When engine innovator Sonny Leonard died on Jan. 10, his customers — many of whom were also close friends — were at a loss.
“I don’t know what they’re going to do without him, really,” said one long-time client of the scores of competitors in drag racing, pulling and boat racing who depended on Sonny’s World Class Racing.
“I don’t even want to think about it,” said another.
Concerns about Sonny’s future as a top-tier source of extreme horsepower have proved unfounded. The business was closed for just one day: Jan. 14, the day of Leonard’s funeral in Lynchburg, Va. The only thing that has slowed operations are factors that are out of the company’s control.
“Other than that, everything is in full operation,” said his daughter, Kelly (Leonard) Ward. “We’re getting (engines) out as fast as we can get parts. It’s been really bad as far as getting parts. Different engine builders call other engine builders to see if they can help each other out. We’re all coming up short.”
Ward has worked in the business’ office for 23 years, handling billing, freight, advertising, contingency awards and shipping … “and now, everything,” she added.
But she’s surrounded by a highly experienced, loyal staff, led by her mother, Frances Leonard, who’s been there for 52 years, shortly after Sonny’s Army stint ended and they married.
How loyal? Excluding Frances Leonard, half of the employees have worked at Sonny’s more than 30 years.
To wit:
* Dyno specialist Tom Kidd is semi-retired but is in his 38th year;
* Steve West, who works with cylinder heads, 35 years;
* Shop foreman Rusty Elliott, 35 years;
* Randy Vair (Ward’s cousin), is a 34-year veteran who handles fabrication and welding;
* Jason Wade, another one whose specialty is heads, 32 years;
* David Harper, parts, 32 years.
The rest of the staff includes relative newcomers in CNC specialist Michael Tummond (nine years) and Troy Adams, (blocks, two years). Ward’s husband, Junior, came to work at Sonny’s about a year ago, and is its full-time dyno technician and on-site company rep at drag races and pulls. Salesman Sean Henry is the newbie at six months. Eleven of those 12 are natives of the Lynchburg area.
Many customers of Sonny’s are among the most accomplished names in drag racing and pulling events.
In Extreme/Mountain Motor Pro Stock, Chris Powers has won multiple PDRA national events, as well as the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in 2019. John Montecalvo’s three series championships were all achieved with Sonny’s power. Oklahoma’s Cary Goforth earned IHRA and PDRA crowns with engines from the same Lynchburg shop. Truck-pulling clients include homestate competitor Peyton Davis in the “Punisher” in NTPA’s 6,200-pound 4WD class, and Indiana’s Jake Zaring. Sonny’s also has customers in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.
The clients, old and new, needn’t have worried, as there was a general plan to keep the business going and the customers satisfied.
“We were married too long to not have talked about it,” Frances Leonard said. “I told him I’d keep it going as long as I could if he passed before me. I said, ‘What’s going to happen if I pass before you?’ He said he was going to find him a young woman. I said, ‘Wouldn’t none of them put up with you.’ “
Frances said she “takes care of the front” of the operation, with duties that include answering the phone, handling payroll and taxes, etc. She said everyone at Sonny’s “know pretty much what we’ve got to do.”
She added, “I always said Sonny made the money and I managed it. There have been times I’ve said he makes money and I spend it, but I like the sound of it better to say I managed it.”
When Sonny Leonard took ill in December, he and Kelly took care of business during her visits to his room at Lynchburg General Hospital. What would happen in the wake of his death was simple: Show up to work as if nothing had changed … despite the fact that his passing was a monumental loss.
“I guess just the family and employees keep on going,” Kelly Ward said. “Our customers, they just knew that we would keep it going. It’s like a family here, with most of the guys having been here at least 30 years.”
The experience factor is priceless, and was absolutely the key to as seamless a transition as was possible.
“It’s very weird” without Leonard’s presence, said Rusty Elliott, the shop foreman. “He was like a second daddy to me, really. It’s hard, it really is.”
But continuing to push forward was the only way to deal with both the loss and the need to keep engines in production.
“Dad always came up with different stuff,” Ward said, “but the guys have all been pitching in and helping. R&D, we’ve got ideas going on. They’ve all been here forever, so I guess we all pretty much know what each other thinks.”
“Unless Sonny wanted to make a change, you filled out a spec sheet and you had everything you needed and you went to work,” said Elliott, whose career at Sonny’s began with washing parts and sweeping floors. “I didn’t have to go ask him all the time anymore.
“We used to have a weekly meeting where we’d sit down and say, ‘This is what we want to try and get done this week.’ You’d have all your customers lined up on a sheet, what parts they had and what parts they needed. We’d say, ‘OK, we can’t get this for another week, so we’ll have to put this off and work on another one.’ “
The process may have continued uninterrupted, but the void in the shop is palpable.
“Every day you’d see him and talk and laugh and talk about personal things, and that’s gone. That’s the hardest part,” Elliott said. “He was easy to get along with and talk to. We’ve always been able to talk about whatever.
“A lot of times he’d call me in his office, and it had nothing to do with business or anything. Some days we’d talk an hour and a half, two hours, and everybody else in the building’s gone home and we’re still sitting there talking. I would sit and listen to him all day if that’s what he wanted to do.”
The shop, Kelly Ward said, has received a constant stream of calls from customers inquiring how the staff is doing without the business’ founder and namesake. Some of them have offered to go beyond offering condolences and well-wishes.
“We had one truck-pull customer who heard we were needing parts; needed lifters,” she said. “He told us he would take his motor apart — he’s got 15 to 20 of them — and send us the parts because he wasn’t using that engine right now.”
Months passed while the Sonny’s staff toiled in Lynchburg. Finally, in April, it was time to get back to the track and see their wares in action.
In the PDRA season opener at GALOT Motorsports Park, Sonny’s customer Chris Powers of Carlisle, Pa., cruised to victory — literally — in Extreme Pro Stock. Opposing finalist Steve Boone suffered engine damage in his semifinal victory, and in a tribute to Leonard, Junior Ward served as the starter for Power’s 24.8-second solo stroll down the eighth mile.
The following weekend, another Sonny’s customer won his series’ pulling opener.
“So far, it’s been really good,” Kelly Ward said. “We’ve been putting in a lot of hours trying to get things situated. I promised Dad we would keep it going. We will do it, me and Mama and the guys at the shop.”
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