Although NHRA always qualifies racers by National Event wins, McEwen was old school, could drive just about anything, was a frequent draw at SoCal tracks back in the '60s, and was indeed colorful and funny. He drove among other things the original '65 HemiCuda, which flipped at the big end at Lions. Didn't seem to faze him much. He drove & won in an era when the cars were truly lethal, aero help wasn't available, and huge "attachments" were required.