1. Lake Chambers Speed was born on January 17,1948 and is an American retired stock car racing driver.
52 Facts About Lake Speed
1. 2.
Lake Speed formerly competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, scoring one career win in 402 starts.
3.
Lake Speed started his racing career at the age of thirteen racing karts, much to the displeasure of his family.
4.
Lake Speed had been the only American to win the Karting World Championship until 2015 when 14 year-old Logan Sargeant of Florida won the KFJ World Karting Championship.
5.
Lake Speed finished 22nd in overall points and second to Jody Ridley in the rookie of the year standings.
6.
In 1981, Lake Speed again ran his own operation starting 27 of the 31 races on the schedule.
7.
Lake Speed was unable to qualify for the 1981 Daytona 500, but did manage to win the 30-lap consolation race, leading the race from start to finish.
8.
Lake Speed scored a ninth-place finish in both races at Rockingham and at Bristol.
9.
Lake Speed followed that up with a seventh in Martinsville Speedway's spring event, an eighth at the now-defunct Texas World Speedway and a sixth in the late summer Talladega event.
10.
The final points tally came up with Lake Speed finishing 18th in points.
11.
Lake Speed was now driving for an established owner in Hoss Ellington, however on a limited schedule.
12.
Towards the race's end, Lake Speed was leading the field with a chance to win his first Cup race.
13.
Lake Speed was beaten at the end by Richard Petty and Benny Parsons.
14.
The week after Talladega, Lake Speed scored another top ten with a sixth in the World 600 at Charlotte.
15.
Lake Speed finished eighth in the late summer Talladega race and had a near win in the Southern 500 starting second and leading 28 laps before he crashed out.
16.
Lake Speed started six races in the NASCAR Busch Series between 1983 and 1984.
17.
Lake Speed only made one start in 1983, at Charlotte in the Miller Time 300, where he finished sixth.
18.
In 1984, Lake Speed lost by two feet to Darrell Waltrip in the season opening Goody's 300 at Daytona, and scored another top five in the Mello Yello 300 at Charlotte.
19.
Lake Speed's worst qualifying effort was a 13th place start in the season opener.
20.
Lake Speed's starts were fifth at Darlington, seventh at Charlotte, third at Darlington and ninth at Charlotte.
21.
Lake Speed followed that up with a tenth at Richmond International Raceway and a fourth at Rockingham, taking the points lead early in the season.
22.
Lake 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.
23.
Lake Speed started one more race that season, filling in for the ailing Rick Wilson in his Morgan-McClure Motorsports ride at Charlotte finishing fourteenth.
24.
Shortly thereafter, Lake Speed began working again at starting his own race team.
25.
The purple and white Oldsmobile donned the number 83, in honor of the year Lake Speed became a born-again Christian.
26.
The next race, at Richmond, Lake Speed ran up front leading sixty-seven laps but finished sixth.
27.
One of the factors in Lake Speed's victory was that he was the only driver who tested the Hoosier tires at Darlington.
28.
At Dover, Lake Speed finished fourth, following that up with finishes of ninth at Daytona and fifth at Michigan.
29.
Lake Speed finished fifth in the inaugural event at Sears Point Raceway and a seventh a few races later at Michigan.
30.
Lake Speed returned to action in the Miller High Life 400 at Richmond to finish 14th.
31.
At the final race of the '89 season at Atlanta, Lake Speed was able to conclude a personally disappointing year with a 10th-place run.
32.
In 1990, Lake Speed started only six races with Prestone sponsorship, finishing two of them.
33.
Lake Speed fielded cars for short track ace Tommy Ellis and Phil Parsons in two races.
34.
In 1992, Lake Speed got back to his own team starting just nine races with Purex as his sponsor.
35.
Lake Speed followed that up with a second place start at Michigan and a seventh-place finish.
36.
The next race at Bristol, Lake Speed was running a strong race before contact late with Rick Mast ruined his chances at a top ten finish.
37.
Lake Speed's best finish for Moore at the end of the '93 season was an eleventh at Charlotte.
38.
Lake 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.
39.
Unfortunately, Lake Speed did not manage a top ten finish until Dover where he finished ninth.
40.
Lake Speed moved over to Melling Racing team for the 1995 season and resurrected the organization.
41.
Lake 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.
42.
Lake Speed stunned everyone in qualifying for the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis with a third-place effort.
43.
At the second race in Michigan, the GM Goodwrench Dealer 400, Lake Speed led seven laps and looked poised to possibly capture his second NASCAR Winston Cup victory before getting caught up in a wreck started by Sterling Marlin.
44.
Just as he neared running in the top ten, a right front tire cut and Lake Speed had to pit under the green flag, losing two laps.
45.
However, the strength of the car would prove itself as Lake Speed worked his way back to finish 10th, the final top ten finish of his career.
46.
At Richmond in the Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400, Lake Speed seemed to have one of the stronger cars, leading three laps through a series of green flag pit stops.
47.
However, during the stop, the crew bolted the left side tires on the right side and the right side tires on the left, forcing Lake Speed to make multiple pit stops and dropping him out of a chance of having a good finish.
48.
At Sears Point Raceway, Lake Speed appeared to have a chance to turn his season around.
49.
Lake Speed was strong during the first practice session with the second fastest speed behind Jeff Gordon.
50.
Lake Speed missed the event and was replaced by Butch Gilliland, but he returned to the next race at New Hampshire.
51.
However Lake Speed was caught up in a wreck not of his own making and aggravated his injury.
52.
On July 30,2010 Lake Speed was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.