BIGGEST WIN

His total demolition of the Funny Car competition at the '89 U.S. Nationals was vintage Prudhomme. On Sunday of that Labor Day Weekend, Prudhomme won the "Big Bud Shootout," running a sport's best 5.17 to take the money. He came back with more blistering runs to win the event eliminator title on Monday.

Prudhomme told me afterward that the Indy race was the way he preferred to take a national event. "God help me, but I just love to rip their throats out like that," he said.

FINEST MOMENT

I'd say that his first big win, the 1962 Bakersfield Top Fuel race, gets it by a hair. "The Snake" was just 20 years old and his partner and crew chief Dave Zeuschel was just 22, and yet they utterly wasted 40 cars from all over the country to take the honors. It definitely put Prudhomme on the map because his next driving job came behind the wheel of Tom Greer and Keith Black's famed fuel dragster.

BEST RUN

This is a tie. As far as low e.t. and top speed goes, I'd say his first-Funny-Car-in- the-fives 5.98 at the '75 NHRA Supernationals was the trophy winner. His car was a good two tenths quicker than anyone else's and he was expected to possibly crack into the low 5.0s at the quick Ontario facility. The 5.98 was, in a badly overworked word, "awesome."

The other eye opener came at Seattle International Raceway's big 32-Funny Car show in April. While beating Dave Condit in the "L.A. Hooker" Maverick in the final, Prudhomme's Barracuda fireballed a motor, putting him in flight through the speed traps. Remarkably, despite the 200-plus mph speeds "the Snake" landed on all four tires and fought the car to a stop.

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