By Steve Waid
It seemed that for all of his struggles elsewhere, Lake Speed was nearly always able to enjoy success at Darlington Raceway, considered by many to be the toughest track on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit.
He enjoyed several good runs at the oldest superspeedway in NASCAR but had never won. Something – be it an accident, a mechanical failure or just plain bad luck – always stepped in. It was the same at a lot of other tracks as well.
But in the Spring of 1988, at Darlington’s TranSouth 500, things were decidedly different.
Lake’s Oldsmobile was one of the strongest cars at the race. It was among the fastest in practice, so much so that Dale Earnhardt asked Lake, “How long will it be before you lap me?”
Turns out it wasn’t very long. Lake quickly sped into the lead and was the dominant driver of the day. When it was over, he had won his first Winston Cup race by 18.8 seconds over Alan Kulwicki. At the checkered flag Kulwicki and third-place Davey Allison were the only other drivers on the lead lap.
Lake was, of course, happy with the victory but not noticeably excited. Instead he was more relieved.
There had been times when he and his car had performed well enough to win. But it didn’t happen. Somehow, cruel fate had always stepped in to prevent it.
But not this time. Not at Darlington in 1988.
For that, Lake was indeed pleased, for sure. But being the man he was – and is – he did not want to appear to brag about it.
For more than 32 years, Grand National/Winston Cup/NASCAR Scene writers and photographers were there to record NASCAR history as it was being made. Join hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid each week on The Scene Vault Podcast Presented by Q Ware as they take a look back at the extraordinary people, places and events woven into the rich tapestry that is our sport.
To hear the entire podcast, visit The Scene Vault on iTunes.
To watch the complete interview, visit The Scene Vault YouTube channel.
Fore more on the Scene Vault, check them out on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
You can further support their efforts at Patreon.