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Don Prudhomme
| Don Prudhomme | |
|---|---|
 Prudhomme in his dragster before a run in 1992 |
|
| Nationality | American/French Creole |
| Born | April 6, 1941 San Fernando, California |
| Retired | 1994 as racer 2010 as owner |
| Funny Car | |
| Years active | 1970's to 1994 (driver) 1970's-2010 as Owner |
| Best finish | 1st (4 times) in 1975-1978 |
| Awards | |
| 2000 | International Motorsports Hall of Fame |
Don 'The Snake' Prudhomme, (born April 6, 1941, San Fernando, California) is an American drag racer.
Contents |
Racing career
In 1962, Prudhomme was a partner in the Greer-Black-Prudhomme digger, which earned the best win record in NHRA history, before switching to Funny Car. He would win the NHRA FC championship four times in his thirty-five-year career. He was the first Funny Car driver to exceed 250 mph (400 km/h). He retired in 1994 to manage his own racing team. With driver Larry Dixon, Prudhomme's team won the Top Fuel[clarification needed] championship in 2002 and 2003. In 2009, Dixon signed to drive the Al-Anabi Top Fuel Dragster, and Spencer Massey took over Prudhomme's car. At the end of the 2009 racing season, sponsorship went away and Prudhomme retired from active racing. Prudhomme was known for his yellow 1970 Plymouth Barracuda in which he raced rival driver Tom McEwen in his red 1970 Plymouth Duster, named Mongoose. Both drivers gained wider public attention from Mattel's "Hot Wheels" toy versions of the cars that were released in 1970. Hot Wheels celebrated their 35th anniversary in 2005 with a two day event.
Awards
- In 2000 he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
- He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1991.
- On the National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers 1951-2000, Don Prudhomme was ranked #3.
Trivia
Don suffers from claustrophobia, and has, since before he began his racing career.
Images
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Prudhomme's car on fire in 1991 against Kenny Bernstein
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External links
Tom McEwen
Tom McEwen,[1][2][3] (born 1937) is an American drag racer, who won the U.S. Nationals during part of his 45 year career. He is listed as number 16 of the 50 most significant drivers of NHRA’s first 50 years. He received the nickname "the Mongoose" in 1964 from engine builder Ed Donovan. It was largely originally used as a device to entice Don "the Snake" Prudhomme into a high-exposure match race. McEwen won only five NHRA national events during his 45-plus-year career, but McEwen’s gift for gab and promotional ability made him one of the sport's most influential and controversial figures.
As stated by famous drag racer, Roland Leong in the book SNAKE vs. MONGOOSE,[3] “McEwen was the smartest of the bunch. When he came up with the Hot Wheels deal using the Snake and Mongoose characters, it shook the world of drag racing big time. He produced a sponsorship package that allowed him and Prudhomme to buy the best equipment, pay expenses, make money and sell their image all over the United States. I hate to admit it but McEwen and Prudhomme showed us the way to the future. They were a lot smarter than most of us who didn't see past the end of the quarter-mile.”
McEwen accrued his early experience in a variety of rides, beginning in 1953 with a '53 Oldsmobile at Santa Ana Dragstrip in Irvine, Calif. He then went on to race a '54 Olds at Lions Dragstrip in Long Beach, Calif.
He went from the stock-car ranks to gas coupes, altereds, and eventually dragsters. Among the cars he drove were the Stone-Woods-Cook '50 Olds fastback, the Bader & Ferrara Cadillac-powered Crosseyed Crosley, Art Chrisman's Hustler II, the Bud Rasner and Gary Slusser Fiat coupe, Dick Rea's blown-gas Chrysler dragster, and Gene Adams' Albertson Olds.
McEwen continued his relationship with Gene Adams for several years. In 1962, he drove Adams' Shark car, which was one of the first dragsters to use a streamlined body with an enclosed 'chute pack. This would turn out to be one of McEwen's most famous rides.
In 1963, McEwen achieved his greatest success at the time when he posted a runner-up finish against Art Malone at the Bakersfield March Meet in California. He was driving the Broussard-Garrison-Purcell-Davis car. He also drove Ed Donovan's Donovan Engineering Special; this was the dragster he used when he first raced against "the Snake".
McEwen won his race against "the Snake" at Lions Dragstrip on September 12, 1964. He beat Prudhomme, who was driving a bright-orange edition of the famed Greer-Black-Prudhomme dragster, in two straight sets (this car was later painted yellow), inspiring what may be the most famous match-race pairing in the history of drag racing.[4]
Later in 1964, McEwen drove Lou Baney's Yeakel Plymouth-sponsored dragster to victory at the 32-car UDRA meet at Fontana Raceway in Fontana, California. He also swept Top Fuel titles at Lions Dragstrip and Pomona Raceway.
Because their first get-together had received so much attention, two more races between "the Snake" and "the Mongoose" were staged at Lions Dragstrip in 1965. McEwen wheeled the Yeakel Plymouth dragster past Prudhomme and his new ride, the Roland Leong-owned Hawaiian, two rounds to one in the first, then lost in two straight sets in the second.
Because McEwen confined his racing to the West Coast, he and the touring Prudhomme raced each other only once in 1966, at the Winternationals, site of their first national event meeting. There Prudhomme's B&M Torkmaster Special took a 7.59 to 7.69 win over McEwen. They would not meet again for the rest of the decade.
McEwen won the 1966 Hot Rod Magazine Championships at Riverside Raceway and then went on to win the 1968 Stardust National Open in Las Vegas. He also recorded the lowest elapsed time, at that time, with a blistering 6.64 at the Orange County PDA Meet in 1968.
McEwen also continued to build on his reputation as a colorful promoter. The Plymouth Hemi-Cuda,[3] that he unveiled in 1965 was featured in every notable car magazine. He convinced the Southern California Plymouth Dealers Association to support him and displayed the car all over the West Coast.
In 1967, McEwen took the same approach with one of drag racing's great one-shot wonders: Ford Motor Company's Super Mustang. When it made its highly anticipated debut at the Winternationals, it generated significant publicity.
McEwen's strong promotional talent and Prudhomme's success on the racetrack eventually led to the formation of a national touring team sponsored by Mattel, and, in mid-1969, McEwen and Prudhomme corporately became Wildlife Racing.
The Mattel deal ran from 1970 through 1972, and in 1973, Wildlife Racing secured Carefree sugarless gum as a sponsor. McEwen and Prudhomme dissolved their corporation at the end of the 1973 season.
In 1972, McEwen won his first major event when he dominated the Top Fuel field at the Bakersfield March Meet. A year later, he scored his first NHRA national event victory by topping the quickest Funny Car field in history at the SuperNationals at California's Ontario Motor Speedway. Tom went on to win four more national events, including his dramatic U.S. Nationals Funny Car victory over Prudhomme in 1978, following the death just a few days earlier of his son, Jamie. He also won the prestigious Big Bud Shootout in 1984 and won Top Fuel at the 1991 Summernationals.
Tom McEwen retired in 1992.
References
- ^ "Motorsports Hall of Fame - Tom McEwen". 2001. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
- ^ "No. 16 - Tom McEwen". 2001. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
- ^ a b c "Steve Reyes on Tour - Tom McEwen". 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
- ^ "Great Rivalries: Don Prudhomme vs Tom McEwen". August 24, 2009. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
