Image courtesy of Lake Speed Inc.
A Need for Speed: The Lake Speed Story
Born on January 17, 1948, in Jackson, Mississippi, Lake Speed came from a political family. His father, Leland L. Speed, had been the city’s mayor during the 1940s. Still, the world of politics never quite matched the excitement of racing for him. Speed started racing around his neighborhood at the age of 12, and once he started racing, he found the thrill impossible to walk away from. He rose to become a major player in the sport, securing six U.S. Karting National Championships from 1965 to 1978.
Karting reached its high point in 1978. Speed’s big karting break occurred during the World Karting Championship that took place in Le Mans, France. Out of around 100 competitors, Speed was the sole American entry. The chances of success looked slim for him. Yet he pulled off the win, remaining the only American champion until 2015.
Beyond competing, he built a business around his racing obsession. Like many businesses, Speed started out of his garage. Over time, his karting parts business grew into an international mail-order company.
Transitioning into NASCAR proved a winding road for Speed. He entered the Winston Cup series in 1980. Most of his early rides came with teams short on funds. Even so, results came quickly, and he ended up second in the Rookie of the Year voting that season. Looking back, he noted how his under-resourced group sometimes overtook the top teams. “There were also the times we passed the heroes and we were always an underfunded and under-budgeted team… When you outran the big dogs, it didn’t matter whether we won the race or not, we took home a moral victory,” Speed has remarked.
Despite the scrappiness of Speed and his team, his natural talent paved the way for one of his proudest moments. On the Darlington Raceway in 1988 during the TranSouth 500, Speed took the lead for 178 of the last 196 laps. He crossed the finish line almost 19 seconds clear of the runner-up. Reflecting decades later, Speed said, “The Lord blessed me. If you’re going to be a frustrated race-car driver for 20 years, he let me win at the one track that probably has the most credibility. I’ll take that to the grave.”
In a career with over 400 starts, Darlington Raceway stood as his lone Cup victory. Layers of effort went into making his standout success happen. Speed’s relationship with his crew mattered just as much as his time behind the wheel. He stressed how vital those team members were, especially on a shoestring budget.
“In our case, being under-funded, when we got out ahead a lick, it was amazing to see these guys light up and the pride,” Speed recalled. Those connections endured long after the checkered flag rippled across the track: “I still bump into one of those guys at least once a month and it’s like seeing a brother or sister that you haven’t seen in a while.”
Outside the track, faith has defined much of Speed’s life. In a 2020 interview, Speed expressed surprise at the ongoing fan mail that arrives: “I can’t tell you how shocked I am, this far out, that I still get multiple cards, letters, model cars every week… It makes me feel good and gives me the opportunity to share my faith with people. I got saved in 1983 and it made a giant change in my life.”
In his post-NASCAR life, Speed also drew on lessons learned from his upbringing and early ventures. While attending Mississippi College, he spent three years working for his father in real estate, learning business skills that would serve him in both karting and NASCAR.
Besides questions about his name (yes, Speed is his legal last name), the question he’s most often asked is if he misses the racing life. “People ask me all the time, ‘Do you miss it?’ Yeah, I miss it,” Speed replies. “I miss probably the most working in the shop with the guys, trying to build a better race car to outrun everyone else,” he notes.
Inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2010, Speed’s grounded approach to racing has garnered him respect both in and out of the racing world. While the last of his 402 career NASCAR Cup starts came in 1998 at the age of 50, the 77-year-old Speed is still chasing checkered flags and living up to his last name.
When asked if he’ll ever retire, Speed chuckled, “I haven’t been able to find that in the Bible anywhere. I enjoy what I do, I like people and helping people, the interaction and all that is perfect for me. I just don’t see stopping.”
