RON CAPPS & HOT WHEELS

Mongoose Hot Wheels, and the 50th anniversary of Prudhomme’ s win at the 1973 U. S. Nationals, Capps, team manager Paul Mecca, and renowned automotive designer Dave Marek went to work creating a special tribute livery to run at the 2023 U. S. Nationals. They first ran it through the team’ s major partners like NAPA Auto Parts and Toyota before taking the idea to Prudhomme, who immediately signed off. About a week before the Big Go, after the car had been wrapped and matching uniforms were created, they received the final signature from Mattel granting them permission to use the Hot Wheels branding.

What followed was like a sequel to the 2013 film Snake & Mongoose. Prudhomme warmed up Capps’ tribute car on Friday morning after the new look’ s unveiling and joined Capps at numerous autograph sessions, where the lines had to be cut off well before the session even began. Men Capps’ age and older approached him with tears in their eyes as they talked about childhood memories brought up by the nostalgic design. Others told him they booked last-minute flights to Indy after the car was unveiled. On Monday afternoon, Capps defeated J. R. Todd in the final round, completing a dream weekend for both him and Prudhomme.

“ It just kept getting better and better as the weekend went along,” said Capps, who played a small role in Snake & Mongoose.“ And then all of a sudden, I’ m in the winner’ s circle with Snake, he’ s smoking a cigar, he’ s wearing the uniform. He just kept looking at me going,‘ This is the best day ever.’ And I was like,‘ Oh my God, you

cannot script this any better.’”

Between the iconic design and the success at the most prestigious race of the year, the car was a huge hit with fans, who clamored for merch of any kind: t-shirts, hats, replica uniforms, and of course, diecasts. The wearables were fairly easy to produce and were quickly bought up by fans. But as Capps soon learned, producing the diecasts would take even longer than the actual car.

At the time, Mattel was wrapped up in the release of the Barbie movie and everything that went with it. Add to that the production timeline for a new Hot Wheels casting, which can take

anywhere from a year and a half to two years. The Mattel designers presented Capps with renderings of the new design, he gave his approval, then it was time to wait.

The wait ended earlier this year when Prudhomme, who still has a relationship with Mattel, called Capps and said,“ Hey man, have you seen this packaging? It’ s pretty cool. They’ re going to have both of our cars together in it.”

The result is a full-circle moment for Capps. The yellow“ Rob’ n Pinks” Funny Car, modeled after his Hot Wheels“ Snake” tribute Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, is paired with Prudhomme’ s Hot Wheels“ Snake II”’ 72 Plymouth‘ Cuda Funny Car. The set is a part of Hot Wheels’ premium Car Culture line and features metal bodies on metal frames with“ Real Riders” rubber tires. Capps also believes his car will be available on its own in the near future.

The significance of this release isn’ t lost on Capps. His car and his sponsors will soon appear on the toy shelves in Walmart, Target, and other major retailers around the world. The sets will appeal to adults who grew up with the original Snake and Mongoose Hot Wheels toys, but also to the millions of young children who buy Hot Wheels – the top-selling toy in the world.

“ I played with the Hot Wheels cars as a kid,” said Capps, who hinted at some cool forthcoming announcements.“ I got to drive for [ Prudhomme ]. The most memorable moment for me is winning Indy, the biggest race we have, driving a car that’ s the Hot Wheels throwback. Then, I actually have a car as a Hot Wheels set with Don Prudhomme’ s original car in it. It’ s pretty wild.” DI

46 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 196