NHRA: Teams Sad To See 'The Snake' Retire

NHRA

NHRA: Teams Sad To See ‘The Snake’ Retire

When an NHRA legend like Don "The Snake" Prudhomme announced his retirement, his fellow competitors said they aren't ready to see him go.

Amanda Brahler | http://www.go2geiger.com | Posted January 12, 2010 Porter, TX

Spencer Massey will go down in history as the final driver to win for "The Snake." (Go2Geiger.com)

Racing is different than most mainstream sports. Here, the players don’t often change.

Though the drivers and crew chiefs might change teams from time to time, the faces generally stay the same. When a driver finally decides it’s time to climb from the cockpit, they often find other things to do within the sport; crew chief, mentor, or own their own team.

Through his career, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme wore many hats during his tenure in drag racing. His retirement announcement last week shocked many, and left some of his most rivaled competition wondering what’s next without his presence at a racetrack.

"I am saddened by the retirement of Don as a team owner in NHRA. He is a special person and competitor whom I've admired for many years,” said fellow car owner Don Schumacher. “We competed against each other in the '60s as drivers and, later, as team owners, we continued to race against each other for many more years. He is one of the greatest drivers, owners and personalities in the sport and he will be greatly missed. I wish him and his family the best in his retirement and hope he can enjoy the fruits of his hard work."

Echoing Schumacher was fellow driver turned car owner, Kenny Bernstein. Bernstein and Prudhomme spent much of their professional life squaring off, with strikingly similar results.

Both drivers are ranked within the top six of NHRA’s Top 50 Drivers list.

After years of competition, Bernstein reiterates that the competition will definitely notice Prudhomme’s absence.

“It’s a very dark day for NHRA. Snake has been a mainstay in our sport forever and is deeply imbedded in the sport’s history. He is one of the sport’s well known competitors and he has been very instrumental in getting the sport where it is today. I truly hope this is just a hiatus and that he will return in the near future.”

Prudhomme spent nearly 50 years epitomizing drag racing while collecting six championships and 112 race wins, combined as a driver and an owner. That feat alone puts him in a rare category of hitting triple digits, as he shares the honor with only two other racers, John Force and Warren Johnson.

Prudhomme spent just over 30 years as a driver, collecting nearly 50 race wins and four titles of his own, before venturing into the role of team owner in the mid-90s. He ushered along the career of Larry Dixon, who earned Snake Racing two more championships.

“It’s a bummer for the sport; you think drag racing, you think of John Force, Don Garlits and Don Prudhomme. Those are the names in our sport, and to not have him there anymore is a bummer,” Dixon said. “He’s always been a serious competitor, and if he can’t compete at the level he’s accustomed to, he’d rather not do it. That’s how he’s always been…all in or not in.”

Dixon left Prudhomme’s team at the end of 2008 to join Al-Anabi Racing, enabling rookie Spencer Massey to take over the vacated dragster. Though Prudhomme was taking a chance on a newcomer, Massey prevailed, adding two more trophies to Prudhomme’s collection by season’s end.

Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale: Jan 19th-24th

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amanda Brahler

Go2Geiger.com

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