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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/08/1s8snake/
Drag-racing legend’s ‘great ride’ ends in retirement
Drag racing legend Don “The Snake” Prudhomme shut down his Vista-based team yesterday and announced he is retiring from the sport he helped put on the map after 47 years as a driver and car owner.
“It’s been a great ride,” said Prudhomme, who said economic reasons forced him to retire.
“I’ll miss the sport and I think the sport will miss me. But stick a fork in me, I’m done,” continued Prudhomme, who has lived in Rancho Santa Fe the past 15 years.
“We’ve been unsuccessful in finding a sponsor since the end of last season,” he said. “I don’t want to do it if I can’t race at the top level. And I’m not going to go broke racing to the bitter end like some guys I’ve known.
“I could see this coming. When I walked away from the staging area at Pomona at the end of last season, I knew that was probably it.”
Prudhomme fielded one car last season, a Top Fueler driven by Spencer Massey, who lost in the finals at Pomona a week after winning at Las Vegas. Massey finished sixth in points and was named the National Hot Rod Association Rookie of the Year.
The 67-year-old Prudhomme won 49 races and four NHRA Funny Car season championships as a driver and, as a car owner, 63 races and two more Top Fuel championships with Larry Dixon driving.
A native of the San Fernando Valley, Prudhomme launched his racing career in 1962 with cars he built in his garage.
He was the first driver to win races in both the NHRA’s featured Funny Car and Top Fuel categories. He also was the first driver to break the 5-second elapsed-time barrier for the quarter-mile and the first to top 250 mph.
Prudhomme was nicknamed “The Snake” after defeating Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen in a series of head-to-head matches in the late 1960s and ’70s. The series not only was a boon to drag racing, but it triggered Mattel’s introduction of its Hot Wheels line of toy cars.
As a car owner, Prudhomme fielded up to three cars at any one time but was down to just one the past several seasons after losing the first half of his sponsorship team (Miller Lite)
At the end of last year, Prodhomme also lost U.S. Smokeless Tobacco – after the company was taken over by Philip Morris – as his team’s primary sponsor.
“We worked so hard from September to Wednesday trying to find a sponsor,” Prudhomme said. “I needed $4 million. Due to the economy, sponsorships are a problem in all of racing right now, but drag racing seems to be down the pecking order.
“I’m not going to go broke racing. This is my business. I compare drag racing to Las Vegas. You might have a lot of chips, but if you stay past midnight, those chips are going away. I elected to cash my chips in.”
Prudhomme said he will keep his Vista shop, which houses a collection of nostalgic cars. But he has closed his Brownsburg, Ind., race shop and put a for-sale sign on his race cars and equipment. Prudhomme had 17 employees.
“Snake, John Force and Don Garlits are the icons of this sport,” said Dixon, who spent 15 seasons with Prudhomme as a driver.
“Don was a fierce competitor. This is quite a bummer. But he always raced the way he wanted to race. He was in all the way or not. Given the situation, I understand Snake’s decision.”
“I think the entire sport has to be saddened by Snake’s retirement,” said Ron Capps, who drove 12 seasons in Prudhomme’s Funny Car. “There is only one Snake and this represents the closing of a book, not a chapter, in drag-racing history.”
“I’m done,” concluded Prudhomme. “I won’t be back.”
Drag-racing legend’s ‘great ride’ ends in retirement
Drag racing legend Don “The Snake” Prudhomme shut down his Vista-based team yesterday and announced he is retiring from the sport he helped put on the map after 47 years as a driver and car owner.
“It’s been a great ride,” said Prudhomme, who said economic reasons forced him to retire.
“I’ll miss the sport and I think the sport will miss me. But stick a fork in me, I’m done,” continued Prudhomme, who has lived in Rancho Santa Fe the past 15 years.
“We’ve been unsuccessful in finding a sponsor since the end of last season,” he said. “I don’t want to do it if I can’t race at the top level. And I’m not going to go broke racing to the bitter end like some guys I’ve known.
“I could see this coming. When I walked away from the staging area at Pomona at the end of last season, I knew that was probably it.”
Prudhomme fielded one car last season, a Top Fueler driven by Spencer Massey, who lost in the finals at Pomona a week after winning at Las Vegas. Massey finished sixth in points and was named the National Hot Rod Association Rookie of the Year.
The 67-year-old Prudhomme won 49 races and four NHRA Funny Car season championships as a driver and, as a car owner, 63 races and two more Top Fuel championships with Larry Dixon driving.
A native of the San Fernando Valley, Prudhomme launched his racing career in 1962 with cars he built in his garage.
He was the first driver to win races in both the NHRA’s featured Funny Car and Top Fuel categories. He also was the first driver to break the 5-second elapsed-time barrier for the quarter-mile and the first to top 250 mph.
Prudhomme was nicknamed “The Snake” after defeating Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen in a series of head-to-head matches in the late 1960s and ’70s. The series not only was a boon to drag racing, but it triggered Mattel’s introduction of its Hot Wheels line of toy cars.
As a car owner, Prudhomme fielded up to three cars at any one time but was down to just one the past several seasons after losing the first half of his sponsorship team (Miller Lite)
At the end of last year, Prodhomme also lost U.S. Smokeless Tobacco – after the company was taken over by Philip Morris – as his team’s primary sponsor.
“We worked so hard from September to Wednesday trying to find a sponsor,” Prudhomme said. “I needed $4 million. Due to the economy, sponsorships are a problem in all of racing right now, but drag racing seems to be down the pecking order.
“I’m not going to go broke racing. This is my business. I compare drag racing to Las Vegas. You might have a lot of chips, but if you stay past midnight, those chips are going away. I elected to cash my chips in.”
Prudhomme said he will keep his Vista shop, which houses a collection of nostalgic cars. But he has closed his Brownsburg, Ind., race shop and put a for-sale sign on his race cars and equipment. Prudhomme had 17 employees.
“Snake, John Force and Don Garlits are the icons of this sport,” said Dixon, who spent 15 seasons with Prudhomme as a driver.
“Don was a fierce competitor. This is quite a bummer. But he always raced the way he wanted to race. He was in all the way or not. Given the situation, I understand Snake’s decision.”
“I think the entire sport has to be saddened by Snake’s retirement,” said Ron Capps, who drove 12 seasons in Prudhomme’s Funny Car. “There is only one Snake and this represents the closing of a book, not a chapter, in drag-racing history.”
“I’m done,” concluded Prudhomme. “I won’t be back.”
