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THE BIG FIVE
By Chris Martin. Photos by Jeff Burk and DRO files.
3. DON PRUDHOMME
Prudhomme was the quintessential, cool Southern California hip street
racer type for the 1950s. Tall, thin, cocky, and slouched, Prudhomme
backed up every bit of his "tough kid" exterior on the track. His exploits
with his and Dave Zeuschels's Top Fuel dragster, which Prudhomme drove
to the 1962 Bakersfield title at age 20, the Greer-Black-Prudhomme fueler,
Roland Leong's "Hawaiian" fueler, and his string of Funny Cars and Skoal
Top Fuelers made him one of the sport's biggest stars.
A friend of mine, who I won't embarrass by naming, has a famous drag
racing father, and when my pal was a youngster, he remarked about Prudhomme
to his dad, "He sure walks around like he's so cool." His dad calmly
remarked, "That's because he is."
That sums up the Van Nuys, Calif.-born superstar pretty well.
BEST CAR
Gotta be the '76 U.S. Army-backed Monza. All Prudhomme did that year
was win seven of the eight NHRA national events, the Super Stock Nationals,
the Popular Hot Rodding Meet, and the Orange County Manufacturers Championships.
He also ran the year's only Funny Car "five" with a 5.97 qualifier at
the 1976 U.S. Nationals. Oddly enough, this was the only race where
he would lose a heat all year; Gary Burgin's "Orange Baron" Mustang
II got "the Snake" in the final.
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