Alex Laughlin’s Road to Funny Car Competition

Remember when a racing driver would compete in anything with wheels? Open wheel, closed wheel, tin-tops, sports cars, Indy cars, straight-line racers, even racing boats? That era seems far removed from the specialists that race today, although some drivers choose to cross from their comfort zones to try and race different vehicles.

One of the most diverse racers in NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series in 2023 is Alex Laughlin, the Texan who has most recently seen part-time duty in Scott Palmer’s Top Fuel dragster during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He’s raced successfully in Pro Stock with Elite Motorsports, in Pro Mod and driving Scott Palmer’s dragster in Top Fuel. Now he’s got a new gig, one that was introduced during the December 2022 Performance Racing Industry show.

This upcoming season, Laughlin will be driving the Jim Dunn Racing Dodge Charger Funny Car on a full-time basis, taking the reins of an 11,000 monster that’s usually very tough to tame. Recently licensed in the most difficult-to-drive nitro class in Camping World competition, Laughlin was over the moon about his opportunity to work with the legendary team owner and tuner Jim Dunn and his Jon Dunn-led team, even before he got into the car and began to put it through its paces.

Good weather greeted the team and its new driver at Famoso Dragstrip outside Bakersfield. It was the lull in a January filled with storms throughout California. Let’s just say the team and Laughlin got lucky?

“Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine my name being on the side of any of these machines: Pro Stock, Pro Mod, Top Fuel and now a Funny Car,” Laughlin said before making his first pull. “the realization of the dream I’m living doesn’t go unnoticed. I’m fully aware and forever thankful for these incredible opportunities and the good people that have been behind them. I couldn’t do this on my own.”

Over two clear days in California, Laughlin performed seven passes. As Laughlin explained, he experienced tire shake, grenaded parts, figured out how to pedal the car, had a pass where he dropped a hole and the car “shoved me to the wall, one [run] with no parachutes and a couple of fast and straight runs as well,” he said afterwards. “I’m happy to learn this way because I was able to experience so many scenarios and learn how to react to each one.”

And so he departed California with a “Dunn deal, officially licensed as a Funny Car driver.” 

There’s nothing left but the waiting for the Amalie Motor Oil Gatornatiionals the second week of March. From the excitement of his first taste of Funny Car, that first official run down the 1,000-foot Gainesville Raceway drag strip can’t come too soon.