NHRA legend Don “The Snake” Prudhomme was named one of the coolest athletes in Southern California today in a story published in the Los Angeles Times. Prudhomme, who won four NHRA Funny Car world championships and earned 49 career victories, was ranked as the No. 9 coolest athlete in a list of 50 who have competed in the SoCal area by Los Angeles Times
Prudhomme will be honored Feb. 24-27 during the 51st annual Kragen O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. During the event NHRA will pay tribute to Prudhomme by presenting “The Snake Pit,” a display of Prudhomme’s legendary collection of race cars. Also included in the display will be a number of hot rods from the legendary Burbank-based “Road Kings” car club that counted Prudhomme among its members. Prudhomme also will participate in a special “Track Walk” Sunday morning and be available throughout the weekend for multiple autograph sessions to greet his legion of fans. Tickets are available for the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event by calling (800) 884-NHRA or by visiting www.nhratix.com online.
In the story, Dufresne wrote that Prudhomme’s “coolness” inspired an entire generation: “This San Fernando-born king of "nitro-powered" funny cars and top fuel dragsters helped elementary school boys pass time in class by using the flat edges and arcs of their protractors to re-create, in bound notebooks, very cool pencil sketches of Prudhomme's signature 1970 yellow Plymouth Barracuda.”
Other notable athletes named to the top 10 in list of 50 included Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax, LA Lakers playmaker Magic Johnson, LA Rams defensive lineman Deacon Jones and hard-throwing California Angels pitcher Nolan Ryan.
See the full LA Times story, “A guide to cool: 50 Southern California athletes who rate,” here: http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-0209-socal-cool-athletes-20110209,0,2989019.column?page=1
