"Snake" is hanging it up..

Snake Retiring

Personal Information
Date of birth: April 6, 1941
Residence: Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
Birthplace: San Fernando Valley, Calif.
Wife: Lynn
Daughter: Donna
Height/Weight: 6 feet, 1 inch/175 pounds
Hobbies: Dogs, fishing, golf, and landscaping

Career accomplishments and highlights
Career wins/final rounds (driver): 49/68 (35/45 FC, 14/23 TF)
Career wins/final rounds (owner): 63/128 (18/41 FC, 45/87 TF)
Career total victories: 112
Career No. 1 qualifying awards (driver): 58
Career No. 1 qualifying awards (owner): 40
First Professional victory (TF): Bakersfield March Meet (1962)
First NHRA victory (TF): Pomona 1 (1965)
First NHRA victory (FC): Indianapolis (1973)
Best points finish (driver): First (1975-78 FC)
Best points finish (owner): First (2002-03 TF)
Career-best elapsed time (TF): 4.736 (Reading 1994)
Career-best elapsed time (FC): 5.157 (Dallas 1989)
Career-best speed (TF): 302.72 (Brainerd 1994)
Career-best speed (FC): 279.67 (Reading 1989)

• 49 victories (driver)
• 63 victories (owner)
• Eighth-winningest driver in NHRA history (49 wins)
• Fourth-winningest Funny Car driver in NHRA history (35 wins)
• Four NHRA championships as a driver
• Two NHRA championships as an owner
• 1989 NHRA Showdown winner
• Three NHRA Showdown wins as team owner (Ron Capps, 1998-99, 2002)
• Three NHRA Shootout wins as team owner (Larry Dixon, 1995, 2001-02)
• First member of Cragar Five-Second Club (FC, 5.98 seconds, Oct. 12, 1975, Ontario, Calif.)
• First member of Crane Cams Funny Car 250-mph Club (250.00 mph, May 29, 1982, Baton Rouge, La.)
• 15th member of Cragar 4-Second Club (TF, 4.980 seconds, Feb. 2, 1991, Pomona)
• Third member of Slick 50 300-mph Club (301.60 mph, March 6, 1993, Houston)
• First NHRA driver to win in both Top Fuel (1965 Pomona) and Funny Car (1973 Indy)
• Second NHRA driver to qualify No. 1 in both Top Fuel (1965 Pomona) and Funny Car (1970 Ontario)
• One of three driver/owners (John Force and Warren Johnson) to have reached 100 wins
• Still holds the NHRA record with seven consecutive Funny Car national event victories (1975-76)
• Still holds the NHRA record with 30 consecutive Funny Car round-wins (1976-77)
• Still holds the NHRA record with 13 consecutive Funny Car final-round appearances (1975-77)
• Still holds the NHRA record with eight consecutive Funny Car final rounds to start a season (1976)
• Shares the NHRA record at seven consecutive Funny Car No. 1 qualifying positions (1976-77)
• No. 8 all-time with 52 NHRA No. 1 qualifying efforts

I cant believe retiring is the term he used. He is out of money, and cant get a sponsor and screwed all the crew guys that signed back up with him for the year that are now unemployed. Not to mention he is a total dink

Snakes record speaks for itself.

I dont know a person alive that racing didn't bring the "little green monster" out of them at one time our another.

Don did quite well for himself with all the records.

Amen to that!!!!!

Having met both of you Wayne, I can assure you that Snake would be first in line to pee on you if you was a fire! Might be kind of a long line come to think of it. JK man.

The man is a legend, it's sad to see him fold up the tents but it is probably time. His teams have gotten smaller and smaller every year. Will be interesting to see where Donnie Bender ends up, quite a few Nitro teams could use a better chief than what they have now. He prob aint the top o the pile but he is closer to the top than the bottom.

I think the bigger message here is that IF a man of SNAKE's qualifications is having trouble finding a sponsor, then there may be some very bad news on the horizon for a lot of teams.

Snake did well to hold it together after the loss of Miller, then Skoal. This time he is not sitting out for awhile, he is selling out.

He is a legend in drag racing, it matters not how you view his personality. Pete Rose and Tiger Woods are a couple of other legends that are not viewed favorably.