Folks Of Interest RIP Hawaiian - Roland Leong

Rest In Peace Roland.

Condolences to family and friends. We are losing too many.

 

Ohhhh, that! I was just playing along and being a smartass. We’re losing to many of these legends. Had a feeling this one might be coming after we lost Don Schumacher.

 

There’s an episode of that Jesse James show “Monster Garage” with Roland as a mentor of some sort on whatever they were trying to build. Can’t remember what the challenge was but Roland was hardcore and hilarious. Obviously O.T. for the HAMB but it made me giggle thinking about it just now. Quite a dude.

I remember something about a surprise birthday party for “The Snake” and they tricked Prudhomme into going by him thinking it was a celebration for Roland. Don made a comment going in the door to the party about it being a bit much overboard for celebrating Roland.

 

My condolences to his family, friends and fans.

 

Yet another legend passes on. Rest in peace Roland Leong.

 

Most of us old guys who raced have some memories of Roland. His life story is interesting. R.I.P. Mr. Leong.

 

In 1970, stationed at Pendleton, I was at the laundramat in Carlsbad across from Dragmasters shop when he noticed me packing up my '69 Charger. He came over to check it out, chatted for about 5 minutes, really nice guy.

 

I bought the book they released on the Hawaiin back in October, excellent book.

 

I was lucky enough to be at a nostalgia drag race in Kansas City about 15 years ago and met Roland Leong , him and Don Gartlits were signing autographs .
RIP Roland .

 

Another icon gone... RIP Roland

 

Sad news to hear to today.. My sincere condolences to his family and friends ... RIP Roland..

 

Another of the good guys gone. RIP!

 

RIP Roland. I got his autograph when I was a kid at the March Meet in Bakersfield.

 

One of my favourite funny cars, the 69 Charger. The bamboo lettering and the Charger body was perfect.

RIP Mr. Leong.

 

Condolences to the Leong family and friends in the passing of Roland...A master in the Go fast Culture and Team Atmosphere...also doing the walk in many shoes it seems...may he rest in peace with cackling never far away...

 

That’s correct! I was going to post that but you beat (the Christmas tree) me to it!

 

Sorry to hear this. I saw him race Connie Kalitta at York US30 in about 1969 or 70. His cars were always magazine quality. As a dumb kid I was standing right behind them at the start line. Not only did I get a face full of molten rubber but I experienced nitro for the first time. Will never forget that night.

 

RIP Mr. Leong.

 

Sorry to hear this RIP my friend

 

Always one of my favorite racers back from the golden age of funny cars. Sad to hear the news. My sincere condolences to his family, friends and fans around the world. Vaya con Dios, Bruddah..........E

 

As a young kid I drank a lot of Hawaiian Punch just to keep that car running! Going to miss him.

 

rest in speed Roland

 

IIRC, the "team" was building a drag racer of some kind (possibly the wheel standing Ambulance )
Roland was brought in as the "experienced pro/advisor"
All I remember is Roland was mixing the Nitromethane and Jesse dared to ask how he knew if he had the proportions correct.
Roland rolled his eyes and made a snarky remark about "I've been doing this for a while" or "this isn't the first time I've done this"

RIP Flyin' Hawaiian

 

Alright, now I have to track down that episode of “monster garage”. I’m thinking that a couple of the “technicians” got snarky with Roland and he put them right back in their place. Don’t remember the details but I couldn’t stop laughing. Absolute racer and will be missed but we should all be grateful for what he brought to the table.

 

Go with God.

 

Here is how I remember the episode, the group was building an Anglia, starting with a very good original. They had Roland, starting with a crate SBC, install a blower and injector that they mounted in the chassis the group fabbed up. It only needed to startup in an allotted time, or it would be shredded or melted down well, Roland couldn’t make it run. That’s the way I remember it.

 

RIP Roland
Was at PIR in the mid 70's (pretty sure), I don't recall who was driving but I witnessed the Hawaiian Chargers' body rocket straight up in the air.
Man, that was a long time ago!

 

RIP Roland!

 

RIP Roland, another legand lost.
Back in 2005 Dad and I were able to meet and talk to Roland and TV Tommy Ivo at the California Hot Rod Reunion. Both seem like great guys and were more then happy to pose with Dad for a picture.

 

Here's a few color images of Roland's other "HAMB-friendly" racecar . . . "The HAWAIIAN" Top Fuel dragster . . . circa 1964 - 1966:

photo by Ray Robinson


Roland Leong & Don Prudhomme "The HAWAIIAN" photo shoot - photographer unknown





1965 at Half Moon Bay - photos by Steve Reyes


at the 1965 Winternationals - photographer unknown


February 1966 Photo Shoot - photographer unknown




1966 at Bakersfield - photographer unknown


at the 1966 Winternationals - photographer unknown




1966 at Fremont - photos by Jon Morishita


artwork by Mark Lueck​