Elana Shahcar and driver
From chocolate-coated macadamia nuts to surfing to winning racers, good things come from the Hawaiian Islands. Danny Ongais has raced everything from Top Fuel to F1. Motocross legend John DeSoto. And the famous Funny Carr and his tuner Roland Leon share more than just the island’s birthplace.
They are the only representatives of motorsport, but that leaves powerboat racer Thomas Gentry.
Leon is the newest member of the Hall of Fame, officially joining the list in 2020, but due to COVID, the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame induction was postponed, with only the honors being celebrated on August 25, 2022. We finally held a meeting. As Leong took the stage, he was introduced by his first driver, Don “the Snake” Prudhomme, and we cheered. It was the first time the two had visited Hawaii together since they met in 1964.
Oahu street racing
Leon grew up on Oahu and used to race cars on the streets, much to the dismay of his parents. “My father had a master’s degree from Harvard. My mother was also a college graduate, very rare for a woman in her 30s. They wanted to be drag racers and they weren’t happy.”
Leon’s father hadn’t spoken to him in years, but when his mother came along and he went from street racing to running dragsters on the island’s only track, the Kahuku Dragstrip, Leong held the gas dragster record of 8.50 at 180 mph when he met Prudhomme, who was piloting the Greer, Black, and Prudhomme nitro dragsters. Even though Prudhomme could barely understand Leon’s mix of Hawaiian slang and accented English, the two hit it off. Talking cars were a common language.
Later that year, Leong was in California working in a chassis shop building his own top fueler. The first drive didn’t work. “Should I have gone half way? I didn’t know that.” [Engine builder] Keith Black was not satisfied. He said he didn’t want to tell his parents I died in the car so he couldn’t support me if I drove. ”
Elana Shah
Black recommended Prudhomme because his GBP car partner had told him to stop. Prudhomme started driving his Leong, picked up a new car dubbed ‘The Hawaiian’ and won numerous match race rounds at the NHRA Pomona Winternationals and the Indy US Nats. “I always tell Prudhomme that I was lucky that I wasn’t worthy as a driver, otherwise he wouldn’t have had a career,” Leon says. “In 1965, on the road across America, there was a Chinese Hawaiian and a black man, and he was usually the only two in the restaurant. But we never got into trouble. There are too many cars to care who was with us.”
Prudhomme left Leon the following year, but he said he regretted watching the Hawaiians drive another driver and repeat their wins at the Winter Nationals and the U.S. Championships. Leon becomes infamous for changing the Hotshoe roster. “Not everyone had the same desire to win as I did,” he says with a shrug.
“The Hawaiian”
Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame
In 1969, he built a funny car, noting that fuel cars with bodies were more popular with fans than long bare rails, and had more opportunities to race. Leon’s ‘Hawaiian’ car won regularly, including the famous Bakersfield March his meet in 1967 and his ’83, and in 1991 he later became the first funny car to exceed 290 mph. It was a record-setting car and won another U.S. championship. His last year as team owner was in 1993, but he continued to work as a hired crew chief and rejoined his old pal Snake, with a young driver named Ron Capps at the wheel. I adjusted the Copenhagen Funny Car. They finished second to John Force in the 1997 championship.
What might be considered a solid career by some, Leon continued tuning nitro cars after leaving NHRA’s “Big Show”, working for nostalgic racers in the NHRA’s Heritage Series. Through it all, Leong remained friends with many of his teammates, including his Prudhomme. Now Hawaiian and Snake are now at his 78 and his 81, respectively, but they act like they were in his early 20s the same way they were when they met, pointing out hot cars and talking about various missteps. talking to each other. “You know, Snake and I used to have lunch at Van Nuys every day,” Leon said. “He worked in a paint shop and I persuaded him to travel with me in ’65, so he quit and he hasn’t had a real job since.”
That’s one way to explain Prudhomme’s 389-round winning career, but Leon knew him long before he was a big shot. Ever since we were both kids in Hawaii talking about cars, we never imagined they’d be back in the Hall of Halls. Fame induction after about 60 years.
Elana Shah
Elana Shah
Leon was inducted as part of the 2020 class alongside surfer Ben Aipa and racquetball champion Egan Inouye. It included Ahuna and sports promoter Larry Price. The Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame is a national museum that chronicles the achievements of Hawaii’s athletes in all sports.
