1957 Chevy Hemi Funny Car 1/24 Tom 'Mongoose' McEwen Scale Model Kit Build Review NHRA Drag Race

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This 1:24 Scale kit features 1 piece flip body and tubular frame, detailed dual-magneto engine, Separate rear wing and wheelie bars. Molded in white and clear with chrome plated parts and soft black tires, clear for the windows and updated decal sheet. Skill level 2. Officiallly licensed with General Motors and Tom McEwen.


In 1988 legendary Top Fuel and funny car drag racer Tom "Mongoose" McEwen introduced his fans to something really new. His new ride featured the classic body shape of the 1957 Chevy on a modern funny car chassis. With 1/4 mile runs at less than 6 seconds, this funny car could claim to be the fastest '57 Chevy in the world! Tom McEwen's drag racing career spanned more than 45 years with victories all along the way. However, he was most known for his famous match races against Don "The Snake" Prudhomme. These high-profile races defined a new era in professional drag racing with the introduction of nationally-known sponsors.

Tom McEwen (January 14, 1937[1] – June 11, 2018)[2][3] was an American drag racer who was a winner of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) U.S. Nationals.[clarification needed] His racing career spanned 45 years. He is ranked at number 16 on a list of the 50 most significant drivers of NHRA’s first 50 years.

Starting as an owner-driver, he received the nickname "the Mongoose" in 1964 from engine builder Ed Donovan, after McEwen signed up to drive Donovan's "vaunted" Donovan Engineering Special.[4] It was originally used as a device to entice Don "the Snake" Prudhomme into a high-exposure match race.[5]

After trouble getting the Gilmore Engineering-chassied Donovan dragster sorted out, McEwen quit (replaced by Prudhomme, no less) to drive for Lou Beney, in the Yeakel Plymouth dragster.[4] (Baney also conceived McEwen's mid-engined Hemi 'Cuda funny car.[4])

In 1965, he faced Hot Wheels teammate Prudhomme at the Hot Rod Magazine Championship Drag Races, held at Riverside Raceway, "one of the most significant drag racing events"[6] of that era; the Top Fuel Eliminator (TFE) trophy that year went to Jim Warren.[7]

McEwen also drove the ill-fated Super Mustang at its debut at the 1967 Winternats.[4]

Leaving the Super Mustang, McEwen joined the Bivens & Fisher team, driving their Checkmate dragster, and soon set an NHRA national record.[4]

McEwen won five NHRA national events, but his gift for gab and promotional ability made him one of the sport's most influential and controversial figures.[8]

As stated by Roland Leong,[9] "McEwen was the smartest of the bunch. When he came up with the Hot Wheels deal using the Snake and Mongoose characters, it shook the world of drag racing big time. He produced a sponsorship package that allowed him and Prudhomme to buy the best equipment, pay expenses, make money and sell their image all over the United States. I hate to admit it but McEwen and Prudhomme showed us the way to the future. They were a lot smarter than most of us who didn't see past the end of the quarter-mile."

McEwen gained his early experience in a variety of cars, beginning in 1953 with a '53 Oldsmobile at Santa Ana Drags in Irvine. He then went on to race a '54 Olds at Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach.

He went from the stock ranks to gas coupes, Altereds, and eventually dragsters and funny cars. Among the cars he drove were the Stone-Woods-Cook '50 Olds fastback, the Bader and Ferrara Cadillac-powered Crosseyed Crosley, Art Chrisman's Hustler II, the Bud Rasner and Gary Slusser Fiat coupe, Dick Rea's Chrysler-powered supercharged gas dragster, and Gene Adams' Albertson Olds.

McEwen won the AHRA World Finals at Spokane Raceway Park in 1982,[13] the prestigious Big Bud Shootout in 1984, and Top Fuel at the 1991 Summernationals at Englishtown, New Jersey.[14]

McEwen solved his Corvette funny car's stability problems by adding tip fences to the rear spoiler.[15]

His “gorgeous” 1957 Chevy replica was built as a tribute to the iconic Chevrolet. It was run as an NHRA exhibition vehicle and was responsible for creating Nostalgia Funny Car, even though the car would not (now) be legal in that class.[16] The car ran just three years, and was popular with fans and media alike.