Mathew Leonard has been involved in drag racing since he was a few months old back in Australia. His father, Len Leonard, is one of the early pioneers of drag racing in Australia. His mum, Jan, has even dabbled in driving a few racecars herself, and his brother, Warren, also has a blown front engine dragster. The bug bit Mathew early when the family would race their multitude of race cars across A
ustralia. Mathew honed some of his skills working at the family race shop in Adelaide (OG Speed Shop). Mathew continued racing across Australia with several other drag racing teams until 1996, before embarking on his first oversees drag racing trip to the US. Mathew joined fellow Adelaide boy, Robert Schwab, in Elko, Nevada to race Robert’s Alcohol Funny Car on the CIFCA circuit. After a successful tour on the West Coast, Mathew went back to Australia to continue racing before returning in 1999 to once again help Robert with his new Nitro Funny Car. The year 1999 was full of a lot of memories, from debuting Robert’s new car, to meeting his future wife to be (Lisa), to managing the Cowin Top Fuel Drag Racing Team and running on the NHRA Pro Tour till the end of 2001. In 2002 Mathew joined the Kalitta Top Fuel Team and ran the full year on the NHRA tour. Fortunately, Mathew was able to win 3 National events with the Kalitta team (Reading, Chicago & Dallas) and has 3 Wally trophies for the fruits of his labor. As a 16yr old kid in Australia, Mathew said to himself if he ever got the chance, he would love to race with Graeme Cowin and Conrad Kalitta. As it turns out, he was able to fulfill that dream and got to race with two of the biggest legends of motorsport in the world. At the end of 2002, Mathew decided it was time to spend more time with his wife, start a family (daughter Gemma); and design, engineer, build, tune, fund, and of course drive the NitroRat Altered that he presently entertains himself and the crowds with today. Mathew has built several cars over the years; and the latest one is Darryl Walford’s Nitro Funny Car that he shipped back to Australia to run the series Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car Series down there. With the help of family and friends, Mathew has been able to put together a professional team and continues to educate and entertain as many people as possible.
