Butch leal's number 2 car

[OLD GUY]

Butch's number 2 car is a real A-990 car. It was sold new by Periott Chrysler Plymouth in San Mateo California. The car was originally black and was driven on the street for 1900 miles. The owner bought it for his kid and the kid did a 180 on a main street, got arrested and the car was impounded. The next day the car was returned to the dealership. The dealer called Melrose Motors (Melrose Missle) and asked them to find a buyer. Gary Sutton purchased the car. He and his partner at the time ran the car for a couple of years and then I bought it. I ran the car for about a year. It was real scary on 7 inch wide tires. I sold the car to Rich Ghizzely. 2 years later Gary bought it back. We got the thing to run under the national record with some help from Cecil Yother. Then had complete brain fade and made it a 4 speed car. We broke drive shafts , ripped the rt subframe out of the floor, buckled the roof and quarter panels. It was way more car than we could handle To be honest we didn't know what we were doing with that animal.
One day we were running at Fremont Race way and Butch was there. He came over and told us he was looking for a car that wasn't all cut up to have for the Chrysler clinic and would we be interested in selling It took about 2 seconds for Gary to say yes. I can't remember whether that was August of 1973 or 1974. We sold the car as a roller
Butch picked up the car the following week and it went straight to Butler. The next time I saw the car was at the Winternationals. It was a work of art. The beat up floor had been replaced, it had a new roll cage, and a whole lot of good things done to it..The car was really fast even after NHRA made Butch take the wheelie bars off. I remember Butch bringing the car to Fremont about a month after the Winternationals and if my old memory serves me correctly he ran a 9.44 at over 140 mph.
Steve Bagwell bought the car and changed the car back to an automatic. The car was still plenty fast. The last I heard about the car was a blurb in the National Dragster after Steve sold it, that the tech people in what ever division it went to should be watching for it.
And there you have it

Dave Schmitz

[Geerhead55]

You're right,,it was a work of art, and pretty advanced for its time. I saw the car at Ontario for the Supernationals/World Finals in '74,,it was very impressive.
On another note, I saw Cecil Yother and his wife, and dog, walking around the swap meet in Puyallup this past weekend,,, still getting around just fine.
Danny Durham

[Hemi Moose]

One of Butch Leals '65 A990 Plymouth Belvedere as it looks today...these photos were taken in the late 90's.

[Hemi Moose]

Here's another shot '65 A990 from the old days...

[Hemi Moose]

Another one of the '65 A990 on a the back of their hauler...

[Hemi Moose]

One more of Butch Leal's '65 A990 Belvedere...

[Frank Castros]

If I missed it, where is this car today?

[Bob Rice]

It is owned by Martin Libhart from Wichita, Kansas.
Bob Rice

[Bob Pagano]

The last I heard about the car was a blurb in the National Dragster after Steve sold it, that the tech people in what ever division it went to should be watching for it.
And there you have it

Dave Schmitz

Dave is not that the car that was totallly acid dipped and deemed not legal at the time ?

[fatdsoto]

IMHO the coolest car Butch ever had. I saw it at the '74 Springnationals in Columbus. I believe he was trying out a french 4 speed that was supposed to be bulletproof. He broke it. Here's a couple of pictures from that race. I was 26 at the time.