The Snake and Mongoose Chronicles: Episode 1 Page #10

Coming to the electronic

staging field.

And John Lombardo up in smoke.

Prudhomme once again

squeezes through.

His elapsed time: 6.05.

Mr. Consistency.

Putting Prudhomme into the final.

Ed, pull the gears.

Install those 430s

we've been carrying.

Hold on now. Hold on now.

Just a second.

That's a hell of a gamble

you're taking.

Better not smoke the tires, eh?

Just do it, Ed.

You're the boss. You heard him.

Jimmy, pop the tires.

We're going to pull the rear in.

Let's go!

McEwen getting

an easy run here, a single.

And his competition, Ron Colson,

crossing the center line

in the previous round

of competition.

McEwen shutting it off early,

obviously just tapping

the starting line,

didn't want to hurt any parts.

- Hear that?

- Yeah.

That sounds different.

Sounds like he lowered the gear.

I know exactly what to do, boss.

Hey, Tommy, toss me

that roll of duct tape there.

- Everything okay, Dad?

- Yep.

Just need to add something.

I thought you said

everything was all right.

Yeah.

There we go.

These two have a history

going back two decades.

They even raced together

in a partnership...

the Wildlife Racing team.

What better than when you have

a snake and a mongoose,

but to team up

and tour the country?

Funny car eliminator final race.

Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen

against his longtime friend

and nemesis

Don "The Snake" Prudhomme.

Prudhomme wrapping up

another world championship title.

That makes it four in a row.

But the race is on the line

for the national championship

in funny car.

Prudhomme in the far lane.

That has been the better lane in

racing thus far later this afternoon.

In the near lane: Tom McEwen.

And they're off the line,

and Prudhomme smokes the tires!

McEwen pulling ahead.

And it is Tom McEwen

with the upset of the race.

The crew's just going berserk.

Tom McEwenKs crew members

very, very happy,

as Tom himself winning it

for the first time.

A really emotional

moment down here.

I have seen Don

Prudhomme lose before,

and he's usually a recluse.

He gets in his truck, he leaves

the racetrack immediately,

talks to nobody.

This is just a little

bit different.

He was with me the whole time.

Me too, brother. Me too.

Come on, let's get you out of here.

You're a hell of a driver, man.

Better than you?

Today, you are.

Right.

- Hey!

- Dad!

- He won't split the money with you?

- He don't want to split the money.

He's over here,

he's saying he hasn't won

a national event in about 48 hours.

He's kind of down.

It should be a good race.

You know, we've met

many times this year,

and, you know, fortunately

we've came out okay,

but you never know.

The cars can be turned.

You know, Tom's liable

to jump up and put us away,

but we're going to be

trying very hard.

I know he's going to be, so it'll

be a tremendous last round.

Your guys are frantically

working on the motor,

yet you're over here

fooling around with him.

Well, ifs just going

back together right now.

We got plenty of time, and I'm just

starting to take it a little easier

instead of thrash

so much on the thing.

I've been watching him,

and it seems to work.

See, his biggest problem is he's

not as serious of a racer as I am.

Time

Is taken away too soon

With no way to say or choose

When we go

So life

Is precious to us all

And when the ones

we love must fall

And they're gone

We're left to answer the call

To carry on another day

Carry on...

We've had a real good year.

We ran 6.64 at Orange

County out in California

in February, which was

a low E.T. backed up with 6.70.

It's so hard to say good-bye

We simply got to try

To carry on

Love

Is everywhere we turn

But there is so much

left to learn

Like how are we supposed

to handle the hurt

And a loss?

And how

How do we fill

this empty space?

How do we lose the

bitter taste?

It's so hard to do

But they're in a better place

To carry on

Another day

Carry on

'Cause it's the only way...

He later made five-second history

in the semifinals of eliminations

with his 5.98-second shot

while defeating Raymond

Beadle in the Blue Max.

We simply got to try

To carry on

And lift ourselves up

To the top of the world

To see heaven above

Don Prudhomme has

just become the first person

to go 250 miles an

hour in a funny car.

Carry on

'Cause it's the only way

Carry on...

260-mile-an-hour

speeds, they are rarely seen.

Yeah, my crew is just great.

I don't know what to say about 'em.

My help is good.

My sponsors are great.

You know, I'm driving pretty good

for an old man this year.

I try to carry on.

- And congratulations.

- Thanks a lot. It's super.

Well, I haven't seen Don Prudhomme

any happier since the last time

he won the U.S. Nationals.

And this is where I started out,

Indy here, you know, in '65

with a Top Fuel car,

and to end my career in a funny

car at this race is great.

Look out, Top Fuel.

Snake's on his way.

You have won your first

ever Top Fuel national event.

- What a job.

- Thanks, Steve.

I can't thank Jack Clark Racing

and Mobil 1 and Larry Meyer

and all the crew guys and

everybody that's helped us.

Well, how you like me now?

Now that I'm not afraid?

And did you think that I could

Come put you down to your face?

Well, how you like me now?

Now that I'm not afraid?

And did you think that I could

Come put you down to your face?

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