Winternationals Double a Real Snake-Charmer

Don “Snake” Prudhomme won his first Winternationals as a driver in 1965 and added five more victories, but he may have had his most satisfying day Sunday at Pomona Raceway when his two drivers, Larry Dixon Jr. and Ron Capps, scored a double in the 38th Chief Auto Parts Winternationals.

The way the two won provided quite a contrast in side-by-side racing.

Dixon did not run as fast, nor as quickly as Jim Head in the finals, but in the mysterious ways of drag racing, he got to the finish line a thousandths of a second--a couple of feet--in front. Head covered the quarter-mile in 4.73 seconds at 261.93 mph to Dixon’s 4.75 and 251.18.

The difference was in Dixon’s reaction time. He came off the line in 0.429 of a second--anything less than 0.4 is a red-light disqualification--and Head was 0.443, one of the quickest reactions of the day but not good enough.

It was a particularly dramatic win. Dixon’s father, a longtime rival of Prudhomme, won the Winternationals in 1970. Larry Sr. was waiting at the end of the strip Sunday. In 1970, Larry carried Larry Jr. into the winner’s circle.

“What a thrill, seeing ‘Snake’ and all my crew and Ron’s crew yelling and cheering, and then I saw my dad waving his arms,” said Dixon. “I’ve got my dad’s trophy, the one he won in 1970. It’s the only one he ever won. This one I won today is going to him.”

In the funny car final, Capps and surprising finalist Tim Wilkerson fought through shaking tires and broken engines before Capps staggered to the finish line in 6.060 seconds at only 211.71 mph.

“I can’t even tell you how I did it. I just kept pedaling the throttle the way ‘Snake’ told me to in situations like that,” Capps said. “It’s just unbelievable Larry and I both won. It’s tough enough to win one, then to win two. That just shows what a great team that Snake’s put together.”

Jim Yates became the only Winston series champion to win when he edged Jeg Coughlin Jr. in an extremely close pro stock final. Yates, in a Pontiac Firebird, got to the finish line two-thousandths of a second in front, 6.96 to 6.98. It was the Alexandria, Va., driver’s 20th national title.

NHRA officials announced a four-day attendance of 107,500, of which about 40,000 were on hand Sunday. The figure was down about 10,000 from last year, a drop attributed to rain Thursday and Saturday.

After escaping defeat in a wild first-round ride, Al Hofmann’s hopes of collecting an extra $50,000 for bettering the national funny car record went up in a cloud of smoke from spinning tires in the quarterfinals.

Hofmann had run a 4.862-second elapsed time on Friday, the fastest in funny car history, but needed to back it up with a 4.91 or better during the competition.

Facing Mark Sievers in the first round, Hofmann apparently tipped the nitro can a little heavily in his effort to get the record. When he tromped the accelerator off the starting line, his unsponsored funny car lurched to the left, almost got sideways and when Hofmann made a correction he came perilously close to crossing the center line, which would have meant automatic disqualification.

When he finally got the 5,500 horsepower under control, he crossed the finish line in an embarrassing 6.688 seconds at 163.30 mph. The only thing that saved him was that Sievers had worse problems, shutting off and coasting down the lane.

The second try, against Gary Densham, proved Hofmann’s undoing. Once again, his engine overpowered the track surface, but Densham showed no mercy, running his first four-second pass and putting Hofmann on the trailer. Densham’s 4.991-second run and his 305.49 mph were personal bests for the 51-year-old veteran from Bellflower.

“In all honesty, it was driver error that cost us that race,” said Hofmann. “I had too many things on my mind. It was nobody’s fault but my own, but we leave Pomona ahead of [John] Force and that was our goal. We’ve put together a sponsorship that we’ll be announcing soon, and we’re fourth [fifth, actually] in points. It’s a good way to start the season.”

In a race between Castrol teammates, the kid, Tony Pedregon, beat the boss, Force, but probably not the way it was planned.

Force, who earlier had run 4.962 at 312.39 mph, smoked his tires coming off the line. Pedregon, who beat the boss off the line, let up well before the finish line, apparently waiting for Force to come roaring by. But Force was too far back, and Pedregon coasted home in 6.397 at 126.07 mph.

Favorites fell early in top fuel.

Defending Winston champion and Winternationals winner Gary Scelzi and five-time champion Joe Amato lost in the first round, followed by No. 1 qualifier Mike Dunn and NHRA speed record-holder Cory McClenathan in the second round.

Amato did all he could to advance but met his match off the starting line when Dixon moved slightly ahead and maintained a car-length margin to the finish. Dixon’s 4.636 elapsed time edged Amato’s 4.682, with Amato posting a 313.47 mph.

Bob Vandergriff was the beneficiary when Scelzi’s tires went up in smoke off the starting line, but Vandergriff’s good fortune didn’t last. He lost traction in the next round, against Dixon.

“It’s tough to lose in the first round, especially when you’re so excited about the new season,” said Scelzi. “These things happen, but it’s certainly not the end of the world. They pay the same number of points at Phoenix, and I’m sure we’ll have our problems solved by then.”

The ATSCO Nationals, Feb. 22 at Firebird Raceway, are next for the Winston series.

After McClenathan beat Cristen Powell, even though the Portland teenager was quicker and faster, he lost traction early in a quarterfinal duel with Bruce Sarver. McClenathan beat Powell by reaction time, moving 0.46 of a second quicker when the green light blinked.