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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Farewell
To The Tornado by Norm Bogan |
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"This
is probably my last sprint car race", uttered Lealand McSpadden as he
accepted the season points championship. What
is the meaning of this statement? Many
drivers have gone out as champions. It's
the opportune time to hang it up, to go out on top and all those other cliches.
But, this is Lealand, a guy who has thrilled us for the past twenty-five
years. We have seen him be a winner
in all forms of open wheel racing. We
have memories of his driving skills and victories at places like Manzanita,
Eldora, Indiana State Fair, Oklahoma City, Belleville and Baylands.
Also, terrifying crashes at Eldora and Belleville. Remember
the Stanton 75A, Bailey Bros. 01, Reid's Diesel 6, DSD 91, Krug 98 and of course
Chaffin 50. After
winning the CRA championship in 1992 and narrowly missing a repeat in 1993,
Lealand chose to stay with the older association rather than go with the newly
formed SCRA. When CRA folded,
Lealand suffered through a miserable year, running only part time with SCRA plus
some Silver Crown races and trying to recover from a serious injury in a midget
at Belleville. Many thought the
Tornado was history at this point, but alas, as 1995 dawned, a new "little
red sucker" was coming to life at the Bromme shop. Lealand
proved to all that he wasn't washed up as he tallied ten feature wins and the
season title. He has been an
ambassador for sprint car racing in his demeanor on and off the track.
He always finds time for the kids, signs autographs, invites them to sit
in the car. He has been a
promoter's dream by extolling the positives, even when negatives exist. So
we say, Farewell Great Warrior. You have given us years of great competition and you have
done it with class. We know that
you will do well in your future endeavors and we can only quote that old Bob
Hope line... "THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES".
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