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Excellent Story on Roland Leong
- Thread starter mick
- Start date
Years ago Roland brought the first Hawaiian top fuel dragster to Lions to get his top fuel license. the rules at that time you were required to make a half pass on the first run MAX. I reminded him three times of the requirements, once before he push started and twice when it lost fire push starting. when he finally made his first run he did not shut of at half track and ran the full quarter mile he got oiled in, not able to see where he was going he went to the left at high speed down the return road all the way to the end of Lions and on top of the railroad tracks. he only had minor injuries but later he was called to a NHRA drivers commission review board. I was a member of the drivers commission for 28 years, we all suggested that his license be taken for life for lack of following the rules after being informed of the rules many times. NHRA agreed later Roland's mother sent a letter to NHRA thanking them for taking his license for life. I don't think Roland would have achieved the greatness he achieved as a owner and crew chief had he continued to drive a race car. Roland has help so many racers through the years.
Larry Sutton---Lions Starter
Larry Sutton---Lions Starter
winr
Nitro Member
Here's a Roland story from a guy that none of you could pick out of a crowd of two...
2018 I was at the Winter Nationals strolling around happy as a pig in poop. Anyway I come up to the NHRA Member area and there is a small/slight commotion going on at the entrance. I walk up and there's Roland trying to go in but the young girl minding the gate isn’t allowing him in, Roland turns to me (god knows why) with a grin and says "she won’t let me in" some other spectator (Caren) starts yelling at the girl "don’t you know who this is... you need to let him in" Roland still standing there and in no way acting upset... then up walks Don Prudhomme and asks me (like he knows me) "what’s going on?", during the explanation, I’m guessing the young girls manager came up and said it was ok let him in..... crises averted. A very cool moment for me…I felt so special
2018 I was at the Winter Nationals strolling around happy as a pig in poop. Anyway I come up to the NHRA Member area and there is a small/slight commotion going on at the entrance. I walk up and there's Roland trying to go in but the young girl minding the gate isn’t allowing him in, Roland turns to me (god knows why) with a grin and says "she won’t let me in" some other spectator (Caren) starts yelling at the girl "don’t you know who this is... you need to let him in" Roland still standing there and in no way acting upset... then up walks Don Prudhomme and asks me (like he knows me) "what’s going on?", during the explanation, I’m guessing the young girls manager came up and said it was ok let him in..... crises averted. A very cool moment for me…I felt so special
I remember that night! And if I not mistaken, not long after, Don Prudomme had a new ride.Years ago Roland brought the first Hawaiian top fuel dragster to Lions to get his top fuel license. the rules at that time you were required to make a half pass on the first run MAX. I reminded him three times of the requirements, once before he push started and twice when it lost fire push starting. when he finally made his first run he did not shut of at half track and ran the full quarter mile he got oiled in, not able to see where he was going he went to the left at high speed down the return road all the way to the end of Lions and on top of the railroad tracks. he only had minor injuries but later he was called to a NHRA drivers commission review board. I was a member of the drivers commission for 28 years, we all suggested that his license be taken for life for lack of following the rules after being informed of the rules many times. NHRA agreed later Roland's mother sent a letter to NHRA thanking them for taking his license for life. I don't think Roland would have achieved the greatness he achieved as a owner and crew chief had he continued to drive a race car. Roland has help so many racers through the years.
Larry Sutton---Lions Starter
glofria
Nitro Member
Mahalo iā ʻoe (thank you) for sharing this.
If you follow Roland Leong"s official Facebook page, you know that he and Prudhomme are very good friends to this day. In fact, they usually attend the geezer gatherings together and Don was there for Hawaiian HOF induction.
My experience with Roland is he is as down to earth as anyone possible. I learned a lot about him from our old crew member Ray Kobayoshi who lived down the street from Roland cousins in Hawaii. Ray came to the mainland back in the 60's after Roland asked if he would go on tour with him as a crew member. One story Ray said that there was 4 of them (from Hawaii) that was driving at night on a small back woods highway in (I think it was) Alabama when they got pulled over by a local deputy. You can imagine the look they got when the deputy walked up to the window. Roland was a little older and took care of everything.
I asked Ray what it was liked growing up in Hawaii and he said it was great to be a kid back then, but no different than any other childhood. doing the math in my head, I then asked if his family was sent to an internment camp? His response was, "Yes, but I was really too young to remember and the family never spoke of it." It was an ugly mark on our country's history, but one that should never be forgotten.
If you follow Roland Leong"s official Facebook page, you know that he and Prudhomme are very good friends to this day. In fact, they usually attend the geezer gatherings together and Don was there for Hawaiian HOF induction.
