Broadcast from the studios inside the Classic Automall in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, just one hour west of Philadelphia at Pennsylvania Turnpike Exit 298, featuring nearly 1,000 classic vintage and barred-fine vehicles for sale under one climate control roof.
Now, here's your host, Classic Automall president and the man with all the toys, Stuart Howden.
Show number 210, here we are, golly, that's hard to believe.
So, before we get started with our guest, Steve, since you're wearing two hats today.
Hello.
And a nice flannel shirt, because it's getting cold outside.
Thank you very much.
How many cars in inventory right now?
Uh, 950.
933.
Oh, man.
You're so close.
You were spot on last week.
Oh, it's higher, yeah.
Yeah, you're always higher, so.
Anyway, without further ado, let's bring our fantastic guest on Don Prudhomme, drag racer, team owner, Bon Vivant.
He's the man.
Good, good more.
I'm sorry it's so early.
I hate that it's eight o'clock out on the West Coast for you.
Yeah, I hate that too.
Yeah.
You know, a retired guy like me, man, they don't, they don't like to get up that early.
I don't blame you.
I, you know, if I didn't have anything, you know, if I didn't have to be anywhere, I think I'd probably sleep to about 10 or 11 every day.
Just because I could.
Yeah, I hear you, man.
Yeah, so welcome.
It's great to be on the show, though, and it's nice to meet you, really.
Yeah, nice to meet you as well, too.
We've wanted to have you on the show, and our friend Judy Stropis makes it happen.
And as we talked earlier, she's just a wonderful person who knows everybody in the business and the hobby of racing and cars and just all of that.
It's fantastic.
Yeah.
And we're glad to have her as a friend of the show.
So, and, you know, and new friends like we meet with you.
We've met lots of people like this.
So, you know, I always, I never really knew why your nickname was the snake until I read about it here recently.
And it was derived from how devastatingly fast you were off the line and able to shift gears.
Is that true?
Or is that where that came from?
Or is that old lore?
Well, it's, yeah, it's pretty close.
Yeah, it's exactly where it came from.
Right.
The quickness off the starting line.
And as you know, in drag racing, that's very, very important.
You reach reflexes and leaving first.
And for some reason, I was at an early age, I was pretty good at it.
Right.
And one of the guys in the crew started calling me snake as I was quick and skinny and fairly tall.
Right.
So it just fit.
Yeah.
I guess.
Very enlightened, of course.
Right.
It caught on.
Yeah.
It's funny how some things that you don't care for actually, you know, work out to be pretty
good when you first hear about them, you don't like them.
And then it worked.
Yeah.
And of course didn't having the rivalry, if you will, with Tom McEwen as the Mongoose.
So that was certainly, did more for drag racing, probably than anything in the history
of drag racing, I would venture to guess.
Well, yeah, it's nice of you to say, when I look back on my career, I think
that was the point where not only did it change our lives, it changed drag race.
Period.
You know, from a brain and not automotive sponsors like Mattel Hot Wheels.
Mongoose McEwen was the guy that came up with that idea by going to Hot Wheels and
talking to him about a sponsorship.
And this is like 1969, you know, 70.
So it was a pretty unique sponsor like that back in the day.
Sure.
Yeah.
It's commonplace to see non-automotive sponsors nowadays.
You see Tide and you see, you know, restaurants and things like that.
But back then that was unique.
And of course Hot Wheels, I mean, as a kid growing up, I was born in the early 60s.
And so Hot Wheels to me was everything.
It was my connection to cars and drag racing with you guys.
And of course, the most iconic thing to me was the car haulers that you and Tom
had, which were absolutely amazing.
The Dodge D700s were, I guess they were, they were real like utility trucks that were
used for like calling a crew up into the woods, I guess, for a, you know, a logging
adventure or whatever.
Yeah.
Well, actually I got mine.
We're talking 1970.
Right.
It's way back.
And so at the time in drag racing, the guys who had the cool rigs were socks with
Martin, Dick Landy, guys like that, you know, not in funny cars, but in pro
stocks or whatever they call them in the day.
So they had, they had really nice ones.
So we got with Plymouth and with our Hot Wheels cars, Dick's Maxwell felt running,
running the Plymouth at the time of racing.
He hooked us up with those trucks.
Mine actually came from Richard Petty.
Right.
He was turning it back in.
It was a four door D700 crew cab.
Right.
And so we got the cabin chassis and built the back on it.
And McEwen's came the same way.
They're both used trucks.
Right.
Yeah.
They were state of the art at the time.
And they were probably as much of a draw as the funny cars were back in the
day.
I mean, people were really drawn to those trucks.
Oh, yeah.
Absolutely.
When we come roll into a track in York, Pennsylvania, someplace, man, they
gathered around because they were really cool.
Yeah.
We were like the Charlie Daniels band, you know, coming in with their
bosses.
Exactly.
It was all show business.
Sure.
And I think that's the part that they drag racing was up.
It was all the show business and the colorful cars.
And once again, Ravel and Mattel, and they're the ones that got, I think,
funny car going back in the day.
Well, and the name Funny Car, I mean, because they were, they looked
funny compared to a regular car.
They were elongated.
They were exaggerated in some respects.
They were, the headlights were painted on usually.
I mean, it was, they were a funny looking car.
And it's great that the name became Funny Car.
Yeah.
Well, they actually, yeah, they, the factory, there were factory
cars, you know, with landing socks.
And they started moving the, the rear end forward and the front
wheels out, engine back pretty soon.
They looked funny and that's where the name came from.
So they, they, and that worked itself, of course, into our
flip top fiberglass body cars.
I was always surprised how they, those things latch so
completely going that fast.
I guess the downforce of the air kept them kind of from
flying on those hoods or the whole body just as fly.
Of course they did fly up from time to time and that wasn't
pretty.
Oh yeah.
I've been to that, I've been to that movie a few times.
Yeah.
That happened, yeah.
It's pretty bad.
Yeah.
But we didn't know a lot about it.
You know, back in those days, it isn't like you were in a
wind tunnel.
Right.
You know, you was all traveling there.
Right.
So if it looked cool.
Yeah.
We first built the cars.
We had the spoilers on the roof.
Right.
The spoilers.
We didn't know any better.
Right.
Straighten that out.
But it was just a process of elimination.
Sure.
No different than top fuel cars with the engine in
front of you versus behind you.
I mean, that changed everything.
So many people had gotten hurt and then Don Garlett's, I guess,
said, hey, we got to figure out something better to do here.
