This makes me so nostalgic for a time when things weren't necessarily better than they are now, but for some reason I remember them incredibly fondly. Not just the Snake/Mongoose thing either - I mean the music, the Hot Wheels, even the 70s slogan for Coke. People talked to each other differently. Kids were usually unsupervised. None of that made those times better (except maybe the Hot Wheels stuff!), but it feels more like my time. I'm hopelessly stuck in the 70s.

@qibble455

Жыл бұрын

Great music too:D

@jstravelers4094

Жыл бұрын

The guys who made it back alive from Vietnam were looking for excitement. Drag racing was definitely therapeutic for some of these guys.

@beenaplumber8379

Жыл бұрын

@@jstravelers4094 I've read that as an explanation for why it seemed acceptable for so long in NASCAR, the various Indy Car series, and F1, for racing to be more dangerous, and that drivers might be killed and incinerated. It was the attitude of mostly WWII soldiers who understood the risk of dying was part of life, and to achieve a goal might mean someone dies. That's a terribly incomplete summary of what I read, but we had to move a whole generation past WWII before Jackie Stewart and the drivers' movement to make racing reasonably safer. I guess as F1, NASCAR, and Indy were making great advances in safety toward the mid to late 70s, drag racing was always a potential ball of fire in the end (and I think it still is compared to the other forms of racing). I really don't know what safety changes came into drag racing, or when, but it seems to me that was where the danger was long after F1 and Indy began to take safety seriously. There's a lot I don't know about that aspect though. I just wonder about these things. It makes sense, and the American vets of the war in Vietnam would be the generation driving things through this period in drag racing. My uncle got home from Vietnam, a real mess too, and he bought a Camaro and raced it everywhere he could. He was a mess after that war, and his Camaro was his lifeline. He didn't do drag racing, just road and oval track as far as I know. He was actually part of a composite character in the movie Hamburger Hill, the guy who was looking at the car magazines and telling people which car he was going to get when he got home. That movie was about his unit, and that character embodied a few of the guys in hi9s unit, including him.

I remember growing up in the early 1970’s. I had the Mongoose & Snake Hot wheel set. It was awesome!

Thanks for this post. Had never seen it before. It gave me the chance to relive in my mind, all the wonderful times at the track watching my favorite Funny Car Teams match race. Those of us that were lucky enough to have lived thru those years, will always treasure those memories. 👍🏻❤️🍻😎

A wonderful video of a bygone era, When these funny cars looked Great.

First time I went to the drag races in Arizona this is who I had the unbelievable opportunity to watch race! Around 1983-ish? I had no idea exactly the magnitude of what I was watching at age 20! I just knew that small of rubber, fuel and the feeling of my body vibrating with the motor - I thought “now this is what being alive feels like “!!!! I am on my way 40 years later, with the same friend to the races❗

I went w/my dad to the track when he and his buddies were running a BB/GD w/a 392 Hemi (cast iron block). They built it from the ground up & were very successful here in the Northeast and Canada. Over 220 Win Trophies, even beat Shirley a number of times before she went to Nitro. I can still remember sitting in the truck & push starting it. Bernier, Bacon & Hoyt. Miss those days.

Outstanding movie! Those two haulers got completely restored and last i heard Don owned them both. Pretty funny seeing Tom giving Conrad a hard time in the lanes. RIP Mongoose.

Awesome video! I love old stuff like this! Thank you for sharing it! I'm actually Building Don Prudhommes Wynn's Front engine Dragster right now!

Thanks for posting this Nick!! Truly the glory days (in my humble opinion). Convinced my Dad to take me and a buddy to Irwindale in 65', for an 8 TF and 8 AA/FA show. Seeing the burnouts, header flames, and races...I was hooked. It was then on to Lions, OCIR, Bakersfield, Ontario Motor Speedway, Baylands, Sacramento, Sears Point, etc. Still at it today...as I especially enjoy racing the NHRA Heritage Series & BIG Buck bracket races. Stay safe/be well ya'll ✌😎

@CarsandCats

3 жыл бұрын

It figures I would find you here! Hi buddy. :)

@MoparMan1320

3 жыл бұрын

@@CarsandCats go figure, right...🤣. Good to see you checking out this stuff as well 👍. Stay safe/be well.

@topcat43truffles15

2 жыл бұрын

Hey Mopar Man, how shocking to find you here! NOT! LMAO! 🤣 Never seen this before today. But it’s a great tribute to the days of match racing and 4 car shows at your local drag strip. Those of us that were lucky enough to be around back then will always treasure the memories. Even if you couldn’t be at the track, reading Nation Dragster every week, you read the posts from the NHRA tracks across the nation about who was racing whom on a weekly basis. Was always great to keep up with the exploits of your favorite drivers and cars. As the saying goes, “Those Were the Days”

I remember when Don's crew would show up for the Wednesday night drags on van Nuys Blvd in the early 70's. They would often trailer someone's blown "street car" to the boulevard and see if there was any interest in a race (there rarely was, they outclassed ALL of us). But they added a level of fun and class to an already legendary weekly automotive orgy. If you were ever a part of "cruise night", you know what I mean. And you'll also understand this... "RACE?"

I never knew that Prudhomme was so *hilarious !* On the brief snatches of his being interviewed on "Wide World of Sports", he would almost always come off as super-humble, with only a hint of the devilish wit on display in this film.

@marcanglin7127

Жыл бұрын

15:00 Snake talks about how uptight he gets at the track, and having been around him at events back in the '70's and '80's, I can concur: The man was intense.

Thanks for this. I was a big fan of theirs back when I was a kid. I love the snake.

I saw Don and Tom race in the early 70s at Bee line race way in Arizona. Tom won that one.

When drags were an art form and flat out racing..miss this creativity

Thanks for posting this!! Even better than the Snake & Mongoose movie!!

OUTstanding video !!! Thanks for the upload !!!

i feel young again!

This is the most badass footage from Hot Wheels' most bad-ass connection with the real world. Bad-ass. badasss.BADDDDDD AAAAAAASSS ... Oh. did I mention ... this clip is about as bad asssss as bad ass gets. Snake. Mongoose. USA. Hot fuckin' Wheels!!!!

CHEERS NICK IS ON KZread BUT IN 2 PARTS YOURS HAS MUCH BETTER QUALITY

Absolutely EPIC.

Cool video thank you ..

I didn't like the color changes. Red vs Yellow looked way cooler than Blue vs White.

funny that two of the guys they race against here are now pro racers or were