Lake Speed: Difference between revisions

{{short description|American stock car racing driver}}

{{Infobox NASCAR driver

| name = Lake Speed

| birth_name = Lake Chambers Speed

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|1|17}}

| Best_Cup_Pos = 10th ([[1985 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1985]])

| Cup_Wins = 1

| Last_Cup_Win =

| Last_Cup_Race = [[1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1998]] [[Jiffy Lube 300]] ([[New Hampshire International Speedway|New Hampshire]])

| Years_In_Cup = 19

| Total_Cup_Races = 402

| Total_Busch_Races = 6

}}

 

==Background==

 

==NASCAR career==

[[File:LakeSpeed1racecar1983.jpg|thumb|left|Speed's 1983 Cup car]]

===1980–1984===

In 1980 after considering racing in other series such as [[Formula One]], [[Champ Car|CART]], and [[International Motor Sports Association|IMSA]], and getting advice from current Charlotte Motor Speedway promoter, [[Humpy Wheeler]], Speed chose to go NASCAR racing. According to Speed, "It was the highest mountain to climb." Speed's relative unfamiliarity with the NASCAR scene led him to buy his first car from someone in Chicago. Speed started 19 races in his rookie year scoring an eighth at [[Darlington Speedway]] in his third career start. Speed also scored finishes of seventh at the spring [[Talladega Superspeedway]] race, eighth at Talladega's fall event, seventh at [[Lowes Motor Speedway|Charlotte's]] fall event and eighth at the season ending race at [[Ontario Motor Speedway]]. Speed finished 22nd in overall points and second to [[Jody Ridley]] in the rookie of the year standings.

Speed started off the 1986 season with a tenth in the Daytona 500 and a tenth at Rockingham but after the fourth race of the season, he was ousted from the ride. Speed started one more race that season, filling in for the ailing [[Rick Wilson (NASCAR driver)|Rick Wilson]] in his [[Morgan-McClure Motorsports]] ride at Charlotte finishing fourteenth. Shortly thereafter, Speed began working again at starting his own race team.

 

 

The team's strong 1987 performances continued in 1988. With strong support from the [[Hoosier tire]] company, Speed ran strong in the Daytona 500 before dropping out due to an engine failure. The next race, at Richmond, Speed ran up front leading sixty-seven laps but finished sixth. The following race, at Rockingham, Speed again showed power, leading fifty-one laps and finishing second to [[Neil Bonnett]]. Speed's first win came March 27 at Darlington in the [[TranSouth 500]]. After starting the race eighth, Speed methodically moved his way to the front before eventually taking the lead and running away from the field. Leading 178 of the 367 laps, Speed beat [[Alan Kulwicki]] by half a straightaway to secure his first and only NASCAR Winston Cup win. One of the factors in Speed's victory was that he was the only driver who tested the Hoosier tires at Darlington. Where most of his competitors thought that the Hoosiers would blister, Lake and his team believed that they would not.

In 1990, Speed started only six races with Prestone sponsorship, finishing two of them. The best finish of Lake's abbreviated 1990 season came at Talladega's Die Hard 500 with an eleventh-place effort. Speed also fielded cars for short track ace [[Tommy Ellis]] and [[Phil Parsons]] in two races. Ellis started the [[Delaware 500]] at Dover in 31st and finished 32nd after an engine failure. In the [[National 500]] at Charlotte, Parsons drove Speed's car with Baja Boats sponsorship to an 18th-place run. 1991 was an improvement in terms of races started. Speed replaced [[Dick Trickle]] in [[Cale Yarborough]]'s car but struggled with mechanical failures throughout his stint with the team. In twenty starts, Speed's best finish was an eleventh at Bristol in August. In 1992, Speed got back to his own team starting just nine races with Purex as his sponsor. The team suffered several mechanical failures and Speed only managed to have a best finish of eighteenth in the final two races of the season at Phoenix and Atlanta.

 

 

Speed remained with Moore for the 1994 season starting off with finishes of sixth at Atlanta, fifth at Darlington and third at Bristol, moving up to fifth place in the points. Two races later, Speed finished seventh at Talladega. It was during this time that Speed was inducted into the karting hall of fame. Speed would have to wait until the July Daytona race to get another top ten finish, a tenth. Speed and the team ran good through the summer stretch, often starting near the rear of the field but moving to the front. Unfortunately, Speed did not manage a top ten finish until Dover where he finished ninth. In the final four races, Speed had three great runs. A fifth at Charlotte, a tenth at Rockingham and a fourth at Atlanta where he led twenty laps. It wasn't enough for Speed to finish in the top ten in points. He finished eleventh behind [[Bill Elliott]].

Speed moved over to [[Melling Racing]] team for the 1995 season and resurrected the organization. The normally red and white Melling car now was emblazoned with [[Spam (food)|Spam]] sponsorship and blue and yellow colors. Speed had two top ten runs, at Charlotte in the [[Coca-Cola 600]] and at Darlington in the [[Southern 500]] to finish twenty-third in the points rundown. However, the 1995 season provided Speed with what is perhaps his most famous moment. After the [[Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400|Miller Genuine Draft 400]], [[Michael Waltrip]] blocked Speed's car in the pits. Waltrip, angry with Speed for blocking him on the track, pulled down Speed's window net and began throwing punches at Speed, who was wearing his helmet. The incident was broadcast in front of a live television audience on the CBS network and resulted in a $10,000 fine for Waltrip.

