|
|
|
|||
 |
|
|||
InnerView: Don Prudhomme
|
||||
|
|
Don Prudhomme's first 'big' win came in the Van Nuys Auto Body (his father's business) car when he won the B/Open Gas Dragster class at the 1960 U.S. Fuel and Gas Championships in Bakersfield, Calif., with a speed of 139-mph. Two years later, the 20-year-old Prudhomme and 22-year-old tuner Dave Zeuschel won the Bakersfield Top Fuel title. Some 40 years later, Don Prudhomme is still in a drag racing uniform, this time sporting the colors of sponsors Miller Lite and U.S. Tobacco. As he has for the past three years, he is overseeing a Top Fuel team (currently headed by tuner Dick LaHaie and driver Larry Dixon Jr.,) and a Funny Car team (fronted by tuner Ed McCulloch and driver Ron Capps). Prudhomme retired as a driver in 1994 at the end of his "Snake's Final Strike" tour. At the time Prudhomme stepped out of the seat, there was a lot of speculation, stretching from would he ever be back as a driver to how he would fare as an owner. After our conversation at Route 66 Raceway, it appears he is more than happy with his role as a successful team owner. DRO: Don, you've had three years now as an owner and with 20-20 hindsight, sum up the transition for us. DP: It was a little unusual for someone like me to just up and quit and, more importantly, mean it. You know how many times an athlete or racer calls it quits and then they give it one more shot. Everyone's different when it comes to something like that, though.
|
|||
|
|
||||