And of course it turned out to be a brilliant idea in the
long term and saved a lot of lives probably.
Oh yeah.
It changed the sport forever.
It was really good.
Yeah.
He sure did.
I was, you know, I was racing Garlett's not on that
particular run, but we were competition together.
We all had front engine dragsters.
Yeah.
And his crunch mission got a little two-speed
transmission behind his bellhouse.
It blew up.
And that's what cut his foot off.
Right.
Cut the car in half.
Yeah.
It was a, you know, it went to a rarer engine car.
Yeah.
It changed the sport.
Absolutely.
And, you know, it was nice to see because, you know, you
don't, motor sports is supposed to be dangerous.
I get all that.
That's true.
And we, and it should be dangerous.
It's going faster than you're really supposed to go.
Right.
But it shouldn't be dangerous just for the sake of being
dangerous.
No, but I think all, all motor sports went through that.
You know, hell, I can remember the days when they had
aluminum, what do you call monocoque cars?
Right.
Indies.
Right.
They hit the wall and the whole, it would, for sure,
you'd lose your feet, you know, break your feet up in
those cars.
Like she's so many other guys.
Sure.
So nowadays they're, of course, they're composite.
Race cars are a lot safer.
Sure.
Sometimes it's faster and safer.
I mean, 300 miles an hour was a crazy, you know,
milestone to hit.
I mean, is there any more speed in them?
Can they, could they ever hit 400 or does that even,
does that even, even in a conversation?
Well, you know, in NHA it's a thousand foot now.
Right.
It's not a quarter mile anymore.
They shortened it up because of the speeds.
Was that a mistake?
I kind of think so.
I think we should have tried to calm the cars down
and still run the 1,320 feet quarter mile.
That's what the sport was built around.
But let's just say it was a bandaid they put on it.
Right.
Now at a thousand feet, they're running 340, 341,
and 4243 at a thousand feet.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
Yeah, that really is.
It'd be interesting at Bonneville or something to see
what one of these top fuel cars with the right
gearing could do.
Could it do, I imagine it could hit 400.
And just launch into this atmosphere.
Yeah.
I don't think that's possible.
Well, you never know.
But it's interesting.
NASCAR solved that problem with restrictor plates
and different things that they kind of changed
on the timing and the engine and all that.
And like you said, I'll never forget.
When we moved here about eight years ago,
Maple Grove is just north of a seven miles from here,
which is a great old school track in the middle
of Pennsylvania here.
And I walked up to some guy in the pits and I said,
so how fast are you going in the quarter?
And he goes, son, we don't run the quarter anymore.
We run a thousand feet.
I said, oh, sorry.
But you're right.
It was always synonymous a quarter mile.
That was a benchmark for a street car or for a race car.
Yes, it was.
Yeah.
That's what we grew up with.
That's what it was all about was a quarter mile.
But I'll tell you, the cars are so fast
to tell when you're watching them.
You don't know if it's a quarter mile or a thousand feet.
Yeah.
All you know is it's really, really fast.
And really loud.
I mean, they are really loud.
Yeah.
And they can really blow up.
Oh, yeah.
Me talk.
Yeah.
You know, I grew up in East Tennessee
and Bristol was our track, Thunder Valley.
And back in the day.
I've run them all.
All of them.
Yeah.
Maple Grove.
Maple Grove was, yeah, great track.
And then Bristol was amazing
because the fence was literally on the track.
I mean, it was literally,
there was no buffer area between the fence
and the track strip.
I mean, it was real.
It could be right there.
And those guys were on a Saturday night
when they're qualifying.
Man, that stuff,
it was ginger eyebrows.
Yeah.
So being a team owner,
I love that we, you know,
I was reading about Ron Kapps.
And Ron Kapps said something about you
that it was stuck with me
and will stick with me for the rest of life.
And he said,
after being hired by you in 1997,
it was like having Joe Montana walk on the field
and teach a kid how to throw a football.
He said,
you were just the guy with the knowledge
to be the right guy for him
at the right time as the leader.
Well, you know, yeah.
Well, I guess it worked out that way.
When I met Ron,
you know, I thought he was, you know,
he was a natural.
He was driving a top fuel car at the time
on a, not a sponsored team.
And I was thinking about putting
a funny car back on.
I had a top fuel drive there.
I was retired at the time.
And Dixon was in the,
Larry Dixon was driving
with my dragster.
Right.
And we got a funny car,
put Ron in it
and man,
it started a whole new career for him.
You know, he's just the,
he's just the best.
Sure.
Sure.
Absolutely.
And it was,
was it fun?
Did you enjoy being a team owner
as much as you enjoyed driving
or was driving always number one to you?
Well, driving was number one to me
in the early days.
Right.
I liked that because back then,
you know,
you have a driver had a lot to do
with the performance of the car.
You know,
it was far shifting that.
And in running through what you had to do
to get down the quarter mile,
but also you had to go a hell of a lot
about the engine.
Right.
You had to,
there was no computers, you know,
so you didn't even think
about computers back then,
but you jumped out of the car
and you go,
we need to change,
put more weight on the clutch,
needs more tire pressure,
whatever it may need.
I would tell the crew
that when they got down at the end,
we'd go back,
the pits do that,
come back out and run again.
Right.
So the driver,
I was fortunate.
Myself,
Gartlett's,
colleagues, a lot of guys like that,
Ivo,
we're all pretty good with the engines.
And so that's what made it fun.
Sure.
But in today's world,
today's world,
the driver has very little to do
with the engine
or the tuning of the car.
He's strictly there
to cut a light
and get down to the other end
and keep it between the lines.
Which is not easy to do.
No, it doesn't look easy.
But in all motorsports,
it seems to be the better,
more successful drivers
are the ones
that can communicate with the crew
or the team about what the car does
and doesn't have needs
and doesn't need.
Well, yeah,
I am sure,
especially in road racing
or whatever it may be,
you can,
but you know,
drag racing, once again,
it's a whole different ball game.
Sure.
You know,
it's all there on the computer.
The driver pretty much
doesn't have to say anything
about the setup of the car
because they can read
on the computer
what it needs.
Right.
And so it's,
couples in orange
is compared to road racing.
Sure, sure.
Well, and we always,
and you know,
as we just said,
how loud it, I mean,
those cars are,
these days are pushing
11,000 horsepower
or something crazy.
Yes, they are.
Unbelievable.
Yeah.
It's hard to believe to get it.
I just don't understand
the guy that stands there
and runs the lights,
stands there all day long.
How can that guy
hear anything anymore?
It's got to be
the deafest guy on the planet.
