CONTRIBUTOR – AUTO RACING

Roland Leong’s drag racing career was brief, just 8.01 seconds to he exact. That’s the time it took the then-20-year old to speed down a Los Angeles-area drag strip at 191 miles per hour and crash when he couldn’t find the parachute release. The accident convinced the Hawai’i-
born Leong that his proper place in the high-speed sport wasn’t behind the wheel but as a member of the pit crew as an engine tuner and car owner. He soon teamed with another youngster, drag racing legend-to-be Don Prudhomme to win both the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Winternationals and the U.S. Nationals in 1965. Leong repeated the double win a year later, taking the prestigious races again in 1966, this time with driver Mike SInvely behind the wheel.