The new car was chopped, channeled, shortened and narrowed creating a scale Charger that was roughly the same size as the Challengers, Novas and Mustangs other racers were campaigning. Leong built another Charger with major changes. Reyes wasn’t hurt, but the first Hawaiian funny car was history. Then after a first-round win, the Charger got airborne and crashed. He barely qualified for the 1969 Winternationals. Driver Larry Reyes reported the big car handled poorly. His first car, a full-size Dodge Charger had a very short life. Then Leong decided to go Funny Car racing. Leong wrenched his cars to major top fuel wins which included the Winternationals (twice), Bakersfield Fuel and Gas Championships and the US Nationals. He recruited some of the best drivers in racing to shoe his top-fuel cars, including Don Prudhomme and Mike Sorokin. Initially, Leong tried driving but discovered he was better in the role of team manager. Before the Funny Cars, there as the Hawaiian Top Fuelers The reports coming out of the big California tracks always showed Leong and his drivers to be a dominant force. So I wasn’t star-struck at seeing a famous race car.īut this was Roland Leong’s Hawaiian. I had already seen some legendary funny cars including the Ramchargers, Seaton’s Shaker and Roger Lindamood’s Color Me Gone. I liked the car, but it wasn’t my favorite. It wasn’t like I was a huge Hawaiian fan. I can still remember the excitement I felt seeing the Hawaiian Funny Car for the first time.
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