Thursday, April 21, 2005 | 9:50 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Don Prudhomme used the occasion of his 100th NHRA victory as a driver and team owner to show a little love for Dick LaHaie, the veteran crew chief who is largely responsible for Prudhomme's two Top Fuel championships with driver Larry Dixon.
Following Dixon's victory Sunday in the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Prudhomme insisted that LaHaie join Dixon and Prudhomme for the postrace media interviews. Both Prudhomme and Dixon credited LaHaie for the team's success since LaHaie joined Prudhomme's team late in the 1999 season.
"This drag racing takes a lot out of guys like (LaHaie) and a lot out of guys like myself," Prudhomme said. "We talk about it a lot; that it's so demanding on the crew chiefs' time and just the energy and all that until sometimes you question yourself, 'do we really want to keep doing this?'
"I'm telling you a fact because it can drain you. This guy (LaHaie) takes it deeply serious and sometimes I worry about him continuing on because the schedule is so grueling in what they do."
LaHaie, who has been the tuner on Dixon's dragster for "28 or 29" national-event victories, assured Prudhomme that he isn't going anywhere.
"This is my 48th year doing this stuff and you would think that anybody that did something for 48 years could walk away from it, but it's addictive," said LaHaie, who won the 1987 NHRA Top Fuel championship as a driver and has four other world championships as a crew chief.
The pairing of Prudhomme and LaHaie is an unlikely one in that the two were bitter rivals as drivers, according to LaHaie.
"We sat down about five years ago in his bus in Seattle and he said 'I'd like to have you come to work for me,' " LaHaie recalled. "I said, 'Snake, I don't think that'd work.' He said, 'why not?' and I said, 'well, I never really liked you,' and then (he) said, 'well, I never wanted to go to dinner with you, either.'
"It turned out that, really, we're so much alike from the competitiveness of it and the dedication. This guy has dedicated most all his life to it, and so have I. Maybe that's why it's worked for us."
Prudhomme and LaHaie have forged a strong friendship in the past seven years and LaHaie was quick to point out that his boss has always taken care of him. LaHaie told a story about returning home from lunch with his wife a couple of years ago and finding a surprise Christmas gift in the driveway of their Eaton Rapids, Mich., home.
"Claudia and I had gone to have lunch and when we came back, there was this truck and trailer parked in our driveway," LaHaie said. "We get up there and here sits a John Deere Gator tractor. (Prudhomme) thought I needed one, so I got one.
"But he does stuff like that; he takes care of me, believe me."
PERSONAL TOUCH: Carrier Boyz Racing owners Andy and Mark Carrier have more than a passing interest in the special paint scheme their driver, Cory McClenathan, will sport on his Fram Air Hog Dragster next weekend.
The front wing and nose of McClenathan's Top Fueler will carry logos commemorating the 40th anniversary of Bristol Dragway, the site of next weekend's NHRA O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals. Larry Carrier, Andy's and Mark's father, founded Bristol Dragway in 1965.
"We grew up watching the races at Bristol Dragway," Mark Carrier said. "For a long time -- until we got older -- the only drag races we were allowed to go to were at Bristol. Dad would take Andy and me over to the track on Sunday and we would watch the Funny Cars and Top Fuel cars."
"It is because of those memories that we are proud that we can carry the 40th anniversary Bristol Dragway decal on our car during the Bristol race," Andy Carrier said. "It is a tribute to both the track and to our dad, who gave so much of himself in making this track and Bristol Motor Speedway what they are today."
In addition to building Bristol Dragway, Larry Carrier opened Bristol Motor Speedway in 1961. Both facilities now are owned by Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports Inc.
archive