Yeah, yeah,
that's possible.
But you know,
really in today's world though,
they're back quite a way.
Right.
They've got good ear protection
and the way the
light system is now,
you know, once they
turn that on,
it's all run by
computers through the tower,
staging.
So, you know,
it's simple assignment
compared to what it used to be.
What it used to be,
absolutely.
And the cat and mouse part
of it, you know,
when you're staging
and getting into the lights
and all that,
I mean, that's
an art form almost
in itself, right?
Well, yeah,
you could say that.
Yeah, it is.
It's an easy job.
Tony Stewart
Right.
thrown that out.
You know,
it should be pretty tense up there
and,
but he took to it
like a duck to water.
He's really good.
Yeah.
It's funny how that
some people are just
kind of naturally good
at certain things
and he turned out to
be pretty good once
you figured it out,
I think.
Did you have,
were there favorite tracks
that you had?
Obviously there's tracks
that you probably enjoyed
going to.
But I mean,
was there a favorite track
any of the others?
Well, it's,
I would say that
with the Indianapolis
Raceway Park.
Right.
That was always
my favorite track.
And it still is today
by most of the racers
because that's
the U.S. National.
Right.
And they just ran that
here a few weeks ago.
And that is a,
that's the race
you want to win.
Unfortunately,
I've won it seven times.
A few times as a car owner
and
kind of really helped
made my career
that went in the U.S.
Nationals.
Yeah.
Sure.
Big time.
Well, and then you've got
like we were talking
about the old school tracks
with Maple Grove and Bristol
and then some that are
no longer with us.
And,
and I remember back in
the day going
when I lived in California
and Pomona was big,
which still is.
Still is.
Yeah, still is.
But not,
not quite as many tracks
out there as there was
I guess back in the
heyday.
But.
Hardly.
Yeah.
Well, it's kind of
can't be very cost-effective
to build a Bristol
or a Maple Grove today
if it didn't have,
you know,
a nice history to it.
Amen.
Yeah.
And that's it.
And, you know,
it's interesting that
like at Charlotte,
they're running four,
four wide,
four cars at a time
going down.
Is there an advantage
to that?
Is a disadvantage?
I don't,
I can't quite figure out
what the point of that
is exactly.
Not putting it down,
just don't quite
understand it maybe.
Well, I kind of,
I always figured like
Bruce Smith,
that was kind of like
to do something different
and do the four wide.
And do I like it?
Not really.
Right.
You know,
I still like
two cars at a time.
I mean,
watch the four wide.
It's really hard
to keep track of
who the hell won the race
and what they're doing.
I mean,
you know,
it's a big explosion.
Right.
I guess it's something
to see once.
Right.
It's not something
on a steady diet
that I'd like
for drag racing.
Sure.
And you,
you had,
your career and winning percentage
was unbelievable.
It's probably unrivaled.
I mean,
it was,
I read that overall,
you won three hundred and eighty-nine
of five hundred and eighty-nine
races you entered in,
which was 66% of the races
that you entered in.
You won.
That's true.
Yeah.
And it was maybe
from the Greer Black
Predone car.
Right.
The Keith Black
built the engines
and Tommy Greer
in the car.
And it was
the biggest break
in my drag racing
life that I got
to drive
that car.
Right.
Buddy of yours
is Bruce Meyers owns it.
Yeah.
I do.
Yeah.
And yeah,
that car was untouchable,
especially out here
in California.
Right.
It was the car.
Sure.
And those were
hemi-powered cars
right back in the day.
They were,
what was the horsepower
back then?
A couple thousand
or was it even that much?
Yeah,
on a good day.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But yeah,
they were,
the best engine was the
hemi,
the hemi engine.
Right.
Sure.
Chrysler,
Plymouth,
wherever you want to call it
at the time,
the hemi,
that changed drag racing
big time.
Sure.
For that,
it was like
390 tunes in the older
blocks
and the 55
and cars
and stuff like that.
Now,
the hemi's were,
they're still badass.
That's still
the engine
they run today.
That's hard to believe, isn't it?
It's the exact 426.
The only thing
is the stroke is more in it.
Right.
It's aluminum or I should,
yeah,
a billet,
aluminum rock.
Right.
It's a whole deal of deal,
but the basic design
of a 426 engine
is what they're running today.
And that's amazing
with all the modern technology
and everything that they've
come out with since then
to still be
reliant on that
configuration,
if you will.
And it's crazy.
Of course,
the expense of drag racing nowadays
is astronomical as well, too,
because, you know,
like you said,
with your old rigs
that you had back in the day,
now they've got these custom
semis that are
two and a half million
dollars a piece.
It's crazy.
I've never seen
anything like it.
I retired
at the end of 09.
Right.
And I had
seven tractor trailer rigs
at the time.
It had,
for one top fuel dragster,
it took
two rigs,
two rigs
to keep that thing going,
to feed it parts.
Right.
In one trailer,
we had spare engines
and blocks.
Then when the funny car
had two transporters also,
you know,
in a hospital.
Yeah.
So it was been,
we were a trucking company
for a while.
You had to be right.
You had no job.
But that,
you know,
that was amazing
to be a part of that
and see the sport grow
like that
from greasy T-shirts
and no uniforms.
You know,
there was just nothing
back in the day.
Yeah.
So I got to see all that
and that's...
You were like rock stars.
You guys were like rock stars
when you rolled into town.
You have thorn up.
I mean, yeah.
They come out to see us.
Absolutely.
And,
and Mattel,
I think has remade
the hauler
and the funny cars
that go with it.
I saw somewhere
at Walmart
or something.
They have those,
the setups on that.
And of course,
I guess you had found
both of those haulers
not too long ago
and had them restored.
Right.
You found your original one
and McEwen's original one
and restored them.
Yeah.
Well,
you know,
I kept a lot of my cars.
Right.
Army car
and a bunch of cars.
I had a shop full of
my old cars
and had the hot wheel car
and the
transporters
just seemed like
the next thing to do.
It took a while
to build those out there.
I bet.
Rick Henrich has them now.
I understand that.
They're beautiful.
Yeah.
They're just,
you know,
he's got,
he's got an amazing collection,
but I bet you,
the centerpiece is,
I bet the one that people
most talk about
are those two transporters.
I would guarantee it
because they're just,
everybody remembers them
if you grew up in that era.
Yeah.
Well, thank you.
Thank you very much.
I absolutely had a ball
restoring them.
Oh.
It was amazing.
You know,
the paint worked on them
and the engines
and just,
you know,
back then,
we didn't have any money
on today's world.
