Today, we don’t think anything about being able to purchase a T-shirt, poster or die-cast of our favorite driver or race car. But in the late 1960’s there wasn’t much to choose from and you usually had to be at the racing event or at least the local track to get what goodies were available. What we call “branding” had not caught on yet for the sport although stock car drivers were honing in on the idea. In 1969, a very clever drag racer, Tom “Mongoose” McEwen was thinking about this very concept. Drag racing was having its challenges. There were plenty of fans and the events were always packed, but drivers were lucky to make enough money to get to the next event and to have there cars ready for the next runs. National points were fine for bragging rights, but drivers were finding that Match Racing was the better way to pay the bills. Promoters would pay for the big names to show up, make their runs and haul in the fans in bigger numbers. After all, seeing a guaranteed race between the big name drivers was worth the ticket! That’s when the Mongoose had a conversation with Don “The Snake” Prudhomme about forming Wildlife Racing. They would hit the Match Race Circuit ratcheting up the excitement about seeing the Snake versus the Mongoose. But Tom was thinking at another level. He approached Mattel Toys, who was having a great run with their new Hot Wheels line of die-cast cars. Would Mattel be willing to sponsor Wildlife Racing to promote the Hot Wheels line? This would be a major win and it would be the first major sponsor of a drag car that was not related to automotive products. But Mattel had an even better idea, they wanted to replicate the action at the track and came up with the Snake vs. Mongoose Hot Wheels Race Set. This was the must-have toy for young racers. It had the two iconic cars of McEwen and Prudhomme, a starting gate, finish line and even had drag chutes at the shutdown zone. Not only did the Snake and Mongoose become household names, their cars were well funded for the racing seasons from 1971 through 1973. It didn’t take long for other racers from all types of competition to jump on the bandwagon. Revell started backing drag racers like Jungle Jim Lieberman and Wild Willie Borsch and offered models of their latest rides. It wasn’t long before you could go to your local store or hobby shop and find items that had your favorite racers and cars. And it all started with Wildlife Racing.
“The relationship with Hot Wheels is definitely a highlight of my racing career. Not only was the partnership with Hot Wheels a big deal for us, but also for the entire sport of drag racing.” – Tom McEwen**
Jumping to today, Auto World has picked up the theme and put together a great drag racing set with the Snake versus Mongoose moving them into the slot car world. Using the tried and true Auto World Pro Drag Racing components, the set adds the very detailed Plymouth Barracuda of Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and the Plymouth Duster of Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen. The set comes complete with the lighted Xmas tree and winner’s lights and 13 feet of track. The track also comes with a dead-section and end caps, controllers and power pack. Let’s take a look at what comes in the set.
The contents of the box.
Instructions and contents of the box.
Sticker Set for the Start and Finish Gates.
Start and Finish Gates.
Plymouth Duster Funny Car – Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen
The Mongoose’s weapon of choice was a Buttera-chassis, late Chrysler Hemi-powered Plymouth Duster. Although the Snake was more often victorious in their legendary battles, one of McEwen’s biggest wins was at the last drag race at Lions Drag Strip in 1972 .*
Plymouth Barracuda Funny Car – Don “The Snake” Prudhomme
The Snake’s Plymouth Barracuda Funny Car has a very interesting history. As seen in this set, the car is in the 1970 livery. A Buttera-chassis with late Hemi power, it racked up some of the highest win totals of any funny car. Later in 1973, Prudhomme ordered one of Buttera’s “lay-down chassis” Vega Funny Cars, but was unimpressed with the performance. He quickly pulled the Barracuda out of retirement and applied the US Army sponsors to the old ride and got back to his winning ways. The Barracuda ran a best 6.23 seconds at Englishtown, NJ before it’s final retirement.*
The match racing events with the Snake versus the Mongoose were so successful, Don and Tom even added top fuel rails to the events, but the funny cars are what brought out the crowds and the rails saw little action. Floppers were the big attraction in the early 1970’s and these two drew a lot of that attention.
They are called to the line and staging! Hear those Hemis revving up!
And the lights go green and the Snake gets the jump at the line!
And Prudhomme pulls away in the lights and racks up another win for the Snake! But the Mongoose is ready for the next match!
Auto World has captured some serious history with the Snake Vs. the Mongoose Pro Drag Racing Set. With some big memories to fill, this set captures the racing thrills including the work Xmas tree and win lights to keep the arguments of who won down to a minimum. You can remember those thrilling match races from Saturday nights past and make new memories of the this great rivalry getting settled on your living room drag strip! Look for the Auto World race set number SRS330, Hot Wheels/Legends of the Quarter Mile: Snake vs Mongoose.
-Paul Shoemaker
*Some information gathered from: Diggers, Funnies, Gassers & Altereds: Drag Racing’s Golden Age By Bob McClurg
** Quotes gathered from Wikipedia biography entries: Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen