{"id":42852,"date":"2020-09-15T08:15:33","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T12:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=42852"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:22:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:22:17","slug":"two-in-one-california-flash-and-mr-direct-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2020\/09\/two-in-one-california-flash-and-mr-direct-connection.html","title":{"rendered":"Two in One, California Flash and Mr. Direct Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are many drag racers who were fortunate to make a living doing burnouts and banging gears, all while traveling to race tracks across the country. For Butch Leal, he was in the thick of it throughout the 1960s and \u201970s. Leal established himself as a tough competitor and one not to be taken lightly despite being a teenager at the time. In the early 1960s, representatives from Detroit\u2019s Big Three descended upon the drag strips of Southern California to offer sponsorship opportunities for talented drivers and tuners. Leal was noticed immediately for his youthful, clean cut and \u201cboy next door\u201d appearance, but it was his sharp driving skills that sealed the deal. Soon, Leal was racing a brand-new 1962 409 Chevrolet Biscayne and then in 1963, an aluminum front end Z11 Chevy Impala with a 427 found its way into Leal\u2019s hands. Unfortunately for Leal, GM cancelled their factory support for all their racing programs by the end of 1963. In 1964, with the help of performance parts icon, innovator and friend, Mickey Thompson, Leal landed a Ford deal piloting one of the just released, lightweight Ford Thunderbolts. It was during his time racing the Ford Thunderbolt that it was suggested to Leal that he needed a catchy name to help him get match race bookings from track promoters. After dinner with some racing friends, the name \u201cCalifornia Flash\u201d was mentioned by a friend’s wife and the moniker has stuck with Leal ever since. While having great racing success with both Chevy and Ford during the prior three years, it was a slew of HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> engine-powered Plymouths starting in 1965 that brought Leal his fame and fortune. It would last for over a decade racing under the Plymouth and Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> Direct Connection banner.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So how did Chrysler land this young\ntalented driver? Well, like many things in life, it was all timing and being in\nthe right place at the right time. \u201cI was at the 1964 NHRA U.S. Nationals\nracing my Thunderbolt when a representative from the Ford race group told me I\nwouldn\u2019t have a deal for next year. Just after hearing the news, I got a tap on\nthe shoulder for Bob Cahill who managed the whole Chrysler racing program at\nthe time. He asked if I\u2019d be interested in racing a new HEMI-powered Plymouth\nA990 Altered-Wheelbase car for the 1965 season. He mentioned that Chrysler was\nlooking for talented four-speed drivers and wanted to know if I\u2019d be interested.\nOf course I said \u2018yes\u2019 and ended up winning the 1965 NHRA U.S. Nationals with a\nSuper Stock HEMI Plymouth,\u201d said Leal.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By 1966, things got really hairy real fast for the\nAltered-Wheelbase class. These cars began to \u201cmorph\u201d into Funny Cars despite\nnot officially known as such. Many racers, including Leal, began running more\nnitromethane in the tank for more horsepower and thus, quicker times. The stock\nchassis and suspension became maxed out and Plymouth Belvedere became ill-handling.\nLeal decided to build a new car with the help of Ron Logghe from Logghe Brothers\nStamping in Detroit. At the time, Logghe was a state-of-the-art chassis fabricator for\nTop Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars. Leal then ran down to Dayton, Ohio and\npicked up a new 1967 Plymouth Barracuda Car body. Leal put his car-building\nskills to good use constructing the interior and underbody tin work while also\nmassaging the rough edges around the Barracuda\u2019s fiberglass body. While running\non 100% nitro, Leal\u2019s 426 HEMI engine-powered Barracuda Funny Car clicked off 7.80 ETs\nat will. With Chrysler looking to get its sponsored racers back into more\nproduction-based cars, Leal would sell the Barracuda to none other than Don Schumacher,\nwho currently has Dodge\/Mopar drivers Leah Pritchett and Matt Hagan running out\nof his shop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By late 1967 and into 1968, Leal hooked up with a local\ndealer, Delano Dodge in Tulare, California. One of the dealer partners, Dave\nPrice, was an avid drag racing fan and knew it was one of the ways to get\ncustomers into the showroom. They hired Leal to drive a 1967 Coronet \u201cWO\u201d Street\nHEMI Package Car and like a fish to water, Leal began winning races.\nEventually, Leal contacted Bob Cahill for one of the new 1968 HEMI Dart Super\nStockers and one was sent to Delano Dodge. Unfortunately for Leal, he was never\nable to take advantage of the Dart\u2019s true performance potential, the\npartnership among the dealership\u2019s owners dissolved and Leal had to return the\nHEMI Dart midway through the 1968 racing season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo credit: Jere Alhadeff (shot at Irwindale)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By 1969 and into 1970, Leal raced a BOSS 429 Mustang and\nBig-Block Camaro. Despite this, his heart was still with Mopar. It was during another\nchance meeting with Bob Cahill – this time in the grandstands at Ontario Motor\nSpeedway during the 1970 NHRA Finals – that Leal expressed his desire to rejoin\nthe Chrysler Factory Race Team. With the new Pro Stock class gaining traction,\nLeal discussed with Cahill his thoughts on building a HEMI engine-powered Plymouth\nDuster for the 1971 season. \u201cI told Cahill the Duster is six inches narrower\nthan the Barracuda. He replied the Duster\u2019s windshield is two-inches taller\nthan the Barracuda. I said no problem, we can fix that,\u201d laughed Leal as his\nchassis builder lowered the car and changed the frontal area. Soon, a Duster\n\u2018Body-In-White\u2019 was sent to Ron Butler\u2019s shop in California to be constructed\ninto Pro Stock. Cahill also sent a complete Duster for all the interior and\nexterior rim parts. Throughout the 1971 and 1972 race season, Leal\u2019s Pro Stock\nHEMI Duster racked up numerous wins and records, including the 1971 NHRA Western\nConference Championship, 1971 and 1972 NHRA Division 7 Pro Stock Champion, 1972\nDRAG NEWS Pro Stock Driver of the Year and 1972 Bakersfield March Meet Pro Stock\nChampion, along with the 1971 Pro Stock record of 9.57 @ 144.92 mph. