Legendary Top Fuel and Funny Car racer Tom "the Mongoose" McEwen passes away

NHRA.COM ^ | 11 Jun 2018 | Posted by NHRA.com staff

[mabarker1]

Well we have lost another legend. I'm starting to feel old.

I know as a kid I had both "Snake & Mongoose" Hot Wheels cars and I'm sure not the only one. I wish I still had them.

[mabarker1]

PING!

[mabarker1]

FYI PING

[samadams2000]

I had the mongoose and shirley cha cha muldowny revel models.

[aomagrat]

I built the Snake and Mongoose model cars. I always pulled for the Mongoose.

[Chode]

RIP

[Cicero]

When I was a kid, there used to be black tire marks all over the roads on the island we went to in Maine, in Penobscot Bay. Drag racing.

Put the pedal to the metal!

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[Michael.SF.]

Saw him many times as a kid at the old Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach:

[BikerTrash]

Big part of my young un' days now gone. See you on the other side, Mongoose. RIP.

Got to check out that Snake and Mongoose movie one of these days.

[SaveFerris]

Always enjoyed Snake vs. Mongoose when I was a kid, too.

Man, I miss those days in America. Good times.

[SaveFerris]

Went by a drag strip I went to a couple of times. Completely gone - access road now gone and just looks like a grassy field.

I saw a jet-powered car there in the early 1980’s. Everytime he lit the un-burned fuel, you could feel the heat in the stands on your face.

[brooklin]

If you went to Deer Isle Maine for vacation, it was probably guys just burning rubber. Not a lot of drag racing, but a lot of rubber burning.

[Cicero]

Islesboro. I didn’t drag race, but I did play the “Don’t you dare pass me” game.

And yes, the islanders mostly just liked leaving strips of black on the roads. But they did sometimes race a bit, mostly in pickup trucks.

[OldMissileer]

I know as a kid I had both "Snake & Mongoose" Hot Wheels cars and I'm sure not the only one. I wish I still had them.

I also had them as a kid but the good thing is I still have them as well as over 1000 Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, all in those cool Matchbox cases.

I need to find out what they are worth and sell them.

[mabarker1]

Shirley was here at the 4 wide’s in Concord (Charlotte), NC a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I was unable to attend;(

[FreedomNotSafety]

I had the Mongosse SSP Racer. But I always got beat by the Laker.

[BikerTrash]

I hear ya. My favorite place on the planet is an old strip that is still there, but now surrounded by farm ground. Tower and stands long gone.

Tying this place to your memory of jet cars, the reason this place closed is a jet set the wheat field across the road on fire. I wasn't there, (dang it), but know people who were.

It wasn't the big events that made me love the place, it was the Friday night "grudge" races. Hundreds of cars in the perfect era of muscle car history.

Heaven on earth to me.

Almost.

Got my license the same year it closed.

[SaveFerris]

I raced a buddy’s wife in an amateur grudge. Her car had the larger engine.

I lost. ;(

[vespa300]

Saw him many times in the 60s at Irwindale Raceway in Irwindale CA. His rivalry with Don the Snake Prudohmme. RIP.

Grew up in Hacienda Heights CA about 10 miles from Irwindale and when the wind was blowing right, we could actually the top fuel guys on Saturday Nights. Great times.........Great Memories...