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THUNDER IN THE PIPES:
“Snake” and the rare photo—part #2

By Jim Rockstad

What in the world do you get as a gift for Prudhomme? That is a tough question.

I left those NHRA Winter Meetings trying to come up with a special idea to present to Prudhomme when the National Event Tour came through the Northwest in early August of 1994. That year was to be his last year driving race cars as the “Last Strike Tour” circled the country. Race tracks on the tour were planning a celebration for him at each stop. A wall plaque or rocking chair, or even a motorcycle, just didn’t seem appropriate to me as Prudhomme had made such a huge impact on the sport all of those years. For over 20 years he had raced here in the Northwest and certainly was a fan favorite.

So it was time to get back to Seattle and start working on events for 1994. I just can’t keep from thinking about this gift I need to come up with as Prudhomme was such a popular racer here in the Northwest. Hmmmm! What could it be?

I certainly wasn’t thinking about an extravagant or exotic gift, just something that would have lots of meaning and would be a complete surprise. Other than that I had no idea!

After the NHRA Winter Meetings had concluded I returned to SIR with lots of ideas and plans for events in 1994 and even some brand new ones that I learned about from those fellow track operators. Starting brand new events takes a lot of planning so I immediately started to work laying out my direction for summer. There just never seemed to be any off time in the track operators’ world. Year around work was a must.

Ironically, (and I do mean ironically) months later, in early 1994 I had a guy walk into my office at SIR to give me something. He was at that early 1970’s event at SIR as a young boy going to the drags with his father. They had heard about the Northwest Open on the radio with all the big-time racers and decided to check it out. The father and son had spent the whole day at SIR taking in the sights and sounds of the drags and just having a great time. The pits were socked full of fuel dragsters and funny cars as they were readying their machines for the finals. It just had to be a real delight for this father and son.

When the pair were ready to leave, this young boy had asked his father to back down the convertible near the finish line so he could see Prudhomme, who was getting ready to run against Gene Beaver and the Condit Brothers in the L.A Hooker in the final. This young boy was in the back seat of his father’s convertible and, as the two funny cars roared down the track, he took his little camera and snapped one final picture, the only one he had left. That photograph was of Prudhomme’s funny car exploding, and on fire, with the front wheels (and even the back wheels) were all off the ground. One little click by this boy and an amazing photo had taken place.

Prudhomme ended up in the hospital that incredible evening. As you can see in the photo it was a frightening moment in the career of Don Prudhomme….fortunately he didn’t get hurt too bad back in 1972. It was just another example of the Snake giving his all for Northwest race fans…. and yes he did win that race!!

After all these years, he had kept this photograph not knowing what he wanted to do with it. So during one of the races at SIR, some 20-plus years later, he brought that picture and gave it to me. I was awe struck when he showed it to me. It was just a little 4” by 4” color shot, probably from a Brownie camera of those years. But as rough and old as it was, it was really clear enough to see the incident that took place way back when. Immediately, I felt that I needed to enlarge this photo and then present it to Prudhomme when his “Last Strike Tour” arrived in that August…that would be perfect!! A one-of-a-kind present with a lot of meaning to Snake, I’m sure. Remember Snake had never seen this picture or even knew that it existed. A 20-year old surprise would be perfect for Prudhomme.

Once I had the photograph, I thought maybe I could go one step further than just produce a poster of it which might not reproduce very well, as it is so very old. Even so, reproducing the photo into a poster might just be a little too cheap for what was taking place here. There has to be someway to make this one of the most special gifts that he had ever seen, something that he could hang up and really be proud of it. Another poster hanging in his shop would not do the job. How about reproducing this photograph into a painting, now that would be classy. But how would I pull all of that together?

I called on my good friend Kenny Youngblood, a well-established drag racing artist, in Southern California. Youngbloods’ artistic work (youngbloodart.com) is the best there is that I knew of and he was the perfect guy to paint this photograph. He was the guy who could make this perfect gift for the Last Strike Tour. Later, Youngblood told me that this project really regenerated his career in drag racing as it was so exciting to do. I’m sure that he felt like I did that this was a special project, one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments that just don’t take place very often for anybody. This was a rare opportunity that we hardly ever get involved with.

