The Winternationals : Prudhomme’s Return Is Plagued by Car Trouble
It was just like old times as the burgundy and white Pontiac Trans-Am lined up alongside world funny car champion Kenny Bernstein.
The name on the side said Don (Snake) Prudhomme.
The Snake was back, after a year’s absence.
The scene was Thursday’s first round of qualifying for Sunday’s $851,000 Chief Winternationals, opening event of the National Hot Rod Assn. series, on the L.A. County Fairgrounds in Pomona.
“The fastest I’ve gone in a year is 70, and that time I got a ticket for speeding on the freeway,” the four-time funny car champion quipped before climbing into his car.
Unfortunately, he didn’t go much faster with his 3,000-horsepower funny car.
“New car blues,” Prudhomme said as the lights at the end of the strip told the sorry story: 9.80 seconds, 86.0 m.p.h.
The contrast was made more apparent by Bernstein’s sizzling 5.60, quickest of the day, and 254.45 m.p.h.
Two Winternational records for elapsed time were set during Thursday’s qualifying. Gene Snow, 49-year-old campaigner from Fort Worth, Tex., ran a 5.329 in his top fueler, and another Texan, Bruce Allen of Arlington, ran 7.474 in his Camaro pro stock car.
Prudhomme has three more chances to make the 16-car field, one today at 2 p.m. and two Saturday.
“The engine needs some serious looking at,” Prudhomme said. “It didn’t sound right when we fired it up this morning but we didn’t have time to change it. We’re going to give it a real sorting out overnight.”
Before he brought the new car to Pomona, the Snake had a few get-acquainted runs last week at Phoenix. His best run was 230 m.p.h. in 6.10 seconds.
“After being away, I was really wondering how I’d feel, how I’d react,” he said. “I felt kind of like a rookie, but it was great to be in the car. It’ll be a better feeling yet when we’re running right.
“It was easier than I remembered.”
During his layoff, a move prompted by his lack of a sponsor, Prudhomme kept close tabs on what was going on in the funny car wars.
“I went to four races, the two at Pomona, the U.S. Nationals at Indy and the one at Billy Meyer’s new track near Dallas. I had friends calling me from all the tracks, giving me the latest times and inside on what the guys were doing.
“I think the biggest surprise I had was that the races went on without me. I didn’t believe that could happen.”
The Snake has been a drag racing fixture for 25 years and no one but pro stocker Bob Glidden has won more national events. Prudhomme was a top-fuel champion before he switched to funny cars in the early ‘70s and won four straight Winston championships from 1975 through 1978.
“Another reason I’m glad to be back is that I was getting lonely,” he said. “I discovered that outside of my family, all my friends were involved in drag racing.
“When they would to out on the road, I felt all alone.”
Prudhomme’s sponsorship deal with U.S. Tobacco didn’t materialize until last October. Since then, he has been working day and night to prepare the car for the Winternationals.
The car has been built from the floor up in Prudhomme’s shop in Northridge.
“Brad Anderson (world alcohol funny car champion) and I built a new mold for our ’87 cars with some new concepts of our own. With the rules the way they are, you can’t get too radical.”
Prudhomme’s last run, in the World Finals of 1985 at Pomona, resulted in a world-record 264.86 m.p.h. It stood for nearly a year before Mark Oswald ran 268.09 m.p.h. on the all-concrete runway at Ennis, Tex.
Bernstein made a single run of 271.41 in the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, but it wasn’t official.
“What I did in ’85 means nothing now,” Prudhomme said.
The old car is sitting in the Snake’s garage in Northridge. “I sent four of my old cars down to Big Daddy’s (Don Garlits) museum in Florida last year. I might as well send that one, too.”
The four museum pieces included the 1969 top-fuel dragster that won the U.S. Nationals; the ’71 Mattel Hot Wheels wedge he raced in so many matches with Tom (Mongoose) McEwen; the ’73 Barracuda that won the Winternationals; and the ’79 U.S. Army-sponsored Plymouth Arrow.
Prudhomme hopes that during his year off, he cleared the cobwebs of frustration caused by not winning for more than two years.
The last time the Snake won a national championship event was 1982, when he had consecutive wins in the Grandnationals at Montreal and the Summernationals at Englishtown, N. J.
“I must have known, somewhere in the back of my mind, that I was burned out and needed a rest because I know for a long time I wasn’t trying real hard to find a sponsor,” he said.
“I was enjoying spending time with Lynn (Mrs. Prudhomme) and our daughter, Donna Lynn. She’s 13 now and I had never had a chance to spend much time with her. Nearly every weekend the three of us would take our bikes and go riding together.
“In the mornings, Lynn and I would go running with our two Australian shepherds. It was great being a family man. It’s something every guy ought to do at least one year in his life.’
But now he’s itching to hit the NHRA trail again.
“There’s no better feeling than the high you get from a great achievement, like winning the world championship or breaking a record,” he said. “That’s what you miss in a dry spell. Now I want to get that feeling back.
“It’s also a real nice feeling to know that you still enjoy getting up and going to work.”
Even though Bernstein has moved ahead with his computerized funny car prepared by Dale Armstrong, Prud- homme doesn’t feel the year off dropped him too far behind.
“You look at the field and it’s not changed much from ‘85,” he said. “The class hasn’t run away from me.
“To tell the truth, I’m not overly impressed with what I’ve seen. Most of the teams are coming into the year with new combinations, just like I am, so we’re all in the same boat.
“I don’t know what to expect from Bernstein. I think he’s stretched the rules pretty far and maybe he’s stretching his equipment pretty far, too.”