S1 Ep64: How Hot Wheels Forged Drag Racing’s Greatest Rivalry
Past Gas
Donut Media
4.9 • 7.2K Ratings
🗓️ 25 January 2021
⏱️ 76 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Remember toy fads like pogs and silly bandz? The ’60s version was Snake and Mongoose, two real life drag racers who got immortalized in diecast form by Mattel. Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen were elite drag racers, but they also became pop culture icons as drag racing reached peak popularity. Who won more races? Why were people going so far as to get Snake and Mongoose tattoos? And how did they help put Hot Wheels on the map? All that and more, on today’s Past Gas!
Follow James on IG and Twitter @jamespumphrey.
Follow Nolan on IG and Twitter @nolanjsykes.
Follow Joe on IG and Twitter @joegweber
Follow Donut @donutmedia, and subscribe to our Youtube and Facebook channels!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Big thanks to Golden for sponsoring this episode of Past Gas. |
| 0:04.5 | Looking to sell collectible, now's the time to do it. |
| 0:07.6 | Golden is offering all sellers up to 50% off marketplace fees before February 17th. |
| 0:13.7 | Head over to golden.co to get started. |
| 0:16.1 | That's g-o-l-d-i-n dot-c-o. |
| 0:19.5 | Thanks Golden. |
| 0:24.5 | This episode is brought to you by Slack. |
| 0:27.2 | With Slack, you can bring all your people and tools together in one place. |
| 0:31.3 | It's your digital HQ where you can increase productivity, enable flexibility and automate workflows. |
| 0:37.5 | Plus, Slack is full of game-changing features, like huddles for quick check-ins, or Slack Connect, |
| 0:43.0 | which helps you connect with partners inside and outside of your company. |
| 0:47.1 | Slack, where the future works. |
| 0:49.6 | Get started at slack.com slash DHQ. |
| 0:53.6 | Within the sacred pages of the jungle book by Rudyard Kipling, there's a tale of a creature |
| 0:59.8 | named Riki-Tiki-Tavi, a mongoose with fearsome red eyes who fights a venomous snake to the |
| 1:06.1 | death. |
| 1:07.1 | The mongoose is described as having, quote, ivory fangs and eyeballs of flame. |
| 1:12.3 | The snake at battles has a strike so fast that no eye can follow its motion. |
| 1:19.2 | The other animals in the story lament the deadly rivalry between the two predators, quote, |
| 1:24.5 | those who kill snakes get killed by snakes. |
| 1:28.1 | In Rudyard Kipling's tale, it is the mongoose who prevails, at least for the day. |
| 1:32.9 | Our story today is about a very different snake in mongoose pairing. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Donut Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Donut Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.