1971 Hot Wheels Big Belter and Matchmaker Victory Pak Drag Set

By mixing the Big Belter & Matchmaker

The Big Belter & Matchmaker box art – side.

with the Victory Pak

Victory Pak box art – front.

you can make one of the coolest drag sets for 1971.  It’s basically the Wild Wheelie Set for your regular cars and Rrrumblers.

This set includes 32 feet of orange track, 12 joiners, 1 Big Belter, 1 Matchmaker, 1 automatic-reset finish gate, 2 ‘chute traps and 4 drag ‘chutes.

Here’s a run down the drag strip.

Ready…Set…

GOOOooooo!

Charging down the track.

Tucked in tight.

Furai leading.

Through the automatic-reset finish gate. The Furai wins!

Poppin’ the ‘chutes and coming to a stop.

See how two cars do against two 1971 Rrrumblers motorcycles in my YouTube video.

So there you have it. The 1971 Big Belter & Matchmaker Victory Pak Drag Set.

It’s still fast. Still fun.

Instructions for this layout in the Big Belter & Matchmaker sheet. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Close-up of Big Belter & Matchmaker box art – side.

Close-up of Big Belter & Matchmaker box art – back.

Victory Pak box art – back.

Victory Pak box art – side.

Victory Pak instructions – page 1. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Victory Pak instructions – page 2. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Victory Pak instructions – page 3. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Victory Pak instructions – Step 1. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Victory Pak instructions – Step 2. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Victory Pak instructions – Step 3. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

1971 accessories including the Big Belter and Victory Pak from the 1971 Collector’s Catalogue. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

1971 Hot Wheels Mongoose and Snake Wild Wheelie Set

Hot Wheels fans were introduced to Don Prudhomme, the Snake, and Tom McEwen, the Mongoose, through funny cars.  But these two also drove dragsters.

The Snake rail dragster.

The Mongoose rail dragster.

For 1971 Mattel put their rail dragsters on the Mongoose & Snake Wild Wheelie Set.

Box art – front. Courtesy eBay.

Box art – back. Courtesy eBay.

The novelty feature of this set is the cars ability to wheelie out of the start gate and down the track.  The cars have a metal weight in the back that can be locked to the cockpit causing the dragster to wheelie.

Metal in the back. Light weight in the front. Courtesy eBay.

Dragster Pak instructions – back of card. Courtesy eBay.

A pair of trailing wheels on the back give the dragsters stability as they maintain the wheelie down the track at high speed.

To tip the front ends back down before crossing the finish line, the cars cross a balancer track piece.

This unlocks the weights and drops the cars out of wheelie position.

The finish gate is automated.

The winning car pushes a checkered flag up into the air.  The flag then resets to the resting position a few seconds later.

Lane 1 swing arm extended with resulting flag deployment.

Finally, the cars cross the ‘chute traps and deploy two drag ‘chutes bringing the race to an end.

It’s a lot of action in one race.

Here are the instructions:

Front page.

Front page close-up.

Safe drive rules.

Track components laid out.

 

Contents close-up.

Steps 1, 2 & 3.

Steps 4, 5 & 6.

Steps 7 & 8.

Step 7 close-up (top).

Step 7 close-up (middle).

Step 7 close-up (bottom).

Last page.

Last page close-up (cars).

Last page close-up (RRRumblers).

Last page close-up (display).

So there you have it.  The 1971 Hot Wheels Mongoose & Snake Wild Wheelie Set.

It’s still fast. Still fun.

1971 Collector’s catalogue. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

1972 Collector’s catalogue. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Box art – side. Color. Courtesy eBay.

Box art – side. Black, red and white. Courtesy eBay.

Box art – end. Courtesy eBay.

Box art – back. Caption. Courtesy eBay.

Wild Wheelie Drag Set contents. Courtesy eBay.

You can also buy the Mongoose & Snake rail dragsters in a blister pak.

Dragster Pak – front. Courtesy eBay.

1971 Collector’s catalogue. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Close-up of Mongoose & Snake dragsters and funny cars in the 1971 Collector’s catalogue. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Mongoose & Snake dragsters poster – 40th anniversary. Courtesy eBay.

Tom McEwen dragster poster. Courtesy eBay.

1971 Hot Wheels Mongoose and Snake Drag Set (U.K.)

The 1970 Hot Wheels Mongoose & Snake Drag Race Set with gravity powered start gate, double loops, finish gate and drag ‘chutes was a huge success in North America.  For 1971 this funny car set was updated in the U.K.  And this time it looked like an authentic drag strip.

UK box art – front. Plus contents. Courtesy eBay.

UK box art – sides and back. Courtesy eBay.

Track components include 1 Big Belter, 1 Matchmaker, 32 feet of orange track, 12 joiners, 1 finish gate, 2 ‘chute traps and 2 drag ‘chutes.

I’ll be racing four 1994 reissues of the Mongoose and Snake funny cars.

l to r: green Snake Barracuda, yellow Snake Barracuda, red Mongoose Duster and blue Mongoose Duster.

Close-up of the Mongoose cars.

Close-up of the Snake cars.

Here’s a race down the track.

Ready on the launch pad.

GOOOooooooo!

Blasting down the track!

Snake leading…barely.

Stretching to the finish.

Snake wins! Into the ‘chute traps.

Popin’ the ‘chutes. Cutting the engines.

Coming to a stop.

Here’s how the 4 cars made out on this 1971 track.

So there you have it.  The 1971 Hot Wheels Mongoose & Snake Drag Set from the U.K.

It’s still fast.  Still fun.

1971 U.K. Dealer’s catalogue. From GranToros.com website.

The men themselves. Don Prudhomme (left) and Tom McEwan (right).

40th anniversary poster.

Peterson Automotive Museum poster.

Yet another reissue of the famous Mongoose & Snake Drag Race Set.

‘Chute Pak from the UK. Box art – front. Courtesy eBay.

‘Chute Pak from UK. Box art – back. Courtesy eBay.

UK ‘Chute Pak contents. Courtesy eBay.