFarland, putting the time at 1971. After winning the Manufacturer’s race at OICR the previous year in his Chevy Nova, McFarland invested in this state-of-the-art Hemi Demon, only to have it burn later in the year at Lions Drag Strip in Wilmington, California.The Lil John Lombardo and Plueger Vega is likely from 1972 when the car went 6.60 as a precursor to the Plueger & Gyger Mustang that dominated that year and went 6-teens in Ontario. Steve Plueger still builds Funny Car chassis in his modest shop in SoCal.Finally, Hall of Famer Tom Hoover’s beast of a 1971 Charger with the early candy colors that would become a trade dress on his Showtime Vega race cars that made him famous. The guy in the stands wearing the yellow jacket in both the McFarland and the Hoover photos might be a Car Craft staffer, putting this shot also at 1971.
