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The classic shot of the Greer-Black-Prudhomme Top Fueler.
Prudhomme didn't race at AHRA in 1972 nor win any events
in 1976. In 1980 he won five AHRA events, plus the Manufacturer's
Meet that year. That makes a total of 104 race win by the
DRO staff count.
Prudhomme the driver is probably best known by the fans
for his career accomplishments as the driver of the two most
dominant cars in the history of drag racing. The first was
the Greer-Black-Prudhomme Top Fueler of the middle Sixties,
which had an actual win-loss record of 81-8 between June
17, 1962 and the end of the 1964. (According to Chris Martin's
Top Fuel history book, the legendary 237-7 number often written
about was just the figment of an overzealous ad copywriter.) Prudhomme's
other best-known car was the U.S. Army Monza of 1975-76.
Prudhomme won 13 of the 16 national events on the NHRA schedule
for those two years.
Don Prudhomme is in that elite
club of Top Fuel racers that has
experienced a "blowover." This photo of the crash in the late
1980's shows a very young Larry Dixon (at left) and equally young Mike
Kloeber (far right) and Don Prudhomme (center) taking a look at the damaged
remains of the car. |
The facts indicate that in many ways he could be considered
one of the best ever in the Top Fuel class both as a driver
and as a car owner. Prudhomme's first and last national event
wins in NHRA competition came at the wheel of a dragster.
His first ever win was at the wheel of the Greer, Black and
Prudhomme Top Fuel dragster when he beat Bill Alexander for
the 1965 Winternationals title at Pomona. His winning ET
and speed at that event was 7.76/201.34.
He also became the first driver to win both the Winternationals
and the U.S. Nationals in the same year when he defeated
Hall of Famer Tommy Ivo in the Top Fuel final at Indy with
a 7.50/207.33 lap. His 49th and final career win also came
in the Top Fuel class. In 1994, at the Angel brother's track
in Baytown, Texas, he won his third national event of the
year and his last as a driver by beating future Hall of Famer
Scott Kalitta.
Prudhomme decided to retire at the top of his game at the
end of the 1994 NHRA season and made the change from driver
to team owner, hiring second-generation Top Fuel driver Larry
Dixon to take his seat. He later added a two-car Fuel Coupe
team.
During his career as a Funny car driver he got five of his
wins at the U.S. Nationals. His rounds won/lost percentage
of .701 between 1973 and 1989 when he retired is one of the
best ever. While John Force has eclipsed many of the Snake's
personal records, there can be little doubt that Prudhomme
has the credentials to be considered one of the best ever.
After getting out of the driver's seat at the end of the
1994 with 49 NHRA wins as both a Top Fuel and Funny Car driver
he transitioned into the role of team owner with not only
a Top Fuel team but also a Funny Car team. His drivers, Larry
Dixon, Tommy Johnson and Ron Capps won a combined 51 races
for the Snake between 1995 and the present.
All in all a pretty good record for a SoCal hot-rodder who
started out painting cars and ended up being one of if not
the best driver in the history of nitro racing.
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