In the beginning, burnouts were done on dry rosin. Part of the funny car match race ritual was to sprinkle "gold dust" on the track. Around the time these pictures were made or shortly thereafter, Ted DeTar began selling a liquid track bite under his own brand name. Obviously, the Kingfish was on the dry stuff which you can see in front of the car and, of course, that isn't all tire smoke under the car. One wonders how much rosin was actually left by the time the back tires got to it.
David Rubenstein sent me the following email. I always appreciate it when people can update or correct my information.
"The Kingfish in your site was the first in a series, a 1966. It was owned by Bill Taylor of Coleman-Taylor Transmissions and based in Memphis, TN. The sponsor on the quarter panel was John T. Fisher Motor Company, a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership in Memphis. It was driven by Larry Reyes, who went on to drive the 1967 Kingfish, the Super Cuda, and the Hawaiian. Larry was injured in a crash of the 1971 reincarnation of the Super Cuda and is in a wheelchair. He works at Coleman-Taylor Transmissiions in Memphis."
This was considered a slick setup in the '60s. No tractor-trailer rigs even for the "pros." Actually, there weren't very many real full time pros.