Winternationals : Mongoose Is at a Loss for Sponsors, Not Words, as Pomona Streak Ends

The Mongoose and the Swamp Rat are missing, but like the Snake, they’ll be back.

Translation: Tom McEwen, the Mongoose from Fountain Valley, doesn’t have a sponsor, and Don Garlits, the Swamp Rat from Florida, doesn’t have a car, so they are not entered in the 28th annual Chief Auto Parts Winternationals drag races this weekend at the Pomona Fairplex. Don Prud-homme, the Snake from Granada Hills, who sat out a year when he, too, was without a sponsor, is back.

The Mongoose has been coming to Pomona for the Winternationals every year since the National Hot Rod Assn. held its first meet in 1961. He was left out in the cold this year when Coors, his sponsor of seven years, canceled his contract Nov. 1.

“A driver always knows his sponsorship can come to an end, but I was pretty unhappy with their timing,” McEwen said. “I had always been told by September if we were going to be together again, and in September everything was go. Then the company had a change of management and I was out--too late to line up a new sponsor for this year.”

To occupy his time, McEwen is building a 1957 Chevy funny car to run in exhibitions and nostalgia races.

“The model year makes it ineligible for NHRA events, but it is a 250 m.p.h. car. Next year, when I have a new sponsor, all I’ll need do is change the funny car configuration and it will be like a new Corvette.”

McEwen is at Pomona this weekend as an announcer, trading quips with Bernie Partridge and Dave McClellan, the regular NHRA voices.

Garlits, winner of last year’s Winternationals, crashed and destroyed his new top fuel dragster in a match race last year in Spokane, Wash., and his 1986 car that won the world championship was enshrined in the Smithsonian Institute.

“I could have gone home and built me a new car, but I have too many other things going this year,” Garlits said. “They’re making a movie of my life, and I have to get all the old cars ready. I’m not only doing all the restoration work, but I’m also going to do all my own driving in the picture.”

Garlits, too, is at Pomona as an announcer, but he will be doing commentary for Diamond P Sports, which is packaging the Winternationals for an NBC SportsWorld show next month.

Prudhomme, who sat out a year and missed last year’s Winternationals, showed some of the form that brought him four world funny car championships with a run of 5.6 seconds in his ’87 Trans-Am. This put him in fifth position behind defending world champion Kenny Bernstein, whose Thursday run of 5.411 remained fastest.

John Force set a Winternationals funny car top speed record of 270.75 m.p.h., but the Yorba Linda veteran is only third in elapsed time behind Bernstein and Tripp Shumake.

Former world top fuel champion Joe Amato of Old Forge, Pa., made his 1987 debut Friday and ran a meet record 5.184-second elapsed time to edge defending series champion Dick LaHaie from the No. 1 spot. LaHaie ran 5.19 for the second day in a row.

“It was a little too warm for a really quick time,” Amato said. “The sun was beating down on the track and it made it slippery. You could tell the way cars were swaying back and forth that the rear wheels were spinning.”

Two qualifying runs today, one at 11 a.m. and the other at 3 p.m., will set the 16-car fields for Sunday’s eliminations.

“That early session tomorrow should produce some low numbers,” Amato said. “I expect we’ll see some 5.10s or 11s, maybe even a 9 or an 8. Everybody’s been trying out new combinations early in the week, sorting out their new equipment. I know we weren’t that aggressive with the motor today.”

Bob Glidden, the eight-time world pro stock champion from Whiteland, Ind., continued to dominate his class. Glidden, who has been low qualifier in 22 consecutive NHRA events, seems virtually certain to extend his streak. Although Glidden did not better his Thursday time of 7.391, he did set a Winternationals and Pomona track record of 189.27 m.p.h. in his year-old Ford Thunderbird.

Glidden, however, was not pleased with his 7.43-second elapsed time.

“It wasn’t our best run, that’s for sure,” he said. “The track is strange right now. Our car is set up the same way we finished here at the end of last season, but it’s not working the same.

“We’re going to have to make some major changes in it tonight. I would guess we’ll work on the suspension and chassis. The track has a lot of bite right now, and I hope we make the right guess. I would like to run about a 7.29 on Saturday.”

Glidden’s opposition couldn’t fathom the track, either, as none of the top four qualifiers from Thursday was able to better their position Friday.

Of the 40 cars attempting to qualify in pro stock, Glidden’s T- Bird is the only Ford product in a field loaded with GM machines.