LOS ALAMITOS : McEwen Likes Life in the Fast Lane

Tom McEwen loves racing fast cars and fast horses, and the drag racing legend has been able to do both. His Mongoose Effort is the third-fastest qualifier in Friday’s $114,300 Vessels Maturity.

Known as “the Mongoose,” McEwen was one of the most famous drag racers in the country before his retirement in 1991. McEwen and Don “the Snake” Prudhomme had a long-running series in the funny-car class, their rivalry inspiring the production of Hot Wheels Snake and Mongoose model cars.

These days, McEwen, 58, a resident of Fountain Valley, stays involved in drag racing as a color commentator at the nation’s top drag racing events. He satisfies his quest for speed with quarter-horse racing.

Drag racing and quarter-horse racing may not have much in common at first glance. After all, a top-fuel dragster with a 6,000-horsepower, supercharged, nitro-burning engine will cover 440 yards in about 4.70 seconds, going from zero to 100 m.p.h. in one second flat. It takes a one-horsepower, hay-burning equine 21 to 22 seconds to cover the same distance. Dragsters run at speeds exceeding 300 m.p.h., whereas quarter horses average 50 m.p.h.

But considering the short distances and relatively high speeds, quarter horses could easily be called the dragsters of horse racing.

“I like the straightaway races best,” McEwen said. “I like the sprints--the standing start, short races.

“It’s drag racing, whether it’s horses or cars. I’ve been involved in it my whole life.”

McEwen spent 38 years as a professional drag racer and has been racing horses since 1978, when he claimed a few horses with friend and drag racing fan Dennis Givens, who trains McEwen’s horses.

“It’s like I’m competing with the horses now,” said McEwen, who admits that he still misses driving race cars every now and then. “The horses have taken over. [Horse racing] has been a hobby for a long time. Just the last couple of years has it made money.”

One of the horses that could make McEwen a lot of money is Mongoose Effort. The 4-year-old mare finished in a dead heat for first with world champion Down With Debt in the Vessels Maturity trials on June 16.

“I’ve always dreamed of having a horse good enough to compete with the big boys,” McEwen said, adding that he has turned down offers of more than $100,000 for the mare.

“I didn’t raise her to sell her, I raised her to race her,” he said. “I don’t want money to determine everything in life. It’s too much business out there anyway. It takes the fun out of it. Dennis and I are just trying to have fun running these horses.”

Mongoose Effort will race a tough field in the Grade I Vessels Maturity, scheduled as the ninth race of the night, including fastest qualifier Avison, Down With Debt and seven more of the top older horses in the nation.

Los Alamitos Notes

Splash Bac scored a minor upset in the $145,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity last Friday night when the 5-2 shot defeated 3-5 favorite Fishers Dash. The victory was the third for owner David Payne in the Governor’s Cup Futurity, and a record fifth for trainer Blane Schvaneveldt. . . . Saturday night, three top thoroughbred jockeys, Kent Desormeaux, Chris Antley and Russell Baze, will be at Los Alamitos to challenge quarter horse jockeys John Creager, Joe Badilla Jr. and Eddie Garcia in the All-Star Jockey Challenge. . . . Also scheduled Saturday is the California Sires Cup Derby, featuring fastest qualifier Cool Papa Bell and the fast filly Dicey Secret.