At Speed Week in 1971, the #700 Swain Brothers & Leggitt class "C" (300ci blown Chrysler HEMI) Modified Roadster bumped the C/MR record up from 225.078 mph to 249+ mph:
May he rest in peace...Quite an accomplished Racer he was...I suspect he was part of the 200mph Club...Fly high Hotrodder...
At the 1974 Bonneville National Speed Trials, the #102 {Chauvin} EMMONS ~ {Dale} HAYS ~ {Les} LEGGITT B-motored (Blown 360ci Chrysler HEMI) Modified Roadster (B/MR) set a new two-way average record of 269+ mph (with a top speed of 274.390 mph): images by Richard @cheap-n-dirty McFarland images from page 56 of the February 1975 issue of HOT ROD Magazine
No . . . Les was an engine builder/tuner . . . never a driver . . . though his son Brandon got his "red hat" in 2018 driving "THE BEAST" Studebaker to a two-way average of 293.858 mph:
This hurts! I really looked up to that guy- his Studebaker was very much like mine, but Leggitt's is 100 MPH faster, and mine's no slug! Brandon has been over 335 in that car; I'm pretty sure it's the fastest assembly line built car in the world. I went out to Hesperia in 2020 and got the full tour with Les and Brandon. They were very gracious, and Les was very curious about my combination, even though it's a stack of worn out junk compared to their stuff. Les was wrenching on a hemi when I got there, but he took time to talk. I was inspired by his drive at his age, I hope I can keep at it nearly as long. Les was a Nitro Hemi genius. If you wanted to go 300 at Bonneville, you got a Leggitt engine. I wish my condolences to Brandon and Les' family. God speed Sir!
Thank you for your obituary of yet another Bonneville/hot rod great. I appreciate you enlightening us about these amazing people. Being close in age to these fallen racers, my accomplishments in their fields are very very small, but I think it is really important to share their history with us, especially the younger guys on the HAMB who may not know of all their amazing accomplishments. If you ever put your feet on the salt at Bonneville, you can appreciate the amount of work and $$$ it takes to race down the course.
The first time I heard of Les, was in 1973, when he was working with the Swain Brothers on a Sand Dragster at the dry river bed at Bakersfield. The man knew how to make horsepower and engines that stay together. I shot this picture at El Mirage in the Fall of 2017.
Les and I have been friends since 1975 when he helped me with my first record setting GMC. We also started an Orange County based SCTA Club with 12 other local guys including Neil Thompson and the Hoy Brothers. I spent many hours in his shops and his backyard working with him. The man could make horse power, engines that could set records and his cars and name is on the Hot Rod trophy for the fastest one way speed at Bonneville to prove it. I remember one year his KB was put in a pickle fork hydro called the “Iceman” for a few boat drag racing. He had his own way and stuck to it…. He was a friend and I will miss him.
Without folks like Les Leggitt, the world is getting to be a duller place . . . With your ground pounding, blown nitro engines, you brought joy to so many gear heads! Quick stat: 3 of the 5 members of the "300mph" chapter of the El Mirage Dirty Two Club got in via Les Leggitt power. R.I.P.
Thank you Les Leggitt and Brandon for letting me be part of the great adventure! I felt like a kid getting to play in the Super Bowl. I had the time of my life. THANK YOU FOR THE ADVENTURE. Rest In Peace Les Leggitt, a great man and a genuinely nice person.
At Speed Week in 1966, a 26-year-old Les Leggitt built/tuned the Blown Fuel Chrysler HEMI engines in Neil Thompson's #400 Studebaker that that bumped the A / Competition Coupe record up to 265.131 mph . . . and the C / Competition Coupe record up to 233.047 mph:
The Jalopy Journal