With the painting completed I needed to come up with a special way to present this one-of-a-kind present to him that would really have a lot of meaning to it. This just wasn’t one of those hand it to him and he rips open the gift back in the pits somewhere. This was a defining moment for him in his career and it needed to be handled accordingly. His impact on the sport of drag racing has been huge over the years, and now the driving part of the equation is coming to an end. This is big time!

I felt like I was competing against the other race tracks to come up with a meaningful
“retiring from driving” present and this painting was the perfect item. I could remember, over the years, the performance efforts by Prudhomme throughout the Northwest and my hope was that this painting would make a statement of “thanks”. Now, how do we present it?

THUNDER IN THE PIPES: “Snake” and the rare photo…final episode

TAYLOR RENEWS TRACK LEASE WITH COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

Big news from Medford! After three long days of negotiations, Jim Taylor was able to renew his lease of the Jackson County Sports Park dragstrip with the Jackson County Commissioners. Taylor reports that the negotiations were intense at times and a lot of the major issues stemmed over expected improvements to the facility known as Champion Raceway.

Both Taylor and the County were able to make some reasonable concessions and that improvements will be made to the pit area this year. Taylor has also been meeting with contractors and came up with a game plan to rid the pits of goat heads and loose gravel. But first, Taylor will be working on getting the schedule completed and then begin renewing and looking for more sponsors.

Taylor also confirms that there will be a Top Eliminator West race scheduled for July 3. The Capitol team plans to attend the TEW event as well as the Nitro Summerfest event in August.

The lease was awarded to Taylor just hours ago. Taylor's hard work to the track can not be overlooked as he has already put a lot of his own sweat into the facility including building a permanent restroom and showers among other projects. Thus, the renewal of the lease was well deserved. It's great to see the track in the hands of someone who truly loves the sport and the facility.

The track's website is http://www.championraceway.com/ .

A New Blown Alcohol Car in the Area

Garry Fauble dropped a line announcing he has a new blown alcohol dragster. The car has run in the 6.80's in Vegas. Garry hope to do a little match racing along with some other events. The car will make its local debut at the Eugene Roadster Show in March.

New Spokane Operators Named

Charley Allen and Ron Hodgson are now the new operators of Spokane County Raceway Park. Part of the deal is that the track must remain an NHRA sanctioned track and it's more than likely they will get the last pending date on the NHRA Division 6 schedule. It's doubtful the deal includes moving the track. Cindy Arias Gibbs will manage the track.

Update: on Tuesday it will be announced who will get the lease on the Medford track. Two parties are competing for the rights to the facility.

Our Take:
Arizona Tragedy Reinforces NHRA's Need to Slow the Fuel Cars Down....Now!

Could the sign be more obvious or ominous? What happened this past weekend should send everyone involved in the NHRA professional categories a flashing neon sign the size of a billboard that says: SLOW THESE CARS DOWN! You can explain the death of a driver or even a crew member as that's part of the risks involved in every level of racing, but no words can justify a fan walking through the pits looking for a concession stand only to get hit by a flying tire. I'm not trying to dramatize what happened in Phoenix this past weekend but it's time for action.

To NHRA's credit they have promptly responded with a remedy to every incident dating all the way back to Doug Herbert's famous Pomona explosion, where fortunately nobody was hurt. NHRA's fix for the problem was reducing the nitro percentage to 85 percent. But even with the changes, the cars performance never seemed to drop off and they just kept running quicker. Then, there was problems with the tires and as a result Darrell Russell crashed and died. Goodyear responded with a better tire which appears to have corrected the problem. Next, Eric Medlen died from what was claimed to be "vibration". More safety features were implemented to the cars as a result of Medlen's crash. And then in 2008 we lost Scott Kalitta. NHRA wasted no time and shortened the track length to 1000 feet since Kalitta ran off the end of the track and hit a camera boom after an engine explosion at mid track.

