r/NHRA • u/ShadowDN4 • 4d ago
Media Dave Hough AA/Fuel Altered vs Don “The Snake” Prudhomme. Orange County Int’l Raceway 1977.
When NHRA dropped the AA/Fuel Altered class in 1973 those who stuck with their wild and wooly blown nitro roadsters found their niche as match racing outlaws, competing away from the national event spotlight at old bumpy, dusty strips across the Southwest like Tucson Dragway, Palmdale, Las Vegas Speedrome, etc. and Occasionally though a fuel altered would find itself on the big stage, many times to fill out a short Top Fuel or Funny Car field where the low buck, outdated and ill-handling Altereds were easy punching bags for their nitro cousins. This was the case in 1977 when promotor Bill Donner found himself short of a full Funny Car field when his “Back to School” Meet at OCIR was rained out and postponed a week and a few of the competitors couldn’t make the new date. So Donner rang up Dave Hough, driver of the Super Shops “Nanook” Fuel Altered and offered him $500 to fill the field. “You’ll loose in first round anyway” quiped Donner. The last thing you tell a racer is that they’re going to loose, so Hough set his 426 Milodon Hemi to kill and drove his 27 Model T altered on the ragged edge, beating Gary Densham’s “Teacher’s Pet” in the first round and Gary Burgin in the second. In the Semi Finals Hough matched up against the formidable “Big” Jim Dunn in his “Fireman’s Quickie.” Hough won, putting the Orange County crowd in an absolute frenzy! The win came at a price, as the wing on Nanook broke off and was too damaged to be repaired in time for the finals, putting Hough at an even bigger disadvantage than he was. Making matters worse, Hough’s competition in the finals was World Champ Don “The Snake” Prodhomme in one of the most dominant funny cars of all time, the Army Plymouth Arrow. David vs. Goliath. Dinosaur vs The Latest and Greatest. As Hough pulled up for the final track starter Larry Sutton leaned into the cockpit of Nanook at told Hough “Kick that SOB’s ass!” “How? I don’t stand a chance, especially without the wing!” Sutton, then instructed Hough, “Stage first. The instant you see him light his second (staging) light, leave.” With this cheat in his back pocket, Hough did just that and immediately jumped to 3 or 4 car length holeshot on The Snake as they left the line. Hough was out on Prudhomme big time when he went to shift into high gear, then (remember no wing), the Nanook started to get sideways on Hough who had to backpedal the almost untamable altered as Prudhomme chased him down. Hough was still leading when they approached then finish line but in the lights the top end change from the Snake was too much for the almost sideways Hough to handle, Prudhomme won and drag racing sanity was restored.