 

 

After the [[University of Nebraska]] backed out of their sponsorship, Speed and Melling ran a limited 1997 season. Speed qualified for all 25 races he attempted. Lake and the team raced to a solid 12th-place finish in the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond, then followed that up with a sixth-place qualifying effort at Atlanta. During the midpoint of the season, the No. 9 car was filmed for the TV movie ''Steel Chariots''. In the Miller 400 at Michigan, Speed earned his and the team's best finish of the season, an 11th. A few races later, Speed finished 12th in the Brickyard 400. At Richmond in the Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400, Speed seemed to have one of the stronger cars, leading three laps through a series of green flag pit stops. However, during the stop, the crew bolted the left side tires on the right side and the right side tires on the left, forcing Speed to make multiple pit stops and dropping him out of a chance of having a good finish. A few races later, Lake had a 14th-place run at Martinsville in the Hanes 500. The Melling team was able to get sponsorship for the last four races of the season from Advantage Camo, their best finish being 17th at Rockingham's AC Delco 400. Speed finished 35th in the points standings.

== After retirement ==

 

 

On occasion, Speed still drives karts, and has four wins in Historic Stock Car Racing Association events on Daytona's 3.56-mile road course in 2002 and 2003 driving one of his old 83 Purex-sponsored Ford vehicles.

 

 

==Motorsports career results==

! rowspan=3| 22nd

! rowspan=3| 1853

|-

! [[Speed Racing]]

! rowspan=4| 18th

! rowspan=4| 2817

|-

! [[Oldsmobile|Olds]]

| colspan=2|

|-

| colspan=10|

| style="background:#EFCFFF;"| [[Melling Tool 420|NSV]]<br><small>24</small>

! rowspan=3| 20th

! rowspan=3| 2850

|-

! rowspan=2| [[Roger Hamby|Hamby Motorsports]]

| colspan=7|

|-

| colspan=9|

| style="background:#EFCFFF;"| [[Cracker Barrel Country Store 420|NSV]]<br><small>30</small>

! 27th

! 2114

|-

! rowspan=3| [[1984 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1984]]

! rowspan=3| 26th

! rowspan=3| 2023

|-

! rowspan=2| [[Roger Hamby|Hamby Motorsports]]

! rowspan=2| 17

| colspan=26|

| style="background:#CFCFFF;"| [[Holly Farms 400|NWS]]<br><small>25</small>

! rowspan=2| [[RahMoc Enterprises]]

! rowspan=2| 75

| style="background:#DFDFDF;"| [[1985 Daytona 500|DAY]]<br><small>2</small>

| style="background:#FFDF9F;"| [[Miller High Life 400 (Spring Richmond)|RCH]]<br><small>10</small>

! 10th

! 3507

|-

! rowspan=2| [[1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1986]]

! rowspan=2| 40th

! rowspan=2| 608

|-

! [[Morgan-McClure Motorsports]]

! 31st

! 1345

|-

! [[1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1988]]

! 17th

! 2984

|-

! [[1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1989]]

! 27th

! 2550

|-

! [[1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1990]]

! 42nd

! 479

|-

! [[1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1991]]

! [[Cale Yarborough Motorsports]]

! 66

| [[1991 Daytona 500|DAY]]

| [[Pontiac Excitement 400|RCH]]

! 32nd

! 1742

|-

! rowspan=2| [[1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1992]]

! rowspan=2| 38th

! rowspan=2| 726

|-

! rowspan=2| [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]

! rowspan=3| 34th

! rowspan=3| 1956

|-

! [[Yates Racing]]

! 11th

! 3565

|-

! [[1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1995]]

! 23rd

! 2921

|-

! [[1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1996]]

! 23rd

! 2834

|-

! [[1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1997]]

| style="background:#CFCFFF;"| [[Coca-Cola 600|CLT]]<br><small>24</small>

| [[Miller 500 (Dover)|DOV]]

| style="background:#DFFFDF;"| [[Miller 400 (Michigan)|MCH]]<br><small>11</small>

| style="background:#DFFFDF;"| [[1997 California 500|CAL]]<br><small>20</small>

! 35th

! 2301

|-

! [[1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1998]]

| style="background:#CFCFFF;"| [[Pontiac Excitement 400|RCH]]<br><small>26</small>

| style="background:#CFCFFF;"| [[Miller Lite 400|MCH]]<br><small>25</small>

| style="background:#DFC484;"| [[Save Mart/Kragen 350|SON]]<br><small>Wth^†</small>

| style="background:#EFCFFF;"| [[Jiffy Lube 300|NHA]]<br><small>41</small>

! 43rd

! 1297

|-

| colspan=40|<small>^† - Injured in practice and replaced by [[Butch Gilliland]]</small>

| [[1985 Daytona 500|1985]]

| rowspan=2| [[RahMoc Enterprises]]

|align=center| 14

|align=center style="background:#DFDFDF;"| 2

! rowspan=2| [[Speed Racing]]

! 66

| [[Goody's 300|DAY]]

| [[Eastern 150|RCH]]

! 104th

! 150

|-

! [[1984 NASCAR Busch Series|1984]]

! 37th

! 584

|}

 

==External links==

* {{Racing-Reference driver|Lake_Speed}}

* [http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/features/05/10/where.is.lake.speed/index.html May 10, 2007 NASCAR.com article, "Where is... Lake Speed?"]

 

[[Category:Karting World Championship drivers]]

[[Category:American Christians]]

[[Category:International Kart Federation drivers]]