All of these incidents happened while the costs continue to go out of control and the fans now see a shorter distance race that's perhaps not as exciting. I don't claim to be an expert but I have a feeling that NHRA has run out of choices when it comes to allowing the show to go on without major changes to the engines themselves. Am I the only one who believes the underlying problem to all of these incidents is because these cars have to much horsepower? I don't think Antron Brown nor Don Schumacher Racing can or should be blamed for what happened as this is a problem that has been evolving for a long time and nobody has been able to get things under control. Antron was just the passenger when the wheel studs let go allowing the tire to launch like a missile.

There is some risk here as I write this as I work for a couple of top fuel teams but understand it's not the racing or the teams but an out of control sport that needs to be reined in before the insurance companies say no more. The spectator death that happened over the weekend is the first since a camera man (who really wasn't a spectator) was killed at Indy in 1979. So, when it comes to a safety record for the folks in the stands it's been very good...until now.

NHRA has been testing a spec engine aimed at controlling costs and preventing this on going carnage. From what I have heard the testing results have been good and the teams would be able to use existing parts. I think the time has come to put the new engine combination into service as there is two weeks before the next race and the season is just getting started.

When I was in Bakersfield a few months ago I saw 32 nostalgia nitro funny cars put on a great show with close side-by-side 250 MPH runs and no oil downs. What I'd like to see is NHRA mandate the nostalgia nitro funny car engine specs and go back to the quartermile again. These cars had more pop and cost considerably less money to run than a "big show" car. If NHRA mandated the nostalgia funny car engine it would also get the nitro classes off of life support because more people could afford to race them. But more importantly, the cars would be safer as we had three decades free of deaths to prove that and racing in the 70's was much more spectacular than it is now...they just weren't as fast.

- Rich Bailey

UPDATE: John Medlen from John Force Racing is working feverishly to invent a wheel tether that would keep the wheel on by implementing a steal cable that would hold the wheel on to the car. No word yet on if the tethers will be successfully implemented by Gainesville but hats off to JFR and NHRA for working on a fast solution to a serious problem. Even if this works, it's important for the health of the sport to get these cars slowed down thus more affordable to operate and get them back racing on the quartermile.

THUNDER IN THE PIPES: “Snake” and the rare photo Part #1

By Jim Rockstad

In the winter of 1993, I attended the annual NHRA Track Operators’ Meetings which are akin to the Winter Baseball Meetings for that other sport. Usually held at some popular tourist city in the west, there is several days of agenda presented by the NHRA outlining plans, problems and directions for the upcoming racing season. The annual gathering, usually three days in length, allows all the National event-level track operators to share their successes, ideas and meet any new NHRA personnel.

Those meetings were really pretty much cookie-cutter as the plans and direction were all laid out well before the meetings took place. An individual track operator could agree or disagree with a certain concept but things seemed to continue on forward as previously had been planned by the NHRA. Different than the baseball owners, we really had very little input into the guidance of the NHRA tour.

There were often graphs comparing all the events to each other which allowed us to see what other markets were doing. At that point, the NHRA Nationals at SIR had just finished its’ 6th year and comparing it to similar sized markets across the USA was very important to me. I always knew that Seattle had a terrible physical layout and what worked in a similar market might not be feasible for the single-entrance at SIR. I always gained some knowledge by attending the NHRA directed meetings but, as mentioned, the possibility for assisting the NHRA in their agenda was very limited. As always, they had a plan and they stuck by it.

Better yet, to me, the best part of the meetings always seemed to be in the evenings when the operators got together in a suite for open discussion without the NHRA. That was the place to learn what others were doing in their respective markets. There wasn’t any place for me to go for Race Track 101 so discussing the latest ideas with those in the know was where I always wanted to be. The knowledge I gained from those evening meetings was priceless and certainly helped me as I learned more about what worked and what didn’t work at different race sites around the country.

Hours and hours of discussions with John Bandimere of Denver and the late Vinnie Napp of Englishtown, two of the best, would guide me along the way and direct me into new ideas and certainly, helpful hints. I can’t thank the two of them enough, along with several others, for their guidance and their honesty in business. These guys “lived in the trenches” of being a track operator and were well respected within the industry. The impacts they had on my career in the sport were huge. Learning by trial and error can obviously be very expensive.

