IHRA: Throwback Thursday - Mike Dunn's career launches

Current IHRA President Mike Dunn has been involved in drag racing for his whole life, thanks to growing up with his father, Jim Dunn, one of the premier Funny Car racers in the country.

A movie called "Funny Car Summer" was released in 1974, and it covered the Funny Car campaign of Jim Dunn, a California firefighter during the week and an acclaimed racer on the weekends.

It was during this period that Dunn was driving the revolutionary Dunn Reath Plymouth Barracuda, which debuted in 1972. It had the Chrysler Hemi engine in the rear, hooked up to a two-speed transmission, or a direct-drive setup. It was a bear to drive, Dunn said: "My feet were on the front axle. It was scary."

So what about Mike Dunn? There's a clip from the movie on YouTube that shows one of Mike's first drag races – on a bicycle. With a parachute. He won the "Top Eliminator" class.

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