DRAG RACING : One Last Year for ‘the Snake’

Don Prudhomme, whose nickname of “the Snake,” four National Hot Rod Assn. world championships and a record 46 national event victories made him one of drag racing’s legendary drivers, announced his imminent retirement Thursday as the Winston Finals began at the Pomona Raceway.

As Richard Petty did in NASCAR, and as Mario Andretti plans to do next season on the Indy car circuit, Prudhomme will make one grand merry-go-round of the NHRA season next year before calling it a career at the Winston Finals a year hence.

This has not been a good year for the 52-year-old Granada Hills racer, but to help assure a strong finish next year, he has hired engineer Wes Cerny to help in what Prudhomme has termed his “final strike tour.” Cerny, who has been working for Kenny Bernstein, is generally credited with producing the horsepower for the funny car in which Jim White produced the first 290-m.p.h. runs in 1990.

Things did not go well Thursday for Prudhomme as his tires “went up in smoke” off the starting line, apparently the result of too much horsepower. He will get another chance today and two on Saturday to make the 16-car field for Sunday’s 29th annual Winston Finals, the final event of the 18-race national championship season.

The NHRA and Skoal, Prudhomme’s long-time sponsor, threw the Snake a farewell party Thursday before qualifying began. Sharing the spotlight were his wife, Lynn, and their daughter, Donna.

“I could have waited and quit on the spot, the way A.J. (Foyt) did, but I felt cheated when A.J. retired and left me without a chance to see him race one last time,” Prudhomme said. “This way, I’ll be at all the tracks one more time, and I’m looking forward to saying thanks to all my fans along the way. After all, it’s the fans who count the most.

“I had a long talk with Mario Andretti after he announced his retirement the same way, and after that I was convinced this was the way to do it.”

Prudhomme, unless he changes his mind, will be the first of drag racing’s superstars to actually retire. Others, such as Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney and Tom (Mongoose) McEwen, have drifted out of the mainstream into exhibitions, match racing and personal appearances.

“Thirty years seemed like a good number for a career, and when I run here next fall, it will be 30 years since I made my first run down the strip at the Pomona fairgrounds,” Prudhomme said.

Prudhomme scored his first national victory at Pomona in 1965, defeating Bill Alexander in the Winternationals while driving The Hawaiian dragster for Roland Leong. Later that season, he won the first of his seven U.S. Nationals.

Among his milestones were being the first funny-car driver to better six seconds and 240 m.p.h. when he ran 241.53 m.p.h. in 5.98 seconds during the 1975 World Finals at Ontario; the first to better 250 m.p.h. at the Cajun Nationals in Louisiana in 1982; and winning his seventh U.S. Nationals and the Big Bud Shootout on consecutive days in 1989, earning $110,000.

“Racing, like everything else, has changed through the years,” Prudhomme said ruefully. “I liked it best when I was the guy working inside the engine, back when I was driving the Wynn’s Winder and the (U.S.) Army car. I felt more like I was in control back then.

“I always felt there was no substitute for an intuitive driver. I compare driving a race car to playing an instrument. When I run my car down the quarter-mile, I’m always listening for a certain tune of the engine--certain beats, hits and rhythms of the parts. I can hear all that despite the roar of the engine.

“A lot of that is lost these days, when you’ve got engineers, engine guys and chassis guys doing the work I used to do myself. One guy can’t do it these days and be competitive, but I sure miss the old days. I guess that’s one reason I decided to go one more year and retire.”

John Force, the talkative Yorba Linda driver who has won three NHRA funny car crowns, including 1993’s, honored Prudhomme when he said:

“All my life, I’ve tried to be like Don Prudhomme. When I first started racing, I wanted to do burnouts like him, then I wanted to win races like him, then win championships. All the time, I kept thinking what it was like to be like Don Prudhomme. Now, I’ve won three championships, just one less than he did, and he’s retiring.

“But if I keep on winning, I’ll never be like Don Prudhomme because there’ll never be anyone like him. He’s one of a kind, and I’m proud to be in the same sport with him.”