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo credit: Leslie Lovett \/ NHRA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After two years of Dodge and\nPlymouth HEMI Pro Stockers putting the competition on the trailer, NHRA had enough. To equalize the field,\nthe NHRA penalized the Mopar teams by added more weight to their car while\nadjusting the rules to give the Chevy and Ford entries a distinct advantage.\nLeal had Ron Butler build another tricked-out Pro Stock Duster for 1973 but it\nwas a constant uphill battle for Leal and the other Mopar Pro Stock drivers.\nAfter two years of frustration, Chrysler racing boss Bob Cahill, along with Dick\nMaxwell and 426 HEMI Godfather, Tom Hoover, all agreed to have their factory\nteams boycott Pro Stock for the 1974 season. Once again, and almost a decade\nlater, Leal was banging gears in a 1965 Plymouth A990 HEMI Super Stocker. \u201cI\nwas back driving a four-speed car and competing Super Stock handicap racing. This is the most competitive racing on the\ntree I had ever experienced, and I was competing against the best drivers. To\nquote Super Stock Magazine <\/em><\/strong>back in 1974, my 1965 HEMI Plymouth\nA990 Super Stocker was \u2018The most feared car in drag racing.\u2019 Rightfully so, as I\nwon the 1974 NHRA Summernationals at Englishtown, New Jersey,\u201d commented Leal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With NHRA still not willing to budge on their unrealistic\nrules that handicapped Mopar Pro Stockers, it was Leal who was once again in\nthe right place at the right time. It was 1975 and Mopar had just launched\nDirect Connection. An innovative parts program designed for professional and\namateur drag racers along with street enthusiasts. Mopar Direct Connection\nParts were designed by Chrysler engineers specifically for Dodge and Plymouth\nvehicles. All the knowledge Chrysler has gained from years of competing in Super\nStock and Pro Stock could now be applied to the weekend warrior looking to make\nhis car faster with the right parts and technology. Mopar Direct Connection\nneeded a spokesperson with the right credentials that could relate to fellow\nracers and street enthusiasts. \u201cI met with Dick Maxwell and Dave Koffel from\nChrysler\u2019s race group. They told me about the new Direct Connection parts deal\nand felt I would be a great ambassador for the program. We struck a deal and\nsoon I was travelling to dealers across the country putting on tech clinics and\nseminars for the dealership part personnel, racers and enthusiasts,\u201d commented\nLeal. Prior to the announcement, Leal had built another Plymouth Duster to run\nin NHRA\u2019s B\/MP class. It featured a de-stroked HEMI engine displacing 396\ncubic-inches. Mopar also encouraged Leal to include a Dodge vehicle under his\nDirect Connection sponsorship, so he added a 1975 Dart Sport 360 Super Stocker\nand a 1970 440 Six Pack Challenger to his fleet while hiring other drivers to\nhandle the chores of a multi-car team. Leal was even on the cover of the 1975\nMopar Direct Connection Catalog to help launch the new sponsorship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For three years, Leal ran his Direct Connection-backed racecars all over the country and won races, but with Chrysler on the brink of bankruptcy by the late 1970s, Leal\u2019s sponsorship ended in 1977 and his last racecar under the Mopar Direct Connection banner was a Plymouth Arrow running the NHRA B\/Gas class with a de-stroked 426 HEMI engine displacing 396 cubic-inches. Leal would continue to drag race for almost two decades with other auto manufacturers, but he\u2019ll always be known for his on-track success of powershifting past the competition and winning races in fast HEMI Super Stockers and Pro Stockers. Leal also used his hands-on racing experience to help guide thousands of diehard enthusiasts to make their Mopar vehicles run faster and hook harder during the 1970s. For these reasons, Butch Leal will always be the California Flash and Mr. Direct Connection! Check out these cool vintage images of Butch Leal and his HEMI engine-powered Mopar racecars through the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    There are many drag racers who were fortunate to make a living doing burnouts and banging gears, all while traveling to race tracks across the country. For Butch Leal, he was in the thick of it throughout the 1960s and \u201970s. Leal established himself as a tough competitor and one not to be taken lightly despite being a teenager at the time. In the early 1960s, representatives from Detroit\u2019s Big Three descended upon the drag strips of Southern California to offer sponsorship opportunities for talented drivers and tuners. Leal was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":42854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2621,575],"tags":[2948,528,2949],"class_list":["post-42852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gallery","category-racing","tag-dodge-classics","tag-drag-racing","tag-plymouth-classics"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/californiaflashfeature.png","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42852"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42852"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42908,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42852\/revisions\/42908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}