Cars have always been a big part of the landscape in Southern California and thats why so many car dealers sponsored race cars or races back in the 1960s which was, of course, the era of the muscle car. One such dealer was the Yeakel Plymouth Center, which made a living by smashing prices and sponsoring some of the great drag race cars in the area. The most famous car that they ever put their name on was the Yeakel Plymouth Special Top Fuel dragster that was driven by a young man by the name of Tom McEwen.

In 1965 there were only four national events on the race schedule but there were Top Fuel races at almost every track in Southern California almost every week. Among the biggest attractions in those days were Top Fuel match races and one of the key ingredients to any successful match was Tom The Mongoose McEwen. Driving the beautiful Yeakel Plymouth car the Goose highlighted races at Lions Drag Strip in which he faced Chris Karamesines and Don Prudhomme among others and, more often than not, he came out the winner. Prior to his much-hyped race with Don Prudhomme, Tom proclaimed that I am the greatest, and then he went out and proved it. A 7.82 in round one coupled with a patented Mongoose holeshot easily beat Prudhommes much quicker 7.56. After dropping the round two encounter Tom came back to beat the Snake again in round three to take the win and again he did it on a holeshot.

While Toms driving was a big part of the cars success even he had to admit that he was at the controls of a pretty impressive race car. With a specially built Woody Gilmore chassis and a strong 392 Chrysler engine this car was destined for fame and fortune. Throw in the impeccable tuning capabilities of John Garrison and its easy to see why the folks at Yeakel Plymouth decided to get on board. In addition to the series of match race victories Tom also took the car to several wins on the UDRA circuit and he was the top qualifier at the 1965 Hot Rod Magazine meet at Riverside Raceway. At that race, the beautiful car with the hot young driver clocked a stunning 7.52 at a speed of 211.76, good for low elapsed time and top speed at one of the biggest races of the year. So, in 1965, while the Yeakel Plymouth Center was smashing prices, the car that they sponsored was busy smashing the competition and earning a spot for itself in the history of drag racing.  Bob Frey

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