You know,
you know,
we had a few bucks
and it was a fun project.
Sure.
Do you,
do you go to races
much anymore?
Are you watching on TV
or do you?
I go,
yes I do.
Matter of fact,
next year is
NHRA's
75th anniversary.
Right.
So,
I've got my suitcase packed
already
to go to quite a few
of the events
that they'll have us at,
but they'll have
Gartis there,
myself,
a lot of,
a lot of the guys
and I still work
closely with NHRA.
Right.
And Ron Kapps,
you know,
I'm still hanging with them.
And so,
yeah, I'm involved.
I'm pretty happy
with what's going on.
Yeah.
Well, it's, you know,
I imagine it's fun
to be on the sidelines
and have a little bit
of wisdom sometimes
that you can impart
to the young pups
out there, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's just,
it's amazing
to watch,
especially wealthy people,
you know,
come out with equipment
and stuff they have
and put their
daughters
or whoever
it is and run down through there
at 340 miles an hour.
Wow.
It's pretty amazing
what it's,
what it's turned into.
It really has been.
And it's good for the sport,
I think,
to have female participants
in it.
It broadens the audience
for all of that.
Yeah.
And of course,
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, it's really
one form of racing
that women can do
really, really well.
Right.
Reaction times and
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Big time.
Did you ever have
one sloppy in the face
that you couldn't know?
They're quick.
They are quick.
They're cat-like.
Yeah.
But you're the snake
so you should be able to,
you know,
you should duck her.
So did people get...
Women are
women are
extremely quick.
Cat-like reflexes.
It drives,
they really are.
And I think that's
wonderful for the hobby.
It's good to see
that women involved
in it
because we want
the sport to perpetuate
and drag racing
might be one of the
sports that is not,
you can't watch it
on television
and understand it.
It's a great person
to really know what
drag racing is all about
because you can't replace
the sound
and the fury
on television
but you can sure in person
that you know it
and if you've never been
to one go
and if you go
you'll be blown away.
Agreed.
Yeah, absolutely.
I brought
many of my friends out
there to see it
including Chip Ganassi.
Right.
First time in it.
It blows them away.
Yeah.
It's a
the never-lasting thing.
You'll never forget that.
You know,
I mean the ground
actually shakes
this vibration and say
elite, you know.
It's pretty amazing.
And it's funny
because
with all that power
and all that
that we talk about
like Maple Grove
is this coming weekend
for us here
in the middle of September
in Central Pennsylvania
here
Southeast Pennsylvania
and my wife likes
to go into the drag
races.
She has a good time
and enjoys it
because that power
I mean you just
it's something that
you can't believe
that something can
possibly be that loud
and that pounding
on the ground.
It's hard to believe.
I agree.
I agree with you.
But you know,
the cool thing is you
like Maple Grove
you can buy your ticket
and go down
in the pit area
hang out with cars
get autographs
go see pro stocks
F stock
whatever you like
you know it's there
it's a wide range of
things to do
in your drag races
and
it's why most people like it.
I think so too
and you can become
it's really one
with the fans.
I think there's a lot
of analogy
between that
and country music
about
signing autographs
and staying
and meeting with the fans
after the show
and that kind of thing
and you didn't see that
in the rock and roll world
as much.
So it's
it's kind of the same
type of thing
but those mechanics
that work on these
top fuel cars
and funny cars
I mean they put
they've got a job
that's a tough job
I mean it's
hot in hell out there
they're working
probably through the night
sometimes to
rebuild an engine
right.
Yes it's so true
as you well know
they take them apart
and so it's all
oh man
it's
they got their air guns out
and it's all
precision
done too.
Right.
You know take it apart
put it together
and do that
in 45 minutes
to an hour
and you're ready to run again
so it's pretty amazing
to watch
and that's one of the beauties
about going down
in the pits
with your
pass.
Right.
You just go down there
and watch them
do whatever you want so
yeah it's cool
it really is cool
it makes a connection
with the drivers
because let's face it
most drivers
you only see them
as
with a helmet on
so you don't even
you don't see their emotion
you don't see their face
you don't see
how they react to certain
things and when you're
in the pit area
you get to see them
without the helmet on
and you know
see that they have
they have a
personality right.
Yeah I agree with you
completely yeah.
So I mean
and the awards
that you've received
obviously the wins
that we talked about
is I mean
unbelievable
you won
1976
you won seven
of eight
of the races
yeah
that's all they had
in HRE
was eight races
right
national events
wow
and but we ran
you know during those
times it wasn't
just the national events
we run
Maple Grove
other places
match racing
right
that's what was cool
about
right
we race the
blue mats
or jungle gym
or
mongoose
you know in a
early that's
where we made our money
right right right
we go to
NHA races
because
the sponsors
were there
and they had TV
but yeah
in 76
you know we won seven
out of eight
and I run her up
at the eighth one
so
it was a hell of a year
oh man
because so many things
can go wrong
I mean
you can
there's so many things
that can
make you
not become
the fastest
or the first
down the track
to get out
well it was
yeah it was great
you know
but
I
myself
and Garless
and a few of the other guys
approached me
I think a little bit different
the other guys
we were both pretty
driven
I thought
I was about
driving and wanting to win
and
you know
we didn't kiss and hug
at the other end
right
someone beat us
you know
it was a whole different
atmosphere
but
now they say
guess I'm sorry
I beat you
they almost apologize
you know
it's cute
and they get a
we wouldn't even talk
to the other guy
and you get a
participation trophy
now right
yeah exactly
I love it
that's cute
it's funny
to see all that
it is what it is
it's a different world
isn't it
in so many respects
and
it's all racing
life in general
life in general
is
I mean
it's just a whole different
world anymore
and things
and it's almost like
you're
growing up in certain
ways
that you think
man I wish it was
the old days
I wish things could be
more like they were
but
probably every generation
says that
and will continue to say
that till the end of time
oh absolutely
you know
Formula 1
Indy car
you name it
it's all changed
you know
you're not
going to go back
to the smoky
unique days
right
things like that
how about the cup cars
I mean
you need to build
a race car down
you know
it's just different
it's almost like
you know
you just order the parts up
and you can
it's like when you read
about custom cars
that people take a
Camaro
and they make a
Resto mod out of it
and they put
Will Wood Breaks in it
and they put this
kind of this in it
and this kind of
it's just like
a cookie cutter
type thing
almost
even though it's a
custom car
it's a lot of
just
putting parts together
yeah
and then
the Motor Sports Hall of Fame
of America in 1991
which was
that's a great
organization as well too
you know
I've been fortunate
I think I'm in all
right
about
tall things
you know
yeah
it's
quite an
honor
the one
Talladega
I was blown away
because
I was inducted there
along with
AJ Foyt
Barrio
Andretti
from
Airtun Center
Nice
you know
unfortunately
we lost him
about a year or so
after that
right
around that time
but yeah
it was amazing
and to be a part of that
that was
one of the first times
they had a drag racer
you know
being part of that
Hall of Fame
except for
Wally Parts
of course
sure
absolutely
and you know
it's so nice to see that
you know
you don't have to
like one sport anymore
you can like them all
you can watch
Formula One
like that
it's not
people aren't so pigeonholed
as they used to be
and it's fun to see people
that are getting into
drag racing
even now
that people that never
really paid attention to it
yeah that's
that's true
that's true
you know
so
thanks to so much more
available
you know
the pro stocks
there's a guy out there
I think that has
six of them
wow
pro stocks
and he rents them out
to the Jays guys
right
I mean
they're
drag racing
they're not a place
you want to go to
I can tell you that
I used to love
the pro stock car
something about the sound
of a pro stock car
is
like music
it's not as loud
as a top
fuel or funny car
but it's got
a guttural feeling
and sound
that's
undescribable
it's just a great sound
yeah
well they're
normally aspirated engines
you know
and so they
they're really something
but you know
I'm a
I'm a fuel guy
I enjoy
my game you know
well it's the top of the heap
right I mean it's
yeah I think so
yeah
you know my
my theory from day one
when I started
drag racing
I wanted to be the fastest
the quickest guy at the track
right
not in this category
or that category
number one category
right right
that's what I always
looked at it
so I was never
interested in pro stocks
or anything else
because of that
yeah
hell our dragster
was blow those up
like they're not even
there
how much of a lead
govind smoking
exactly yeah
and you were the first to break
250 miles an hour right
which was a huge milestone
in a funny car
in a funny car
yeah
that was a huge milestone
well it was
yeah you know
we were running
245
240 this and that
but all of a sudden
you know
we're down in Baton Rouge
and we had the right
tire combination
the right track
it ran 250
which was a
it was hard to
tell the difference
a couple of miles an hour
you know
it was a milestone
it was a big deal at the time
of course Bernstein
was the first kind of dragster
to run 300
I remember that
you know
now they run
in the eighth
and this was in a quarter mile
when he did that 300
right
and in the eighth mile
now
they run
good run is like
300
and three
right
little over
300 miles an hour
in the eighth of a mile
that's hard to believe
I mean that just
yeah they
throw that on
yeah
man you have a chin strap
on your helmet
you have to like
keep your head forward
there's a G-force
it'll throw your head
you'll hit the
cage in the back
sure
it's quite a ride yeah
oh my god
that's hard to believe
in the eighth of a mile
to do that
I remember
yeah
I think
300 the eighth
yeah that's just
well I mean
zero to 60 on these things
is like
you can't even blink fast
enough to get to 60
right it's just
instantaneous
it's not even
a metric
that you could
ever ever measure
yeah
what would it be
would it be
is there something
you'd go and change
if you were the guy
who was in charge of
everything
yes
yes
yes
I would have stopped
them a long time
ago
of building this much
power
right
going that fast
cutting it back
from a
quarter of a mile
I wish
they would have
worked
and I
tried to get them
to
look at the
rules closer
sure
one magnetals to
the two magnetals
things like that
to try to
slow them up a little bit
you know because
man I don't know
where this deal
is going to end up
right
you know
right now
the real danger
is losing tires
right
this guy
Reed
not long ago
in his
top fuel car
lost her tire
turned around backwards
and you know
lost part of his hand
right
goddamn things are fast
yeah
absolutely are
you're right
too fast and you know
you hate to say that
as a racer
that you know
something's too fast
but
well there's really
no big rules on them
I mean they're all the same
right
hell they have
fuel pumps on them
that pump
like about 120 gallons
a minute
the fuel pumps
and all
it's just a
powerful bomb
it's this liquid
that goes in there
right
and then it has
60
around 60 pounds of
boost
wow
you know
in there
the nitrile goes off
under compression
you know
it's a liquid
chemical
it's not like gasoline
right
it goes off an explosion
I'll tell you why
it's just powerful
it's scaring me just
talking about it
well yeah me too
that's my ability
well listen
it was such an honor
to have you on the show
today we really
oh one glass question
my most important
question
what's your daily
driver
I have a dodge
I have a dodge
demon
nice
nice
oh man
this got so much power
you have no idea
you can throw up a demon
I haven't driven one
but I've driven something
that was close
and it wasn't even
hard to even imagine it
you know that fast
yeah it's right
yeah back in the car
yeah 170
and I
my main driver
though to be honest with you
is the pickup truck
of course
Chevrolet pickup truck
I love that
I'm the same way
I got my GMC
truck
and I wouldn't trade
anything
I'd get rid of everything
but that
if I had to
my hot rod days are over
yeah don't need a
Corvette
you can't get in and out of
right
Don Pradoam
thank you so much
for being on the show today
we really appreciate it
alright man
thanks
good to be on the show
you are invited
Dennis Ophari
at Classic Automall
on a search
for animals
look closely
and you might
see a tiger
Jaguar
and a cheetah
or cougar
as they try
to catch a herd
of impalas
and don't forget
the wired
mustangs and broncos
plus gazelle
rabbits
and rams
instead of the zoo
you'll want to do
your animal watching
at Classic Automall
it smells better too
this is the Classic
Automall show
if you have questions
or comments
write podcast
at ClassicAutomall.com
and we're back with
the Classic Automall
show from the Classic
Automall studio
in Morgantown, Pennsylvania
well he was as good
as they get
he's a legend
he is so legendary
when he was a kid
of course we all did
we all had the models
we all had
the snake
I mean you think about it
not many people before
I didn't know anything
about drag racing as a kid
before the snake
and the mongers
right
and that came along
it was on my radar
and I knew what it was
and I was into it
and not even
realizing at the time
that Bristol
