Salmo,
Your friend probably had an LP. That was common with those models and that was when they were still produced on Bainbridge Is.

I've owned a couple of Litespeeds. No issues with the drags. My only issue was with how thin they are. They machine them down pretty thin so there isn't a ton of metal there. I ended up bending both of them.
One fell over in a padded rod on reel case in my garage. Hit the concrete floor and bend the spool. The other had the frame bent when I took a header on the river.
Both my fault, but I've had similar things happen with my older Ross's without issue.
Lamson was great and repaired both quickly.