Manzy Legend!

Manzy legend, 56, fighting cancer Motorsports Jun. 6, 2003 12:00 AM Few dirt track racers drive as hard and aggressively as Lealand McSpadden did. His nickname was the "Tempe Tornado," and he drove like one.

"Unlike me, Lealand didn't drive for the money," said Ron Shuman, a former World of Outlaws sprint car driver, and like McSpadden, one of the best to ever put a wheel down at Manzanita Speedway. "He was like my brother, Billy. He raced to win." McSpadden now is in the race of his life. McSpadden, 56, was diagnosed with cancer in February. "The doctors at the Mayo Clinic aren't giving us any kind of numbers like how much time he might have left, because they're just not sure," said Lealand's wife, Janet. "But they did say the odds aren't real good. His last radiation treatment is Monday, but the doctors said that the radiation would only increase his survival rate by about 10 percent. "But it's like Lealand said. Stand 10 people up, and if one makes it out, he'll take those odds. He said it's better than nothing. He said that if something goes wrong and he doesn't make it, at least his family would know he gave it his best shot." McSpadden, who last raced in 1995, never gave less than his best. "Lealand tried hard on every lap he ever drove," Shuman said.

McSpadden won nearly 200 races in a mostly upbeat 26-year career, including a record 25 in five different classes (sprint car, midget, supermodified, sprint buggy and modified stock) at Manzy during the 1977 season. In 1998 he was elected to the Arizona Motorsports Hall of Fame, and in 2000 The Arizona Republic selected McSpadden as the state's fifth-greatest driver over the past 100 years. Last September after noticing a lump on his neck, McSpadden had it checked. "They did a biopsy and it was (benign)," Janet said. "We thought everything was OK, but then it started growing, and he went back for another checkup in February. The doctor said the tumor had wrapped around his carotid artery, and he sent us to a specialist at Mayo. The surgeons there told us that if the biopsy proved cancerous they would start surgery right away." Nearly eight hours later, McSpadden was wheeled out of the operating room after undergoing radical neck surgery. "It turned out that it was Stage 4 cancer, which is as high as it gets," Janet said. McSpadden remained hospitalized for five days and later began six weeks of radiation. Janet said that because of where the cancer is located, her husband no longer is a candidate to receive radiation. He also can't undergo chemotherapy "because this particular cancer doesn't respond to chemo," she said. "He is taking some kind of preventive chemo treatment, but it's not really chemo," Janet said. "It's a drug that is trying to protect his saliva glands from all the radiation. "But that's not even the worse news. The tumor they removed was a metastasized tumor and is not the source of the cancer. They still can't find where the source is." Lealand has remained upbeat, thanks in large part to the care provided by the Mayo nurses, Janet said. "Lealand was back working (as a machinist) until about three weeks ago, and it just got to be too much," said Janet, who recently moved with her husband to a new home in Gilbert. "His voice is kind of raspy, but overall, his spirits are excellent. We've received so many cards from friends, and I can't thank them enough for all their concern. "Lealand has a real strong desire to beat this thing. He really, really wants to win this one. And I think win is the right word, because he's almost taking this on like a competition. It's like one more race for him. And it's the one he wants to win the most."