Lake Chambers Speed was born on January 17th of 1948. Ironically, Lake’s father Leland Speed was the Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi the year he was born.
Lake started his racing career at the age of thirteen racing go-carts, much to the displeasure of his family. Over the years, Speed won the International Karting Federation (IKF) National Championship six times and in 1978 he won the prestigious Karting World Championship over many people, including future Formula One legend Ayrton Senna. Speed is the only American to win the championship to date.
In 1980 Speed considered racing in Formula One, CART, and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). But after he talked to Lowe's Motor Speedway promoter, Humpy Wheeler and NASCAR official, Steve Peterson, Speed chose to go NASCAR. 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 nineteen races in his rookie year scoring an eighth at the track dubbed as too tough to tame, Darlington Speedway in just his third career start. Speed finished twenty-second in overall points and second to Jody Ridley in the rookie of the year standings.
In 1981, Speed again ran his own team, starting twenty-seven of the thirty-one races on the schedule. Lake was unable to qualify for the 1981 Daytona 500, but did manage to win the unfamiliar 30-lap consolation race, leading the race from start to finish. The final points tally came up with Speed finishing eighteenth in points. One special footnote for Speed during the 1981 season was that he enabled future NASCAR pace car driver Elmo Langley to start his 536th and final NASCAR race at Dover in the Mason-Dixon 500 in one of his cars. Langley started and finished 29th out of the 31 car field, completing only six laps before a driveshaft failure.
1982 was Speed's first complete year in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series. This time, Speed was driving for the first time for another car owner, Roger Hamby. Speed didn’t have a top-ten finish for the first eleven races of the year but ended up with a twentieth place finish in the points.
For 1983 Lake drove a part time schedule for Hoss Ellington. At Talladega Speed was about to win before he got passed by Richard Petty and Benny Parsons. After the race Lake Speed was born again and gave his life to Christ on August 28th. The week after Talladega, Speed scored another top ten with a sixth in the World 600 at Charlotte. Speed ended this monumental year with a finish of 27th in the points.
Lake only started 19 of the 30 races in 1984; he upgraded one position to 26th in the points. From 1983 to 1984 Lake made 5 starts in the Busch (Nationwide) Series with a best finish of 2nd at Daytona.
In 1985 Lake Speed had his best statistical year in NASCAR while he ran a full schedule for RahMoc Racing; Speed started off the season with an amazing second place finish to Bill Elliott in the Daytona 500. Overall, Speed finished in the 10th place in the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup series points.
Speed started off the 1986 season with a tenth in the Daytona 500 and a tenth at Rockingham; after four races into the season RahMoc Racing let Lake go without explanation. Lake started one more race that year when he filled in for Rick Wilson for Morgan-McClure Motorsports at Charlotte; he finished 14th. Shortly after that race, Speed began working again at starting his own race team.
1987 was a building year in many ways for Lake and his newly formed purple and white #83 Oldsmobile team. Speed earned sponsorship from Wynn's Car Care Products, K-mart, and Delco Battery with veteran crew chief Darrell Bryant helping him build the team. Speed was able to put up some impressive race runs in just thirteen starts. Speed finished ninth in the first Talladega race and backed that up with a third place finish in the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
For the 1988 Daytona 500 Lake had very high backing from the Hoosier tire company, he ran good in the race but mid-way he dropped out due to engine failure. The next race at Richmond, Speed ran up front leading 67 laps but he ended up finishing sixth. The race after Richmond was just a little farther down south at the Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina; Speed led 51 laps and finished second to Neil Bonnett. Lake earlier in the season tested Hoosier Tires at Darlington and when they went there he was the only one on Hoosiers due to everyone else thinking they would blister. That was a wonderful day for Speed who led 178 of 367 laps to go on and win his first and last race of his career. Speed ended the 1988 season with a 17th place finish in the points.
Lake came into the 1989 season with sponsorship from Bull’s Eye Barbecue Sauce. Speed drove for car-owners such as Cale Yarborough, Bud Moore, and Harry Melling, with very good finishes until the July. While Sacks' car overturned, Speed was injured more severely, and missed 5 races. Lake returned to action in the Miller High Life 400 at Richmond to finish 14th. At the final race of the 1989 season at Atlanta, Lake was able to conclude a very disappointing year with a 10th place run.
At the dawn of the new decade in 1990 Speed only started six races in which he only finished two due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time and mechanical failures.
In 1991 Speed replaced Dick Trickle in Cale Yarborough's car but struggled with mechanical failures throughout the year. In twenty starts, Speed's best finish was an eleventh at Bristol in August.
