Don Prudhomme was a legend before many current NHRA drivers were even born. By the time The Snake hung up his helmet in 1994, his accomplishments included four consecutive NHRA Winston Funny Car Championships from 74-78, the winningest nitro fuel racer with a total of 49 victories (14 in Top Fuel and 35 in Funny Car), and a shelfful of Car Craft All-Star awards. |
The team added a Funny Car in 1996, and driver Ron Capps has already accumulated 11 career wins. |
The Snake is a hands-on owner and watches every team cars passes from the starting line. |
In 2001, Snake Racing added a second Funny Car with Tommy Johnson Jr. at the wheel. |
The Snake handed over the reins to his Top Fuel rail to Larry Dixon in 1995. Dixon proved he was the right guy for the job by setting the national e.t. record with a 4.665 pass and winning the NHRA Rookie of the Year award. |
In the few moments Don is pried away from the cars, he converses with friends, family, and sponsors
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And makes time to sign a few autographs for the fans. |
With such fierce competition in racing, theres little room for guesswork. Here, The Snake reviews the data acquired from a pass. |
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In the glory days of drag racing, men were men and the trophy girls knew it. The first generation of quarter-mile jockeys participated for the sheer love of speed. They had courage the size of Texas and paid little regard to the sport's inherent dangers. And there were no rules. Don "The Snake" Prudhomme was one of those racing pioneers who got a kick out of the adrenaline rush and went on to earn a prominent place in the record books--and a cool nickname, too.
The Snake grew up in an era when Wally Parks established Southern California as the center of drag racing. At the age of 19, he joined the Road Kings, a local roadster club, and got his first taste of drag racing with the club's race car. The club car turned out to be a chassis owned by TV Tommy Ivo.
Young Prudhomme lived paycheck to paycheck as a paint and body man in order to support his racing habit, which included weekly excursions to Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, San Fernando Raceway, and Riverside Raceway. In 1962, at age 20, he took his first Top Fuel win at the "Smokers March Meet" in Bakersfield, California. By the following year, he was making more money from racing than from banging out dents.
His career really kicked into gear after he teamed up with Dave Zeuschel and Kent Fuller. He earned an astounding 230-7 win-loss record in the '63-'64 season, and gained the famous nickname "The Snake" for his quick launches at the Christmas Tree. In 1965, Prudhomme finally quit his day job, and at the wheel of Roland Leong's "Hawaiian" dragster, became the first NHRA driver to win both the Winternationals and U.S. Nationals in the same season.
After a number of titles and record-breaking passes over the years including six Car Craft All-Star Drag Racing Team Funny Car Driver awards, Man of the Year honors in 1974, and an Ollie award for lifetime achievement, Prudhomme finally hung up his driver's helmet in 1994 to concentrate his energies as a team owner, passing the torch to his current Top Fuel hot shoe Larry Dixon. He has since added two Funny Car teams, collected 18 national event victories as an owner, been inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, and is second on the list of all-time wins in NHRA Funny Car history. The Snake has come a long way over the past 40 years, and with his current batch of pilots, it's safe to say that the legacy of Snake Racing will continue for many years to come.