For some reason, the actor they played Tom "the Mongoose" McEwen kept making me think of Greg from the Brady Bunch...:)...I was a kid in the 60's so I remember these names well (snake and mongoose) we had their Hotwheels, we knew of their racing prowess and until a couple days ago when I saw this on cable, I had totally forgotten about them for decades...:)...I didn't realize how truly great Don Prudhomme was as a drag racer...I was very impressed seeing some of his runs! I remember going to drag races at Atco NJ...The sound of those funny cars is like NOTHING you've ever heard if you haven't watched a drag race...The ground quakes!Overall this a great biography of an interesting set of characters and a great look back on this period! I'm glad I saw it...

I grew up in California watching the Snake and the Mongoose race in person and recognize a lot of the cars in the movie. The cars used in the movie are fantastic and bring back many memories. I bought the DVD and haven't finished it yet, this should tell you something. It kind of putters along like one of the Lifetime channel movies my wife watches on TV. It really has that made for TV feel to it, Its really disappointing, I had such high hopes. Specifically the in car shots of the drivers helmets bouncing around are just horrible. And how many shots do we need of the transporters going down deserted highways do you need? Was this film ever edited? Seems to have a lot of filler. I have seriously seen better VHS tapes back in the day produced by Diamond P Sports. Its a shame they couldn't emulate classics like On Any Sunday, Heart like a wheel, Evel Knievel or even the movie Dale. I was hoping for better, but it is what it is.

If you're looking for award winning caliber acting or writing here then this is probably not the movie for you , as it has a definite B-movie stamp on it. However, I found myself engaged enough in the story, based on true events, to be quite interested throughout.It chronicles the 20 year drag racing rivalry between Don "The Snake" Prudhomme and Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen, culminating at the NHRA U.S. National Championships, in 1978 at Indianapolis, Indiana. This was rather a friendly rivalry even culminating in a business partnership at one point.The two men were polar opposites in personality with McEwen, portrayed by Richard Blake, being outgoing, gregarious, and always looking at innovations and the big picture, while Prudhomme. played by Jesse Williams, being a "nose-to-the-grindstone" type who was completely focused on winning races.Led by McEwen's excellent marketing skills, they eventually landed the large toy manufacturer Mattel as a sponsor, and it proved to be a highly beneficial partnership for all concerned, with the Hot Wheels toy promotions. This also helped bring drag racing onto the national scene and brought a whole new wave of fans on board.With a good supporting cast including Ashley Hinshaw, Tim Blake Nelson, Fred Dryer, Noah Wylie, and Kim Shaw the movie was also enhanced by its' interspersion of actual drag races and the national TV coverage at times. There's also a short but funny interview clip with the real Prudhomme and McEwen which was valuable to see.Having watched drag racing on TV years ago, I found this film overall to be interesting, despite, as mentioned, the wooden dialog and acting.

Let me first start by saying I am a huge drag racing fan, and have been my entire life. Drag racing is in fact the only sport I follow. I'm also a movie fanatic, and know a good film when I see one. I couldn't wait to see this movie. I grew up watching a lot of their story unfold, so the old footage used in the film was a real treat. Unfortunately, that was the only treat in this God awful excuse for a movie. It was literally one of the worst movies I've ever seen. How it is currently rating over a 3 on IMDb, is as perplexing as how this fiasco ever made it to print in the first place. It was poorly written, poorly directed, and horribly acted. I've read the other reviews on here, and it's clear the reviewers are drag racing fans, and writing their glowing reviews based solely on nostalgia, and some sense of loyalty to the sport of drag racing, rather than on the actual merits of the film.Yes, this film made me nostalgic for the old school rails and funny cars, but that doesn't make up for such a failed attempt at entertainment. I couldn't be more disappointed, mostly because the stories of these heroes of drag racing were horribly represented. Watching this movie was a lot like watching an old episode of the Threes Company. Yes, it's cool to see what use to be, but still painfully un-entertaining to watch. The only other redeeming quality was watching Ron Capps' cameo, with him awkwardly standing by as a statue of Lou Baney, and Alexis DeJoria's two second speaking cameo, actually not too bad as the ancillary character Paula.If you love drag racing, then see the movie for the cool old footage, but be warned, you'll probably end up as disappointed as I was. If you're not a die hard drag racing fan, you'll probably just skip straight to the disappointment part.