In 1992, Speed got back to his own team; sadly he only started 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.
Lake drove his own car for awhile but in the middle of the season Robert Yates asked him if he could fill in for the deceased Davey Allison. Speed ran for Robert Yates Racing until he was in a wreck at Bristol and was replaced by Ernie Irvan a week later. Two races later at Dover, Speed found another ride; he replaced Geoff Bodine in Bud Moore's Ford. Speed's best finish for Moore at the end of the 1993 season was an eleventh at Charlotte.
Speed remained with Moore for the 1994 season, Speed and the team ran good through the summer stretch, often starting near the rear of the field but moving to the front. Even through multiple top tens in the races, Speed didn’t finish in the top ten in points. He finished eleventh behind Bill Elliott. Speed was inducted into the Karting hall of fame in 1994.
Speed moved over to Harry Melling's team for the 1995 season and breathed new life into the organization. The normally red and white Melling car now was emblazoned with Spam sponsorship and blue and yellow colors. Lake had one of his more infamous incidents of his career after the Miller Genuine Draft 400; after Speed had been blocking him on the track Michael Waltrip blocked Speed's car in the pits. Waltrip 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. Lake finished twenty-third in the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series points that year.
In Lake’s last full season in 1996, Speed earned his first career NASCAR pole, but unfortunately it was in a non-points event, The Winston Open. Speed had his last top ten finish of his career at the Southern 500 at Darlington International Raceway, even after a cut tire notched him all the way back two laps down, Lake’s car prevailed him to a 10th place finish.
When the University of Nebraska left from the sponsorship position in 1997, Speed and Melling ran a limited season. Out of the 25 races he attempted Lake qualified for them all. During the mid-point of the season, the 9 car was filmed for the TV movie Steel Chariots. Lake’s team had one of the most embarrassing debacles of their career when at Richmond Lake looked to have one of the stronger cars, he lead three laps during green flag stops when he finally made his, during the stop, the crew bolted the left side tires on the right side and the right side tires on the left, forcing Lake to make multiple pit stops and dropping him out of a chance of having a good finish. The Melling team was able to get sponsorship for the last four races of the season from Advantage Camo, the best finish being 17th at Rockingham's AC Delco 400. Lake finished 35th in the points standings that mediocre year.
1998 would be Lake Speed's final Winston (Sprint) Cup season with sponsorship from Cartoon Network. Speed has been credited with helping Dale Earnhardt win his very first Daytona 500 by tangling with John Andretti on the last lap which secured his win. Speed was injured part of the way into the season at Sears Point (Infineon) Raceway during practice and was out for one race with David Gilliland’s father Butch taking over for him. The week after at New Hampshire, Speed was caught up in a wreck, due to later tests which revealed a cracked sternum and four broken ribs, Lake Speed announced his effective retirement. Jerry Nadeau took over the ride from then on. Lake made 16 starts during the 1998 season.
Speed said about not getting another ride in NASCAR’s top series, "This is a God thing, as far as I'm concerned," Speed said. "He knew the only way He was gonna stop me from racing was probably to put that concrete barrier in front of me and break me up, so that I had to stop. My kids were at the age then that they really needed Dad at home. To be able to not have your mind focused on the next race all the time and be able to give them some attention and time was monumental. The timing was perfect. I fought it, fussed about it and was ill about it for quite a few years, but finally came to realize how blessed I was and, really, that things had turned out for the best."
Speed has drove karts since his NASCAR retirement; he has had 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 Fords.
In 2006, the International Kart Federation established the Lake Speed Achievement of Excellence karting award in honor of the 1978 World Karting Champion. The inaugural recipient was Matt Johnson of Las Vegas, Nevada. The recipient of the award could be a driver, team, kart shop or any combination thereof, and the winner is determined primarily on sportsmanship, achievement and professional appearance during the race event.
Today, the 59 year old Speed resides in Kannapolis, North Carolina with his wife Ricé while he still races in the World karting Association National Road Racing Series in the Spec125 Tag 1 and 2 classes and serves as the Chairman or the Board for the Motor Racing Outreach, a Christian ministry for NASCAR on Sundays. Speed has four grandchildren by Lake Jr., his son from his first marriage. Lake and Ricé also have two daughters and a son; Sara Ann, who has recently been married to Seth Arey and is residing in Concord, North Carolina, Maurie, a junior theatre major at Azusa Pacific University in California, and Chris, a senior in high school which plans to go on to Azusa with his sister.
http://www.rowdy.com/content/profile/blog/26372/where-are-they-now-lake-speed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Speed
http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/features/05/10/where.is.lake.speed/story_single.html