was just north of us
about 80 miles
which was Thunder Valley
the greatest track
we've ever been to
it's like the
NASCAR track
the oval
that they have there
it's just really
a great race
and you know
so legendary
I mean his winning percentage
is unbelievable
untouched
378 out of 578 races
do you know any of the
current racers
names or anything
I know John Fawrce
but I don't think
he doesn't race anymore
his daughter doesn't
his daughter
some Courtney
Ashley I don't
a force
a force
Ms. Fawrce
which is the greatest
name of any race
yeah it really is
it's really a great race
it was interesting
his thoughts
on the four breast
races
you should see it once
but he's not
a huge fan of it
but it's
you know
it's interesting
a guy like him
the amount of knowledge
I'm most proud
of doing the show
in the fact
that we have
stuff like that documented
that it will be
out there forever
sure
that's right
how cool is that
I think I thought
about that
during the interview
I'm like
he's saying stuff
that will go down
in history is
his opinion
absolutely
absolutely
so a lot of fun
as a kid
where do we
sell cars this past
where
you ask
Franklin New York
Brambleton, Virginia
Vineland, New Jersey
Los Angeles, California
Fort Myers, Florida
Shantilly, Virginia
Hardyville, South Carolina
Pasadena, Maryland
Goshen, New York
Lebanon, Pennsylvania
and over Vermont
Bennington, Nebraska
I was thinking
that would be
Monroe, Connecticut
Sellersville, Pennsylvania
Pine Grove, Pennsylvania
Georgetown, Indiana
Delta, Pennsylvania
Boothwind, Pennsylvania
New York
New York
Effort of Pennsylvania
Manhattan, Michigan
Wayne, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Ridgecrest, California
Kuttsdown, Pennsylvania
Hawkinson, Pennsylvania
Lubbock, Texas
Eidpark, New York
Colorado, somewhere
Wow
Incredible
I'm seeing a lot of
consignments coming in
from Maryland and Delaware
which is pretty nice
We've done some shows
lately down there
and it seems to
follow the pattern
when we were
in an area
doing a show
where we take our
little dog and pony
in our truck and trailer
and kind of like
Don Pradoam set up
and we go
kind of like that
We've got a nice trailer
We've got it out of
Radner this week
Yeah, we did
Radner was fantastic
The weather cleared
for us at about
11 o'clock and
it was smooth sailing
from there on
and it looked like there was
as many people as
ever have been
And to me, I mean
I love the cars
but it's seeing people
you know, people in
the industry
it's like coming home
Yeah, it's an
old home week
thing
And it's a lot of fun
And don't forget
if you're watching this
on the air date of
September the 12th
2025
our first air date
So next Friday
is our auction
the 19th
That's right
So that's
be a week from today
if you're watching it
or listening
or watching from the first day
That's right
a week
six days
from the air date of this
So Friday, no reserve
about 90% of them
do not have titles
What does that mean?
That means they don't
have a title
It's a bill of sale only
We have paperwork
to prove that
That's right
It's a bill of sale only
It's no title
It's a
notarized bill of sale
If you buy this car
you're either buying
or buy any one of these
vehicles
you're either buying it
for parts
or you know how to
get a title ahead of time
but you can't go to the
DMV with a notarized
bill of sale
and get a title
You have to go to the
court and petition
and a lot of things
like that
So if you have any
questions about that
call me
888-227-0914
and I'll be happy
to discuss it a little
further
because I don't want
any confusion
I don't want you to
think that
you're going to be able
to figure out
how about the
1965 Pontiac Le Mans
convertible
Mayfair Maze
Over White and Black
Yes
Jim Taylor built
455
Jim Taylor's the engine
guy on Pontiac
It's kind of like Keith
Black in the Hemi cars
that Don Perdome
was talking about
Pontiac High Performance
Feature Car
PHS Documentation
which shows
what the car was
born or built with
Tremac 5-speed manual
Eaton 12-Bolt Axel
and Will Wood
as we were talking about
earlier just breaks
So it checks all those
stuff that you want to put
in these Resto Mod
Customs if you will
Really nice car
Next but not the least
1964 Chevrolet Malibu SS Hard Top
Silver Blue Over Blue
Rebuilt 327
327 is a great engine
in these cars
It's really one of the
perfect engines
for a perfect size car
A lot of times
you put the 327
to be in a bigger car
and it may not have
enough power
With these it seemed to
be the right fit
And it's got a
Muncie M20 manual
It's the true Malibu SS
10-Bolt 355-Gear Axel
Very clean car
And next is the
1980 Mazda RX-7 Coupe
I love this car
It's Stardust Blue Metallic
Over Dark Blue
Well preserved
1146 CC rotary engine
5-speed manual
Great first generation
RX-7
I mean this car
There's just something about
this car that
makes me smile
when I see it
It's just a really
neat car
And you don't see too many
for sale
Especially in this condition
It's pretty nice
You really don't
have hoarded them
Or if they're
They just used them up
They drove them until
they were undriveable
They were everywhere
They were also over the road
They were everywhere
I mean all over the road
They were on the road
Weaving all over the road
Next is the 1969
Ford Ranchero 500 Rio Grande
Yes
Calypso Coral Over Black
50,000 actual miles
One of 819 bills
I learned a lot about
that model
Doing the research on that
Long term ownership
351 cubic inch V8
FMX 3-speed automatic
It's got a Marty report
So it tells you again
What it was born with
How many of them
That were made like that
Like the one of 819 bills
It's a very uncommon spec
And speaking of dusters
As we spoke earlier
About Tom McEwen's duster
The 1971 Plymouth Duster 340
Bright blue metallic
Over black and gray
424 cubic inch Barton built
R-Block Stroker V8
That sounds like a lot of power
I love it
I've always liked the
tail lights on those cars
Dino proven 585 horsepower
Wow
That's plenty
Of course he's got a
Demon 170
And he drives around
And he drives
Is that what he said?
He's got a pickup truck
His pickup truck is really
He's got a demon
But he's got a demon
Sure, I mean, I guess if you're a drag racer
You've got to have something
You've got to have something like that
It's going to thrill you
It's going to have a tercel
Right, exactly
They make tercells?
Not that there's anything wrong with tercells
Don't tercell fan club
I don't think they make them anymore
I don't believe they do
But you know, there could be a fan club
A tercell
I'm sure there's a tercell club
Out there on Facebook
So this thing is really a true duster
But it's been, you know, highly modified
Into, you know, a drag racing car
If you will
And last but not least
The 2014 Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG G-Wagon
Obsidian black metallic
Over Designo black
And titanium gray pearl
55,000 actual miles
One owner G-Wagon
5.5 liter 535 horsepower
Twin turbo V8
7G tronic automatic
Yeah
What's a tronic?