My experience with Roland is he is as down to earth as anyone possible. I learned a lot about him from our old crew member Ray Kobayoshi who lived down the street from Roland cousins in Hawaii. Ray came to the mainland back in the 60's after Roland asked if he would go on tour with him as a crew member. One story Ray said that there was 4 of them (from Hawaii) that was driving at night on a small back woods highway in (I think it was) Alabama when they got pulled over by a local deputy. You can imagine the look they got when the deputy walked up to the window. Roland was a little older and took care of everything.
I asked Ray what it was liked growing up in Hawaii and he said it was great to be a kid back then, but no different than any other childhood. doing the math in my head, I then asked if his family was sent to an internment camp? His response was, "Yes, but I was really too young to remember and the family never spoke of it." It was an ugly mark on our country's history, but one that should never be forgotten.
We have a remnant of an internment camp for Japanese Americans, around Parker, AZ (kinda by Colorado river). Really hot in the summer, must have been hard for those folks. In WWII, a lot of Japanese Americans volunteered for the Army & a lot of them came from the internment camps. Go For Broke was the slogan and they were heroic in battle.
We also had a German POW camp in Scottsdale. Story goes that the Germans saw a map of the area, noted Salt River on the map. Decided to escape & float down the river. Only problem was that the Salt has no water - dry river bed. They got captured pretty quick. But at least one of them came to Phoenix area to live after the war.
We also had a German POW camp in Scottsdale. Story goes that the Germans saw a map of the area, noted Salt River on the map. Decided to escape & float down the river. Only problem was that the Salt has no water - dry river bed. They got captured pretty quick. But at least one of them came to Phoenix area to live after the war.
Slowpoke96z28
Nitro Member
Chassis guru Dave Uyehara was born in a Japanese-American internment camp. And as strange as it sounds, we had a German POW camp here in Daytona Beach, FL.
Dragracer
Nitro Member
I was with Cerny's junior fuel car and we had just made a run and were still on the return road at top end. Roland came down the track at we weren't to far away from where he crashed. We went over there after he had got out of the car and you guys were checking him out. Keith Black was there with his Ranchero and he was really mad. He told Roland "so now what is your mother when I tell her you crashed the car on the first run, plus a few more choice words. As we know he never drove again. One of the memories when drag racing was still a lot of fun and you didn't have to break the bank to go racing.Years ago Roland brought the first Hawaiian top fuel dragster to Lions to get his top fuel license. the rules at that time you were required to make a half pass on the first run MAX. I reminded him three times of the requirements, once before he push started and twice when it lost fire push starting. when he finally made his first run he did not shut of at half track and ran the full quarter mile he got oiled in, not able to see where he was going he went to the left at high speed down the return road all the way to the end of Lions and on top of the railroad tracks. he only had minor injuries but later he was called to a NHRA drivers commission review board. I was a member of the drivers commission for 28 years, we all suggested that his license be taken for life for lack of following the rules after being informed of the rules many times. NHRA agreed later Roland's mother sent a letter to NHRA thanking them for taking his license for life. I don't think Roland would have achieved the greatness he achieved as a owner and crew chief had he continued to drive a race car. Roland has help so many racers through the years.
Larry Sutton---Lions Starter
Gone Dead Train
Nitro Member
David, I will help out. It is Kenny Hirata and the Ono Bros.
Jim Harnsberger in the seat Ono Bros. AA/FD. Looks like one of the Ono Bros. with the VHT
jug in hand. Just classic
Mitts ono
Years ago Roland brought the first Hawaiian top fuel dragster to Lions to get his top fuel license. the rules at that time you were required to make a half pass on the first run MAX. I reminded him three times of the requirements, once before he push started and twice when it lost fire push starting. when he finally made his first run he did not shut of at half track and ran the full quarter mile he got oiled in, not able to see where he was going he went to the left at high speed down the return road all the way to the end of Lions and on top of the railroad tracks. he only had minor injuries but later he was called to a NHRA drivers commission review board. I was a member of the drivers commission for 28 years, we all suggested that his license be taken for life for lack of following the rules after being informed of the rules many times. NHRA agreed later Roland's mother sent a letter to NHRA thanking them for taking his license for life. I don't think Roland would have achieved the greatness he achieved as a owner and crew chief had he continued to drive a race car. Roland has help so many racers through the years.
Larry Sutton---Lions Starter
One thing we rarely seem to read about regarding the infamous incident at Lions, is that Roland evidently had quite a bit of experience in gas dragsters - mostly, or maybe all - in Hawaii. So it isn't like he had never been down a drag strip before. He just had never driven a fuel car, and he chose to "leg it" all the way down, instead of being a bit more cautious.
