There was a time when a catchy name was just as important to a funny car driver as a supercharger and a nitro. A car wouldn’t run faster with a memorable name, but it did secure profitable reserves for match races. Match racing paid the bills, so the racing teams went to great lengths to create unforgettable names.

Of course, dragsters and gasers had names, long before the first funny car hit the track. The teams that switched to the profitable ranks of fun cars brought their old names with them. Roland Leong kept the Hawaiian label, made famous by his dragsters, in many successful flops. Connie Kalitta used the Bounty Hunter name on her rails before adopting the title of her fun car. Stone, Woods, and Cook recycled the name of one of their gassers for the fun car in Dark Horse 2. When an accident destroyed that car, they built a near-clone of the original Mustang. Instead of calling the new car Dark Horse 3, they dubbed it The Ghost of Dark Horse 2.

The names of the race cars were inspired by events, activities and ideas. Roger Lindamood chose the title of a pop county song to adorn his car. The song soon faded into obscurity, but for more than a decade, Lindamood fans continued to cheer on the car known as Color Me Gone.

The Blue Max was both a movie and a famous German metal from WWI. It was also a highly feared fun car promoted by Raymond Beadle.

Ford’s Mustang inspired numerous horse-related names, including Trojan Horse, Boss Hoss, Stampede, and Warhorse.

The most popular funny car driver of all time was Russell James Liberman. He first gained fame as the driver of Lew Arlington’s Brutus GTO, but soon began touring his own car. Although the name on Liberman’s cars was Jungle Jim, his fans and peers gave him Elvis status and always referred to him as Jungle.

As teams began adding superchargers to their cars, a series of names appeared beginning with the term “Super”; Super Cuda, Super Duster, Super Camaro, Super Stang, Super Bug, Super Charger and others.

While “shaker” was originally a slang term for Chevrolet, it was a popular name for all brands of floppers. Al Bergler raced Vega, Mustang and Corvette versions of the Motown Shaker. Also, Hubert Platt campaigned with his Georgia Shaker as Chevy and Ford. Other variations included the Boston Shaker, Bear Town Shaker, and Bluegrass Shaker.

Probably the most famous shaker was Seaton’s Shaker, owned by Pete Seaton. When he added a blower, he updated the name to Seaton Super Shaker. Driver Terry Hedrick acquired the car when Seaton retired. He shortened the name to Super Shaker, a combination of two of the most popular flopper names.

Most drivers kept the same name when they built a new car. Once a name was established, the runners wanted to retain fan loyalty. One man who opposed this trend was Arnie “the Farmer” Beswick. Although Beswick was known as the Farmer, each of his race cars had a unique name. These names include Tameless Tiger, Star of the Circuit, Super Judge, and Boss Bird.

Don Prudhomme, was known as the “Serpent”. Their most successful funny cars were sponsored by the US Army. While the white floppers weren’t actually named Army, a lot of fans paid good money to see that “Army Car” in action.

It would take a good size book to contain a complete list of funny car names. The stories behind Virginia Twister, Secret Weapon, Yankee Peddler, Warlord, Destroyer, and Eastern Raider will have to wait for another time.

So what happened? Why do funny cars no longer have names? One reason is that match races are no longer viable. Rather than racing several times a week on small, secluded tracks, today’s touring pros focus on the big national events.

Today, there are a multitude of great races, many of them with full television coverage. Rather than running for appearance money, today’s hero drivers rely on sponsorship to pay their salaries. You no longer need an exhilarating car name.

Second, those corporate sponsorship deals involve huge sums of cash, and a willing sponsor is hard to find. Sponsors who put in a lot of money to put their name on a race car don’t want to share the side of the car with a nickname. When it comes to a name or a lucrative endorsement deal, teams always go with the cash.

I guess that’s progress. Still, I’m glad I was active in the era when the fun cars were Vicious, Hairy, Candid, and 2 Much!