I wanted to be conservative in my approach to new events but I had a major market in the
Seattle-Tacoma-Vancouver, B.C. area to draw from and I needed to take advantage of that wonderful situation.

The political side of the sport never existed in those suite meetings with fellow track operators. It was the free-flowing of plans, thoughts and ideas. To me, it was a wonderful venue to speak openly about your business and know that everything that was said was the truth. What worked well at one track could be shared by all of those in attendance.

We learned during the official meetings that 1994 was going to be Don Prudhomme’s Last Strike Tour as the “Snake” was retiring from driving to become a team owner. He would continue driving at all the NHRA National events on the tour that year but would own his own team for the future. There was lots of discussion on what the different race sites would do as a special presentation during their events as the tour wound its way around the USA. There was to be a plaque here or there and someone suggested a rocking chair or a motorcycle that he could wheel around on. I felt I needed to do something special but what in the world would it be?

I had first seen Prudhomme when I was a crew member on the Northwind top fuel car in 1965 during the “Smokers’ Meet” in Bakersfield. I was just a young 22-year-old kid doing the grunt work on the Northwind back then. I had heard and read a lot about the sport of drag racing as I was hooked and couldn’t get enough information. The Snake was making headlines back then as one of the big guns on the West Coast, even winning the Bakersfield event a year or so earlier.

In the early 1970’s, Prudhomme would race at Seattle International Raceway for Bill Doner. Doner had an event called the Northwest National Open which included an open field of top fuel dragsters and funny cars. The risk of producing an event like this was huge as the Northwest National Open was always scheduled in early May. Doner told me a story about him lying in bed the night before one of these events with the rain pounding down on the roof of his house. Everything was in a “financial float” – even the start change to open the ticket gates was on his own credit card! Who says promoters don’t take risks? Probably not the best night of sleep Doner has ever had.

As was Doners’ style, he would bring the best in the sport to Seattle. The top fuel and funny car fields were socked full of the big names and, of course, Prudhomme was often included. In those days he had transferred over to world of funny cars instead of his familiar location within the ranks of top fuel.

This early event was several years before I went to work for Doner but I’d heard the story about the wild fireball funny car in the lights at SIR. Prudhomme had blown up his Hot Wheels funny car and flew through the quarter mile lights in a ball of fire. As I recall, it was in the final round and the incident destroyed just about everything except Prudhomme. I had heard that Prudhomme was very fortunate to even walk away from the dramatic explosion which destroyed the race car, along with the motor. I could only imagine what that must have all looked like.

THUNDER IN THE PIPES: “Snake and the rare photo—part #2

Great Weather and Response Greets Capitol Car at PVA Outdoor Display

It's not often that the Capitol Auto Group Dragster is displayed anywhere other than an indoor show prior to the month of March. In fact, this was the first time that the car has ever been displayed outdoors with a month of winter left to go. The dragster was on display for a Paralyzed Veterans of America event held this past Saturday at the Kroc Center in North Salem.

With most of the PVA event being held inside, the Capitol car was parked right outside the main entrance of the beautiful new recreation center where a lot of people stopped to look at the car throughout the morning and much of the afternoon. The spring like weather made the event worth while and it was the first time the dragster has ever been displayed at the popular new facility which served as a great back drop (above) for a photo op.

The Capitol Team Supports Paralyzed Veterans of America
The Capitol team will be displaying the Paralyzed Veterans of America logo throughout the 2010 season. The servicemen that now belong to the PVA have paid a big price to keep this country free and it's a privilege to help them out any way we can.

What's New? So Long "Big Blue"

For the Capitol Team, the most noticeable change this year is the absence of "Big Blue" our big old 1471 blower. In its place this year will be a smaller 871 Littlefield supercharger. Gary Eickman made a few modifications that included a spacer that rises the injector hat over the rollbar.

The engine will also have a new crank support system for the new Bow Tie block already in the car. The mag will also need to be moved behind the blower for clearnce. Ah, the ol' domino effect - change one thing and then have to change three more. Other than some changes in the engine department, most everything else will stay the same.

New ProMotion Website Launched

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