Word of the Day: Snake & Mongoose

David S.
By David S. Wallens
Feb 12, 2020 | drag racing, Word of the Day, Tom McEwen, Don Prudhomme, Snake & Mongoose

Fast cars, yes. And fast drivers, too. But drag race legends Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen brought something else to the table: marketing.

 

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Comments
Javelin
Javelin GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
2/12/20 8:30 a.m.

Fun fact: Auto World just released an HO scale slot car drag stop set with the Snake and Mongoose funny cars.

Gearheadotaku
Gearheadotaku GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
2/12/20 8:43 a.m.

Saw the movie back when it came out. Nice to see the cars and haulers restored/recreated. The vintage footage was a nice touch.

Karacticus
Karacticus GRM+ Memberand Dork
2/12/20 9:08 a.m.

Did anyone else have the Mongoose and Snake  Hot Wheels drag race set that had a rubber band powered launcher for some top fuel cars that would pick up drag chutes down the track?

Brett_Murphy
Brett_Murphy GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
2/12/20 9:46 a.m.

I had a Tester's model kit of The Mongoose's car.

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 MegaDork
2/12/20 12:01 p.m.
Karacticus said:

Did anyone else have the Mongoose and Snake  Hot Wheels drag race set that had a rubber band powered launcher for some top fuel cars that would pick up drag chutes down the track?

Yes, or something very close.  I know it had the trap where it picked up the chute.  I don't remember a rubber band launcher, so I think this set used gravity and came with the clamp.  Not sure about the cars.  Would have been 1970-1973-ish.

Edit:  Drag race action set, came with the starting thingie that attached to a clamp, a finish line, with a checkered flag that fell over the lane of the first car through, and the trap with the chutes.  Not sure about the cars, but this wasn't a Snake and Mongoose set. 

jstein77
jstein77 UberDork
2/12/20 1:31 p.m.

In reply to Javelin :

I had Snake and Mongoose Hot Wheels cars when I was a kid.

jstein77
jstein77 UberDork
2/12/20 1:36 p.m.
1988RedT2 said:
Karacticus said:

Did anyone else have the Mongoose and Snake  Hot Wheels drag race set that had a rubber band powered launcher for some top fuel cars that would pick up drag chutes down the track?

Yes, or something very close.  I know it had the trap where it picked up the chute.  I don't remember a rubber band launcher, so I think this set used gravity and came with the clamp.  Not sure about the cars.  Would have been 1970-1973-ish.

Edit:  Drag race action set, came with the starting thingie that attached to a clamp, a finish line, with a checkered flag that fell over the lane of the first car through, and the trap with the chutes.  Not sure about the cars, but this wasn't a Snake and Mongoose set. 

Yep, I had that too.  I used to clamp the start line to the stairs in my basement and run the track all the way across the floor.  Some of my cars ran out of steam before they hit the finish line.

ckosacranoid
ckosacranoid SuperDork
2/12/20 6:15 p.m.

How come this is just coming out? I seen the things from 2013 for this movie?

ebonyandivory
ebonyandivory PowerDork
2/12/20 8:03 p.m.
Brett_Murphy said:

I had a Tester's model kit of The Mongoose's car.

As a kid I entered a model building contest using that kit!

Datsun310Guy
Datsun310Guy UltimaDork
2/12/20 9:21 p.m.

I bought the movie when it came out.  A lot of childhood memories since I was one of the kids that got the HW track that year.  
 

Old footage is good but the general movie has an economy budget.  I still enjoyed it for what it was.  On par with the Shirley Muldowney movie.  
 

 

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