Luxurious and capable
And garage cab is one owner, actually
Yeah
This thing is, these things are really beast-like
And if you want to be with the in-crowd
That's the thing to add
Yeah, that's the G-Wagon
It's the one to have
You pull up at the country club
That's it
By golly, you're going to fit right in
And you're not going to pay
Nearly as much as they stickered for
I think I said quarter
But I think it's about a third
Of what they stickered for now
Yeah, absolutely
So again, on the auction
If you haven't registered to bid
Go onto our website
Classicautomall.com
And you can get registered to bid
If you haven't done so already
Ready
Complimentary breakfast
We're going to be serving
For bidders and consignors
From 9 a.m. to 10.30 a.m.
Gluten-free
Gluten-free
GF
The old GF thing
Yeah
I'm just kidding
And if you buy something
It's an 8% buyers premium
With no minimum
So it's not a $500 minimum
Like most places do
Because there'll be stuff
That will sell for less than a month
Sure, great
And there'll be 62 vehicles
From a single collection
And we're really looking forward to it
Yeah, and there's about 20
That are titled
Yeah, that are titled
Out of about 83 we have
85
And 20
20 of them
20 of them have titles
So, again
If you have any questions about that
Just reach out to me
Either by phone or email
Or whatever your preference is
Including the new editions
That just went up this week
Which are really worth looking at
Absolutely
Got a 56 Lincoln Mark II
And a 57 Ford Fairlane
That's really, really
In a nice condition
Yeah
And one of our consignors
Has decided it's just time-formed
He's ready for him to go
He's ready to move on
To the next chapter
And go buy something else
With the money
Elvis fans, take note
This 56 is very similar
To what Elvis had
Absolutely
As one of his first cars
As one of his first cars
How about that?
So when we return
We'll be joined by our friend
Keith Martin
From Sportscar Market Magazine
We'll see you in just a couple minutes
Here's a special offer
From Sportscar Market Magazine
Get a six-month subscription
For just $19.95
By going to sportscarmarket.com
Slash test drive
And the number six
That's sportscarmarket.com
Slash test drive six
If you're a buyer, a seller,
Or just general classic car enthusiast
Publisher Keith Martin says
We've been around almost 40 years
Just the Wall Street Journal
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Activate your six-month trial
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Be in the know
With Sportscar Market
Keith Martin, Sportscar Market Magazine
Where we bring his blog to life every week
Good morning, Keith
Good morning, Stuart
It's great to see you
Great to see you
And we've been kind of spotty
Getting together lately
Because we've had a lot going on
And that's okay
And we have two weeks of life
What I heard, Stuart
Was that Monterey was so expensive
You couldn't afford to pay your internet bills
Well, that's not far from the truth, Keith
You know what?
It was a lot of fun
I won't do it quite as much
Or as crazy as we did it last time
Or this time
But it was a whole lot of fun
And it was a great bucket list thing
To check off
And we'll go back
But probably not to the same level
That we went this time
So the car show I was at this last weekend
Was a car show, but a different car show
It's our 48th annual
All British field meet
And it bills itself
As the largest three-day
British car show in the nation
Wow, how many cars?
About 600 cars
Wow
That's crazy
It's really delightful
You know, what's interesting to walk through it
Is these are all pre-OBD cars, right?
Right
And so you're looking at cars
Pre-EPA, pre-DOT
So what all it took was an engineer
And a stylist
Right
And a salesman
Yeah, and a salesman
You gotta have the salesman
Yeah
So it's amazing to see
All the different variations
In the way that cars were approached
I didn't realize the TR3s, for instance
Were the first production cars
With disc brakes
I had no idea either
And that's interesting
And that would be something that you would think
Would come up more often
That you would have heard that
Or recognized that
So each manufacturer
Had their own specific vision
And what I like to tell people
About cars that are being built
Or art, anything
People are responsible for the questions
That are being asked in their era
And what's the technique
For the TR3
That was the best that they could do
What a revolution the TR3
The MGA were over the cycle-fendered cars
Exactly, a huge difference
And a much more cohesive looking
About them
They didn't look like they were old
When they were new
That was the problem with the fender cars
They all looked old from day one
Right
And I think that the MGA
And the TR3
Are two of the really coolest looking
British cars
Available British cars, if you will
I would agree with that
And they were a definite break from pre-war
Right, exactly
And of course then
They had to modernize them
And of course then the regulations
Kicked in
And you saw what you saw with bumpers
And different things like that
And people trying to figure it out
Without completely destroying the car
And of course some of the bumpers
On the MGs were
It was not only the bumpers
But the U.S. changed its
Headlight regulations
In terms of the height
That the headlight had to be
Above the pavement
And the way that MGB solved it
Was they just raised the whole car
Up two inches
That sounds logical, right?
We are so lucky
To have lived through this era
Where my first car was a bug-eye
And then an MGA
And then an alpha
But they were all
The MGA
I bought it out of a junkyard
For 250 bucks
And the guy said
If you just put some STP
In it, that rod knock won't sound so bad
Of course that'll fix it
It always fixes it, right?
And if it won't start
You just beat on the starter
With a hammer
Until it does turn over, right?
It will start
At some point it will start
But if that's not the charm
About this
And I don't know what is
The ability to be able to know
How to kind of
These little shortcuts
That you can know
How to try to fix something
Or try to limp home
On some kind of way
And not have to call the tow truck
You know, that's very gratifying
I bought a big Healy
A BN7
At about 100 miles from me
I'm driving it home on the road
It ceases to progress, right?
The motor goes real quiet
And the car just
Coast to the side of the road
Ten minutes later
A guy in another BN7
Pulls up next to me
Behind me on the freeway
He said, oh, I know
Your problem is
He gets out of hammer
He hits my eschew fuel pump
The car starts and he says
See you later
It's like God sent divine
Intervention down
And he was right behind you
I know
That's great
But you know
Go ahead
It's fun to teach kids
Stuff like that
The little intricacies
And the way to do it
And how you had to do this
And I remember at a suburban
That you had to get underneath it
With a screwdriver
And turn the flywheel
Just a little bit
So it would get a point
Where it would catch the teeth
And actually start
And that was impressive on a date
So
Well, you know, I had a
Land Rover Defender 90
And I was on a first date
With somebody going to
Timberline Lodge
And my front U-joint went bad
So what I called a wrecker
And he came and we
Popped the car up in the air
And we took the front U-joint off
And I was saying
Was the front
Yeah, it took the front
Trunk the front driveshaft off
Put it in the back of the car
And put the car in all
Four-wheel drive
Well, all-wheel drive
Yeah, all-wheel
But it would have been
Two-wheel with that
Right
Because I only had
Continue
And she looked at me and she said
Did you just take a part
Off your car
And throw it in the back
Yeah, that gives her
A good warm fuzzy feeling, right?
