Don Prudhomme

Don Prudhomme
Prudhomme in his dragster before a run in 1992
Nationality	American/French Creole
Born	April 6, 1941(1941-04-06) San Fernando, California
Retired	1994 as racer 2010 as owner
Funny Car
Years active	1970's to 1994 (driver) 1970's-2010 as Owner
Best finish	1st (4 times) in 1975-1978
Awards
2000	International Motorsports Hall of Fame

Don 'The Snake' Prudhomme, (born April 6, 1941, San Fernando, California) is an American drag racer.

Racing career

Prudhomme's Top Fuel digger in 1992

In 1962, Prudhomme was a partner in the Greer-Black-Prudhomme digger, which earned the best win record in NHRA history, before switching to Funny Car. He would win the NHRA FC championship four times in his thirty-five-year career. He was the first Funny Car driver to exceed 250 mph (400 km/h). He retired in 1994 to manage his own racing team. With driver Larry Dixon, Prudhomme's team won the Top Fuel^{[clarification needed]} championship in 2002 and 2003. In 2009, Dixon signed to drive the Al-Anabi Top Fuel Dragster, and Spencer Massey took over Prudhomme's car. At the end of the 2009 racing season, sponsorship went away and Prudhomme retired from active racing. Prudhomme was known for his yellow 1970 Plymouth Barracuda in which he raced rival driver Tom McEwen in his red 1970 Plymouth Duster, named Mongoose. Both drivers gained wider public attention from Mattel's "Hot Wheels" toy versions of the cars that were released in 1970. Hot Wheels celebrated their 35th anniversary in 2005 with a two day event.

Awards

• In 2000 he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
• He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1991.
• On the National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers 1951-2000, Don Prudhomme was ranked #3.

Trivia

Don suffers from claustrophobia, and has, since before he began his racing career.

Images

• 

  Prudhomme's car on fire in 1991 against Kenny Bernstein

• 

  Prudhomme's Funny Car in 1989

External links

• 'Snake' Racing
• NHRA profile

Persondata
Name	Prudhomme, Don
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	April 6, 1941
Place of birth	San Fernando, California
Date of death
Place of death