Career
In 1967, Leong failed to three-peat at Pomona or Indianapolis, but did triumph that year at two popular independent drag races, the notoriously fierce March Meet in Bakersfield, and the Hot Rod Magazine Championships in Riverside, California. In 1969, abandoned campaigning Top Fuel Dragster in favor of the burgeoning Funny Carolina class. In 1971, Leong"s "Hawaiian" Funny Carolina repeated at Pomona, winning Funny Carolina Eliminator again, this time with Butch Maas driving. Throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s, Leong campaigned a variety of "Hawaiian" Funny Cars, both in NHRA competition, as well as "match racing" at smaller, independent tracks.
In 1980, having hired Ron Colson to drive in what was that man"s final year as a professional race-car driver, Leong tuned his "King"s Hawaiian Bread" Corvette Funny Carolina to victory at the NHRA Winston World Finals in Ontario, California.
Besides being Colson"s last race, the event was also notable as being the last drag race at Ontario Motor Speedway. The car crashed and was destroyed later that year at the NHRA World Finals at Orange County International Raceway.
Later, at the Chief Nationals in Dallas, Texas, his "Hawaiian Punch" Funny Carolina was the first in the class to break the 290-mph speed mark. Following the 1991 season, Roland relinquished his role as car owner.
In 1996, he began serving as a crew chief for the Red Lincolnshire Oil Dodge Avenger Funny Carolina of Ray Higley.
Despite the entry"s limited finances, with Leong"s input and expertise, Higley posted his career-best 1/4-mile elapsed time, posting a 5.00-second clocking at the 1996 United States Nationals. In 1998, Don Prudhomme, then retired from driving and now a multi-car team owner, hired Leong to tune his "Skoal" Funny Carolina. In 2009, after having taken a hiatus from the sport, Leong returned to drag racing, now acting as crew chief for "vintage" Nitro Funny Cars racing primarily in NHRA"s new Hot Rod Heritage Series.
In 2014, Canadian drag racer Ron Hodgson hired Leong to tune the Troy Lee Designs Nitro Funny Carolina driven by Tim Boychuk, for competition in the NHRA Heritage Series.
