BUTCH LEAL: RACING WENT BY IN A FLASH
His days used to be consumed, thrashing and coaxing additional horsepower out of his various race cars. Butch Leal is now a proud grandfather; and a darn good one if he might say so. Those daily thrashes now pertain to spending time with them, heeding to their activities, and he’ll tell you that a seven and eight year old will keep a grandfather on his toes.
“I never had much time to raise my own kids because I was off racing all the time,” admits the 65-year old Leal, who resides in Tulare, Ca.
He Leads a Simpler Life Today; Being a Grandfather Takes Priority
His days used to be consumed, thrashing and coaxing additional horsepower out of his various race cars. 
Butch Leal is now a proud grandfather; and a darn good one if he might say so.
Those daily thrashes now pertain to spending time with them, heeding to their activities, and he’ll tell you that a seven and eight year old will keep a grandfather on his toes.
“I never had much time to raise my own kids because I was off racing all the time,” admits the 65-year old Leal, who resides in Tulare, Ca.
“We go fishing a lot and when time permits, I play some golf.”
Golf is another one of those activities he did almost as well as driving a race car and almost as well as tending to his current grandfatherly duties.
“I got too old to play on the Seniors golf tour, so I play with the friends every now and then,” he added.
Leal has watched the tremendous progress that drag racing has made, especially Pro Stock. He’s often reminded that he got out of the sport at just the right time.
“I was talking to Roy Hill and we were talking about my old Duster that I sold him,” Leal reflected. “He asked me if I had any clue how much money I won back in the day with that old car compared to these days. And I told him I couldn’t. That’s a shame. Today’s Pro Stock racer have priced themselves out of doing it. You can’t do it and remain competitive unless you have a big dollar sponsor.”
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Leal still keeps ties on the sport he once cherished and has made a couple of stops at national events just to maintain a few of his longtime friendships.
“I went to the World Finals this year,” said Leal. “I went with my oldest daughter to that race.”
Leal wasn’t home when Lori was born. He was on the road, drag racing and winning the 1964 NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis that same day. The two of them returned to Indy three years ago at her urging, during the 2006 NHRA U.S. Nationals, it was her first and his first in over 15 years.
Leal admits that he’s reach a point in his life where he can make a good spectator and the urge to drive doesn’t have the same hold on him that it used to.
“I guess I’ve done got too old to drive,” he said.
That hasn’t stopped Leal from advising some of today’s leading drivers, most notably former champion Jason Line. Leal’s said his best advice to drivers is to make themselves one in the same with the car.
“Jason me that he didn’t really understand the car and I advised him simply to listen to the car because it will talk to you,” he recalled. “You have to get the feel of the car, when you do that. It will tell you what it wants. Don’t be a computer wiz; while a computer is great to have and they’re invaluable at gathering data – all of that is an aftereffect. You always look back at what you should have done. If you feel the car when you drive, it will tell you what it wants. I’ll be darned if he didn’t go out there and run the quickest of the next session.
“Back when I drove, I could see inside of the bulb and see the element come on before it turned on the amber. I had great eyesight and great reflexes. You have to have both of those qualities to be a good driver not to mention you spent a lot of time working on the clutch linkage. I learned that tip at a young age and I started racing young.”
Leal said neither money nor the lack of interest to compete forced him out of the sport late in the 1980s. It was his diminishing eyesight that got the best of him.
“It just got to where I couldn’t see anymore,” Leal admitted. “My eyesight just started slipping and I wasn’t going to let those young drivers start building a reputation off of beating me.”
However, after seeing Don Garlits’ return to driving behind the wheel of a Stock eliminator classified Challenger, Leal might reconsider his time on the sidelines.
“That’s slow enough,” he laughed. “I would consider it but my biggest reservation at this time would be in going on the road again. But a weekend, here and there … that’s doable.”
And it fits well on a grandfather’s schedule and that suits Leal fine, because his time racing full time came and went … in a California flash.
EDITOR'S NOTE: If you're a Butch Leal fan and missed out on those early opportunities for shirts, diecasts and other collectibles. The "California Flash" has a website that provides the aforementioned.
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