1989 Pontiac Skoal Bandit Funny Car '89 U.S. Nationals and Bud Shootout Champion

This is the last funny car drag racing superstar Don “The Snake” Prudhomme drove in his career before returning to the Top Fuel ranks in 1990. Prudhomme drove the car to a 5.17-second run and a new NHRA record in the process of winning the Budweiser sponsored Bud Shootout at Indianapolis, where it also won Funny Car Eliminator at the U.S. Nationals on the same weekend. The Snake describes the Skoal Tobacco- and Pontiac-sponsored flopper as “an unbelievably quick car," noting that because the team was sponsored by Pontiac, they spent a great deal of time in the Division’s wind tunnel facility refining the shape of the body to direct air flow toward the engine’s air injector scoop and to produce extra downforce at the rear, the latter property attracting the attention of NHRA officials, who promptly outlawed it after the U.S. Nationals. The car is powered by a supercharged, nitro-burning aluminum block Hemi engine with fuel injection, Mallory twin magneto ignition and overdrive transmission; it utilizes a tube frame with solid-mounted front and rear suspension and a 12-gallon fuel tank and rolls on Goodyear racing rubber on Cragar wheels. Still festooned in its original Skoal Tobacco livery and ready to run, the 1989 Skoal Bandit funny car is being offered for the first time ever from the personal collection of Don Prudhomme.

HIGHLIGHTS
- The last funny car driven by Don "The Snake" Prudhomme
- Sponsored by Pontiac and Skoal Tobacco
- Nicknamed "The Skoal Bandit"
- Winner of the 1989 NHRA US Nationals in Indianapolis
- Winner of the Big Bud Shootout with runs of 5.17s and 5.19s
- The 5.17s Shootout run set an all-time NHRA best
- This car spent many hours in the Pontiac wind tunnel
- Aluminum block
- 12-gallon fuel tank
- Solid front end, no suspension
- Offered from the private collection of Don Prudhomme
- First NHRA Funny car to break into the "Teens" with 5.193 seconds/265.80 MPH in Houston, March 2, 1989
- Number 1 qualifier at 7 of 21 races that season
- Also won races at Rockingham, Sonoma and Dallas










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