Heritage Commercials Magazine - capturing the spirit of vintage days

Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry

One of the fastest growing areas of the spectacular sport of drag racing in recent years has to be the phenomenon of Nostalgia quarter mile Racing. With over 60 years of history in the US, many of the surviving older cars from the sport are now being either lovingly restored or re-created and the ‘Funny Car’ dragsters are one of the most popular classes.

It’s not hard to see why; many drag race fans grew up in the 70s when the glass fibre replica-bodied ‘Funny Car’ dragsters with huge nitro-burning and supercharged V8s were the main draw at events, and racers like Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme and Tom ‘Mongoose’ McEwan regularly match raced each other at race tracks all over the US. There were many other teams at the time as well of course, but these two were united by joining forces and getting together to be the first teams to be sponsored by a non-automotive, mainstream company, that company being Mattel, the manufacturer of Hot Wheels die-cast cars. There were also many scale model kits of the colourful dragsters and ‘Funny Cars’, which introduced even more kids to the crazy world of Drag Racing. Those kids are now all grown up, and for those that never got to witness the spectacle first hand, seeing the restored cars at selected events some 40 years later is the next best thing.

Don Prudhomme Racing however has taken the whole nostalgia thing to another level with the restoration of not only Don’s original Dodge D700 Crew Cab ramp truck, but by recently unveiling ‘the ‘Snake’s’ rival racer, Tom McEwen’s, restored matching support truck, also. Both teams toured extensively with these distinctive trucks in the early 70s, racking up thousands of miles criss-crossing the US many times, and Don Prudhomme recalls the trucks being mobbed by young autograph hunters whenever they pulled into the pit area at major meets.

Don’s yellow hauler was the first to be found and restored, Don has already found and restored several of his dragsters from his early days in the sport, and to locate and restore the support truck is a unique addition to his garage and the perfect complement to his restored Plymouth Barracuda race car. As it happened, the truck was tracked down via the VIN number and found to still be in California, although on going out to see it for the first time in nearly 40 years, Don nearly didn’t buy it such was its condition for the price being asked.

The truck certainly has some race history, as prior to Don’s ownership it was owned by Chrysler, but loaned to famed NASCAR driver Richard Petty as part of his Dodge sponsorship deal. Ramp trucks were common race car transportation back then, up until the mid-Seventies when enclosed race car trailers became popular, the trailers being much more weatherproof and secure than open backed trucks and could be left at the racetrack while the teams retired to local motels and restaurants after racing had finished for the day. Most ramp trucks that survived were sold off to weekend amateur racers on much lower budgets and such was the case with Don’s Dodge, which although it had survived still required a body-off restoration at Prudhomme’s Vista, California shop, with much of the work being carried out by Don himself and long time crewmember Bill ‘Willie’ Wolter plus a small team of hired guns.

The restoration took 12 months in total and was finally finished in May 2009 complete with the correct re-conditioned 413cu in, petrol, Chrysler Wedge V8 engine, five-speed transmission and two-speed, twin rear wheel axle. Inside the four-door crew cab the seats have been re-covered and the metalwork painted a contrasting royal blue to the yellow Hot Wheels livery that graces the exterior of the truck. The many sponsorship and race decals on the original truck were long since out of print and were painstakingly brush painted on by hand for the authentic look.

The truck has since made many public appearances including the California Hot Rod Reunion at Bakersfield, the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers show in Las Vegas, and many other race meetings and is always a major hit with fans old and new.

The recently completed red truck, which is very similar in construction, also has a notable history. It was supplied new by Plymouth to the very successful Sox & Martin Pro Stock Team to haul the Barracuda race car, before being sold on to Tom McEwen who modified the truck for his own Nitro Funny Car, McEwan also incorporating features into it already fitted to the yellow Dodge. This truck too was also sold on in the 1970s once the Prudhomme/ McEwan Hot Wheels sponsorship deal had come to an end.

However, following the great reception the restored ‘Snake’ truck had got on the scene, Don started wondering what had happened to its sister rig, and started putting feelers out within the So-Cal and wider race community. While at the 2010 LA Roadster show in Pomona, Don was approached by an ex-stock car driver called Don Lowery who had documentation showing that he had bought the truck from Tom Mc Ewan years ago before selling it to another racer from Arizona. Following the clues supplied, Don followed the trail and the truck was tracked down to Riverside, California, and though laid up for the last 15 years, was still in the ownership of the racer Lowery had sold it to way back when. Like his original it wasn’t in the greatest shape, but with the original credit card sized plaque still in the glovebox with the delivery date to Sox & Martin still intact as further validation of this historic rig, a deal was done anyway and yet another restoration was under way at Prudhomme Racing.

The McEwan truck was finished just a few months ago in its distinctive red and white ‘Mongoose’ livery, and will surely be a great trip down memory lane for fans when displayed alongside the ‘Snake’ truck at future nostalgia events. It’s worth noting however, especially for eagle-eyed drag race fans, that although the Barracuda on the yellow truck is indeed the real deal restored, the red Plymouth Duster on the McEwan truck is not the original, nor intended to be period correct, but a mock-up on a later F/C chassis put together for display at Hot Wheels’ 35th anniversary. Still, they look pretty good don’t they?