Those who have been watching NHRA drag racing over the last two or three decades will certainly remember “Big Jim” Dunn’s iconic, bright yellow Mooneyes sponsored Funny Cars driven by Al Hofmann in the early 2000’s and a decade earlier by one of the most popular nitro pilots of the last quarter century – Japanese driver Kenji Okazaki.

 Well, this weekend fans will get a bit of deja vu, as the legendary driver-turned-team owner has teamed up once again with Mooneyes to put the familiar flopper back on track at the NHRA’s season-ending Auto Club Finals at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. Dunn and his driver, Jeff Arend, will campaign the specially designed Funny Car at the home track of the world famous speed shop, paying tribute to their partnership that extends back to the very beginnings of the NHRA.

 Mooneyes is a popular speed shop founded in the 1950’s by Dean Moon in the garage of his parents cafe in southern California. Today, the company remains a central figure in the hot rodding and drag racing marketplace from its home in Santa Fe Springs, California. 

 The most famous and timeless partnership between Dunn and Mooneyes came in the early 1990’s, when Dunn signed Mooneyes to back his Dodge Daytona flopper with Okazaki, an unknown driver from Tokyo, Japan, behind the wheel. The pair were runner-up to John Force at the U.S. Nationals in 1993 and in the 1994 Budweiser Shootout, and in Okazaki’s final year of driving in 1997, won at Englishtown and the Big Bud at Indy. To this day, even with other major sponsors on his race cars, Dunn still carries the Mooneyes logo and contends that he will do as long as he’s out there racing.

 Jim Dunn Racing’s primary sponsor, Grime Boss, will assume as associate sponsorship role at Pomona, but will continue to market and sell their heavy-duty cleaning wipes on the Nitro Alley midway at discounted rates for NHRA fans.