East Coast Funny
Car Racer By Chris Martin
From what Bob said, it must’ve been a sudden, but possibly spectacular exit. Cassidy was journeying up from his Florida environs headed northeast on the interstate when the curtain fell. Apparently, he had a brain aneurysm at the wheel in Virginia and drove off the road and into the weeds … and that was that. I never met him. He’s one of the very few racers of that era that I had neither met nor seen race. Cassidy hit his stride when he lived in New Providence, New Jersey. He and his brother John first made their names in Alcohol Funny Car, making the switch to nitro in 1976. Their debut was extremely promising. They entered the NHRA WCS (World Championship Series points) race at Maple Grove Raceway in Pennsylvania and took runner-up honors to the fabled “Jungle Jim” Liberman. The Cassidy brothers' Chevy Monza quickly hit the match race and made all the stops … Atco, Englishtown, Epping, Capitol, Suffolk, all of them. Their first win came at an Englishtown eight-car match where they beat Gary Burgin twice and AHRA World Champ Tom Hoover’s “Showtime” Monza in the final. The following weekend, they entered the IHRA Pro Am at Rockingham, N.C. and plowed through a 16-car race to meet Raymond Beadle’s “Blue Max” in the money race. They lost, but what the hell … they had only raced in Funny Car eight times previous. In late September, Les ran the team’s quickest elapsed time in a 6.32 win over Al Segrini in Jim Beattie’s “ATI Black Magic” Monza at the New England Dragway Funny Car Nationals. A month later, Les and Jim returned to Epping and made drag racing history of sorts; their Monza logged a 6.18 at just 200-mph with Donovan power. That was the quickest e.t. ever for that kind of motivation. The brothers then closed out the year with a tour of Florida, taking a runner-up to Shirl Greer at Don Garlits’ Pro Race. What was amazing about this inaugural season was the method of the team. Their 6.18 was their best lap, but in an era where 220- and 230-mph Funny Car runs were normal, the Cassidy Bros. Monza never ran faster than 207.85 mph, with the majority of their runs being less than 200 mph. The brothers raced together for about three more years, the best year probably being 1979 with their Mother’s Performance Corvette. They were the Division 2 NHRA Funny Car champs, and that was pretty much their last hurrah. The next year, Cassidy relocated to Florida and teamed with West Palm Beach car owner Gary Richards with the same Mother’s Performance Corvette. Again, the money wasn’t really there and they ran on a very limited schedule. Cassidy stayed with Funny Car sporadically at least through the
1984 season, driving for racers like Ron Leaf (’81 Challenger)
and the Olson Bros. Plymouth Arrow.
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arlier this month I got a call from my good friend
and one of drag racing’s greatest race car painters, Bob Gerdes
of Circus Paints in New York and New Jersey. After the usual b.s.,
he informed me that Les Cassidy, a Funny Car pro of the 1970s and
early 1980s, had passed away.