Exactly
We had a
We had a Mercedes 420 SEL
As just a daily driver
And the rear shock came loose
Because it rusted out
On the upper tower part
And so we just
Took one of the rear
Shocks off and threw it
In the trunk
And still drove it
And it didn't matter
Well, you know, we
We have been lucky
Because we've been through
Cars when they've been
Pretty good
And then gone
To pretty bad
Sure
Well, as you
And I both have talked
About in the past
And we both know
When the 70s hit
And of course
I was, you know
I was mid-teens
When the 70s
In the middle of the 70s
And we thought
There's never going to be
A cool car ever again
Everything
The horsepower's gone
The performance is gone
The handling, the looks
Nothing's going to be
Cool anymore
And of course
We were wrong
And I'm glad we were
OBD2
Yeah
You know
Look that up
For those of you
Don't know what he's talking about
So
The British
All British field
Me
Your question was
Should you
Slalom the Jaguar?
Yeah
Because they offered
A low-speed
Slalom, you know
Which is like an autocross
Right
Tight turns
And with
That V12 Jag
It's got
It's an automatic
So really
Just put it in first gear
And drive it
Just go and don't hit
The cones, right?
Yeah, don't hit
And the comments
I get back were
Very interesting
Because one of them said
Do you like your wire wheels
Actually touching
The rim
Or would you like to have them
Just poke the
The spokes poke through
Into the tire?
Yes
And you said
Of course
That's what I would like
Duh
They said
No, just exactly
What are you going to prove
By doing this to this car?
I liked when your comment
Was about
I can't remember
But your
Mechanic loves it
When you put
10,000 miles on a car
In a day
Or the equivalent of
You slam on the brakes
Or more times
In a slalom
Than you do in six months
Exactly
Yeah, it's
It's tougher on the cars
Than people realize
You better have it
Well-sorted
Otherwise you're going to
Have problems with it, right?
Yeah, it's also
It's a bit like my daughter's
Got a Lotus Elise
Now that's a good
Cardado car
Sure, absolutely
Tight
And small
And agile
And fast
And all
Everyone checks all
The right boxes, right?
The V12 Jaguar
Ways 3,500 pounds
And most of it's
The engine up front, right?
That's right
The thing that you're
Quealing when you're
Turning on the tires
And making them
Swine
I decided
I looked
I put a
Stack of Benjamins
$5,000 on one side
And I put the trophy
For the slalom on the other side
Which is that?
Which would I
Which would I rather have?
The 5,000 or the trophy?
Did you
And you chose the trophy
Of course, right?
Of course
And because
Car guys
Yeah, car guys
We're not going to
Not choose the trophy
So
So this event's been going on
Since the 70s
I mean, that's
That's pretty amazing
48th year
Wow
How cool is that?
600 vehicles
And I imagine
Every parts vendor
That had anything to do
With British cars
Was there as well, too
That's right
And it's just
I mean, there were
Probably 70 or 80
Landrovers
Of different categories
MGs, triumphs
I saw
Three triumphs
Stags
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
Of different categories
iconic to people and really hit certain people's buttons
and don't always do it for the general population.
I have never heard the words iconic and triumph stag
usually in the same sense.
Well, I just wanted to be, you know,
have a first here, Keith, for heaven's sake.
We've got to differentiate ourselves from everybody else.
And the four of them were kind of hiding off
in the corner.
Right, exactly.
Well, because they're-
I think they were swapping parts.
They were, yeah, because they can do that somehow,
morphing internally or something.
So anyway, so great to have you on as usual, Keith.
And we will look forward to speaking to you again next week
on the Classic Automall Show
and bringing the sports car market podcast to life.
We'll see you then.
You've been listening to the Classic Automall Show
with their host, Stuart Howden,
executive producer, Steve Sethere,
produced and engineered by yours truly, JR Russ,
video editor, Randy Lambie.
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About this episode
Don 'The Snake' Prudhomme, a legendary drag racer, shares captivating stories from his racing career with host Stewart Howden. The conversation covers Prudhomme's iconic nickname, his fierce rivalry with Tom McEwen, and the evolution of drag racing sponsorships. They discuss the technical aspects of drag racing, including the significance of reflexes, the shift to modern safety measures, and the impressive speeds of today's top fuel cars. Prudhomme reflects on his time as a team owner and the changes in the sport over the decades, offering insights into the thrill and challenges of drag racing.
Show #210 airdate 09-10-25 Stewart welcomes Don "The Snake" Prudhomme, renowned Drag Racer, 1991 inductee into The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Discussion includes his nickname "The Snake" and his epic battles on the track with Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen, the origin of the "Funny Car" differences between straight-line and other types of racing, drag racing then and his biography "Don 'The Snake' Prudhomme: My Life Beyond the 1320" (referring to the number of feet in a quarter mile) as well as the book "Six Seconds to Glory" which inspired the 2013 movie "Snake and Mongoose).
Legendary Hall of Fame Drag Racer Don The Snake Prudhomme joins the show to discuss his incredible career with host Stewart Howden. Prudhomme talks about how he got his nickname when he started racing because he was tall and thin and had quick reaction times and a crew member gave him the name Snake because of his quickness off the line and appearance.
He talks about his Funny Car Match races with Tom The Mongoose McEwen and their matchbox deal with Mattel and how it helped grow drag racing and the funny car division and make it popular. Prudhomme also talks about restoring the car hauler roll backs they used in the early 1970s and eventually selling them to Rick Hendricks of Hendricks Motorsports. Prudhomme not only restored his car hauler but also the one used by Tom McEwen. Prudhomme talks about how his races with McEwen helped grow the sport because they bright in sponsors who were not car related. They were some of the first non-automotive major sponsors like Mattel Hot Wheels.
The Snake talks about how he and Tom McEwen found and came to own the 1967 Dodge D700 Crew Cab car haulers in 1970. At the time the racers with the best rigs were Sox and Martin and Dick Landy and were pro stock style cars. Dick Maxwell who managed Plymouth Racing hooked McEwen and Prudhomme up with those trucks. Don Prudhomme’s hauler actually came from Richard Petty who had used it for years to haul his race car.
Don Prudhomme talks about the current state of drag racing and what he would change. He discusses that instead of shortening the track from ¼ mile to 1,000 feet they should have had a plan to calm down the race cars. What should NHRA do to improve drag racing? They are now going faster in 1,000 feet than they were in a quarter mile.
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