Motor Racing / Steven Fleischman : With One Win, Snake Sheds Rumors of Demise

Funny-car driver Don (The Snake) Prudhomme of Granada Hills took care of a lot of firsts Saturday with his victory in the Winston Drag Racing Series California Nationals in Sonoma.

The victory over Mark Oswald in the final broke several dry spells for Prudhomme, the winningest funny-car driver in National Hot Rod Assn. history:

It was his first victory of the 1989 season.

It was his first appearance in a final since the California Nationals last season--where he lost to Oswald.

It was his first sanctioned victory (he won a non-sanctioned all-star race earlier this year) since July, 1988.

“It feels good to get that first win in,” Prudhomme said from Seattle, where he is competing in the Seafair Nationals this weekend. “We started wondering when we’d get one of those things again, then it came right along.”

And the opponent made the victory that much sweeter.

“Of course I remembered I was running against Oswald,” Prudhomme said. “You don’t forget something like that. This time we made sure that we beat him. We ran a picture-perfect race. We qualified first, went No. 1 all the way through, then got one of our best starts of the year.”

Before defeating John Force of Yorba Linda in the semifinals, Prudhomme had failed in five tries to get over that hurdle and advance to the final round.

“What can I tell you? We’ve broken parts and there have been races I thought we should have won,” said Prudhomme, who is fifth in the points standings. “It was the first time we’ve been able to put things together. It looks good for the rest of the year.”

In qualifying at Sonoma, Prudhomme had the fastest time--for a record 49th time in his career--while breaking his personal record with a speed of 276.49 m. p. h. In March, in Houston, he ran the quickest time in the world with a 5.193 but was not given credit for a record because he was not able to reproduce the time within 1%.

The win is the 33rd career funny-car victory for Prudhomme, tops on the all-time list, and his 38th NHRA national event win, second only to Bob Glidden’s 74.

Prudhomme is in his 23rd season of racing, but wins still mean something to the man who coined the phrase “funny car.”

“Sure they do, but in a different sort of way,” Prudhomme said. “I think that for ballplayers, as they get later in their career, every time they hit a home run it feels better. I feel the same way. Winning now feels better than it ever has.”

Add NHRA: Bill Maropulos of Simi Valley lost in the final of the Competition class in Sonoma to David Nickens of Houston.

Crow’s saga: Rick Crow of Canyon Country came away from Saugus Speedway with more than just mixed emotions last Saturday night.

The night started with Crow shattering a two-year-old oval qualifying record with a time of 18.54 seconds. The previous record of 18.62 seconds was set by John Cran in 1987.

The night ended, however, with Crow’s wife in the hospital suffering from seizures and his replacement driver being kept from the track by Saugus officials.

After replacing a blown transmission with one borrowed from Street Stock driver Craig Rayburn of Simi Valley, Crow competed in a heat race as scheduled.

But before the 25-lap main event, his wife Sharon went into allergic convulsions in the pit area and had to be taken by ambulance to Henry Mayo Hospital in Valencia. She was released Tuesday and is fine, according to Crow.

Before leaving for the hospital last Saturday, Crow arranged for his head crew chief, Gerrit Cromsigt, to drive his car in the main event. But track officials refused to let Cromsigt, who is listed in the program as a Street Stock racer, to drive, leaving Crow questioning that decision.

“There was absolutely no reason that he could not drive the car. He’s a licensed NASCAR driver,” said Crow, who is eighth in the points standings. “The rules state that a change can be made if a driver’s change is put in, which we did 15-20 minutes before the previous race even started.

“This is stuff that happens all the time. The week before, Dale White Jr. drove someone else’s car. . . . It cost me at least $100 if he’d have finished the race. But with the position we drew and with his experience, we probably would have done real well.”

Saugus racing director Monte Monteleone was not present Saturday but has reviewed and defends the decision. According to Monteleone, Saugus policy states that whenever a driver change is made, the new driver must start from the back of the pack. As for why Cromsigt was not allowed to drive, Monteleone says that the replacement official made a judgment call.

“When Gerrit confronted the chief steward, that official made a decision at that time that if an individual wants to run without points or money, he was concerned about that individual making an accidental driving error which could involve drivers involved in our tight points battle,” Monteleone said.

Crow also claims that Cromsigt offered to drive in the race, starting from the back of the pack with neither monetary compensation nor points for Crow. In protest, Cromsigt made a grand entrance onto the track, spinning his tires in the infield--to the excitement of the crowd-- before track officials directed him into the pits.

“He just did that to let the fans know that we were ready to go. We wanted to race for them, especially after breaking the record,” Crow said.