Lake Speed has got to be one of the coolest names for a race car driver ever. Some of you may remember him driving the “Cartoon Network” car, or perhaps the “SPAM” car back in the 1980s-1990s. What happened to him after he stopped racing stock cars?
Stapleton42 has a thriving YouTube channel where he covers the history of NASCAR. He recently spent some time with Lake Speed at his home and race shop. From the YouTube video description:
Lake Speed may ring a bell to some of you as the guy who drove the Spam car or the Cartoon Network car in the late 1990s. Prior to that he ran his own NASCAR race team out of his backyard in a building he built in 1986. He still lives there and still uses the former race shop for his current vintage Karting endeavors. Today we get to find out how the independent owner-driver ran his race team in the late 1980s! Lake also won the World Karting Championship in 1978 before ever coming to NASCAR. The guy who finished 2nd place in that race was none other than Formula One legend Ayrton Senna. Lake has that go kart here in the exact condition it came off the track in 1978!
I recommend that you check out Stapleton42’s YouTube channel and subscribe for more historic NASCAR content and research.
