1970 Hot Wheels
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This is Don Prudhomme's Snake Funny Car which ran during the 1970 drag racing season. Prudhomme was known for his yellow 1970 Plymouth Barracuda in which he raced rival Southern California driver Tom McEwen in his red 1970 Plymouth Duster, named Mongoose. Both drivers gained wider public awareness from Mattel's race sponsorship and their "Hot Wheels" toy versions of the cars. The sponsorship deal was the first true cross-promotion that brought sports marketing mainstream. Prudhomme was also the first Funny Car driver to exceed 250 mph (400 km/h).

The Snake as it first appeared on the track in very early 1970.


Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen - The Snake and Mongoose together - Prudhomme with the Snake.

In 1969, Tom McEwen had the idea to approach Mattel with Don Prudhomme for sponsorship. According to the movie, mattel agreed to sponsor and underwrote a $100,000 contract to the partners. According to Tom McEwen at the movie premier, “We were the first ones to have sponsors on board; big trucks, uniforms, etc. I wanted to get corporate money. I thought, ‘Let’s go away from the automotive sponsors. Let’s go to Nabisco or Coca-Cola or Goodyear or Mattel.’”

In later years, after Mattel reduced and then withdrew its sponsorship, Prudhomme’s Plymouth Arrow funny car wore Army livery, while McEwen’s Corvette had an English Leather theme.

In an interview with Don Prudhomme, he was asked some of the following questions:

- How did your nickname "The Snake" come about?
I get asked that question a lot, but there’s really no great story behind how I got that nickname. One of the crew guys from back in the early days made the comment that when I left the starting line, I had a quick reaction, like when a snake strikes. I didn’t really care for it at the time, but I learned to like it and it definitely stuck.

- In 1973, when you switched from Top Fuel to Funny Car, what made you choose to race a Plymouth Barracuda?
I had driven front-engine dragsters my whole career up until the Mattel/Hot Wheels deal started in 1970. It was Mattel’s idea to have Tom and I both drive Funny Cars as they were really growing in popularity. I already had a good relationship with Dick Maxwell and the folks at Plymouth, as they were supplying me with engine parts for my dragster. When Tom and I spoke with Dick about the Funny Cars, it was Dick who wanted to see me in the ’Cuda and Tom in the Duster.

- How much success did the Mattel/Hot Wheels sponsorship bring?
We enjoyed a tremendous amount of success because of the Hot Wheels deal. It really launched both of our careers with the help of Mattel. It’s been more than 40 years since then, and we both are still approached by fans who watched us match-race back then or bought the little Hot Wheels cars. We still have a good relationship with Mattel – they continue to make Snake and Mongoose diecast cars and still have us appear occasionally at collectors conventions.

- Did you prefer the Mopars over the Chevy Vega or Pontiac Funny Cars?
In the early days I was always a Plymouth and Mopar guy. During that period, the ’70 Plymouth ’Cuda with the 426 Hemi was the car to have, so that’s what we had. It was the cat’s meow.

The Plymouth Barracuda Prudhomme raced went through various changes during the course of the 1970 season.

The Snake as it first appeared with roof mounted spoiler and Red Mattel logo.
This is the version which Mattel modeled their diecast car after.


Still with the roof mounted spoiler here, but the Mattel logo has now changed to black.
The blower intake area has also been opened up.


By Feb 14, 1970 The roof spoilers are gone and two black spoilers have been added to the rear deck.
The roof mounted spoiler would cause the car to lift up halfway down the track. so it had to move farther back.
Two of these cars were built by Ronnie Scrima of Exhibition Engineering, one for Prudhomme and one for Display.


Late in 1970, Prudhomme had a new Buttera car built and painted it like the first car to finish the season.


This is the car we see today, the 2nd Scrima Snake that was built for display.

What ever did become of the original Scrima built Snake that Don Pruhdomme actually raced? According to Prudhomme he sold it off and it when on to race for a couple of years under a couple of different owners and colors. Its run for this body probably ended in 1973 with the fire at the Atco season opener. The aftermath pictured below.

Read about how it changed hands, here in this excellent NHRA article.

Here is a well done NHRA timeline for what happened to the orginal 1970 Prudhomme Snake.

What ever became of the late 1970 Buttera built Snake that Don Pruhdomme had built and raced toward the end of the racing year? So far, I have found no mentions of this car. Perhaps it is the car that became known as the Snake II?

Not to be forgotten is the Truck/Trailer combo they traveled around in.

The mnid-70 Snake propped up infront of the Truck.


This is the restored 2nd car and trailer that we see now.

Thank you to Phil Burgess, the NHRA and a few other unknown sources of the pictures and information referred to here.