Dick Lang Racing History: 1961 Elkhart Lake

11/4/07

1961 Elkhart Lake

SCCA National Road America [AP+BP+CP]
Road America 500, Elkhart Lake Date: 9.9.1961

The September 9, 1961 race at Road America 500 was the twelfth racing event of the eleventh season of the Sports Car Club of America's 1961 Championship Racing Series.
SCCA National Road America Results [AP+BP+CP]

Div.	Finish	Driver	Car Model	Car #	Comments
AP	1st	Charlie Hayes	Ferrari 250 GT	1	First in A Production
BP	2d	Dick Thompson	Corvette	115	First in B Production
BP	3rd	Dick Lang	Corvette	85
BP	4th	Ralph Salyer	Corvette	25
BP	5th	Doug Thiem	Corvette	88
BP	6th	Walter Smejkal	Corvette	21
BP	7th	Tom Terrell	Corvette	55
BP	8th	Nate Karras	Corvette	49
BP	9th	Grady Davis	Corvette	12
BP	10th	Chuck Rickert	Porsche 356 Carrera	10
CP	11th	Pierre Mion	A.C. - Bristol	59	First in C Prod.
BP	12th	Gene Cormany	Corvette	9
CP	13th	Tom Payne	Arnolt - Bristol	33
CP	14th	Paul Padrutt	Daimler SP250	96
BP	15th	H. Hutcheson	Porsche 356 Carrera	?
CP	16th	Bill Strand	Porsche 356	17
CP	17th	Richard Holquist	Porsche 356	8
CP	18th	Jack Cooper	Porsche 356	7
BP	19th	Richard Jordan	Corvette	5

Need to move this photo. #44 did not race at Road America in '61

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Racing With My Father-in-Law

By Jack Kitchen.

Racing with my Father In-Law:

A few years ago (2003) Dick’s son (Todd) and I coerced him into three days of motor sports in the desert. Todd and I have heard the stories of Dick’s days behind the wheel of corvettes hundred maybe thousands of times. I don’t care how many times I’ve heard them, I always ask to hear them again. The stories of running door-to-door with Yenko, Donahue, and Parnelli Jones were magical to me. Dick had unknowingly passed the dream of becoming a racecar driver onto Todd and I. I ended up volunteering for NASCAR teams in North Carolina and working at a dealership in a parts department for a year just to get closer to that dream. I built road-racing cars on a shoestring budget and was taking driving lessons when I could afford them. Todd has since put a racecar together and is seeing the dream of trading paint come true. [ed. Note: Low, low budget dirt track racing]

Todd and I wanted more than anything to spend a day on the track with Dick. Hesitantly he agreed to go to the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. It must have been odd for Dick to go to a class that he could have easily taught. He never let on that he had raced Bob Bondurant long before the school was ever started.

We strapped in the cars for three days of instruction. I must have been smiling every second. I mowed over cones while learning trail braking and heal & toe shifting. Dick was given the name “Turbo” after schooling the youngsters on the skid pad. The Grand Finale of the school was a race. The students tested their new skills against each other. Todd dominated the first part of the race and made passes where I would never have attempted. Todd showed a couple of our classmates how to avoid crashing by driving through the desert. Dick steadily moved through the pack. I brought up the rear with a perma-grin! When the yellow flag was thrown, Todd made a devastating rookie mistake by passing the pace car. Victory slipped away from Todd and “Turbo” took the checkered flag and won once again that afternoon.

Dick claims that he is truly retired from racing and he would rather go hiking than race cars again. I got the chance to race with a true racing legend and it was an experience that I’ll never forget. Having a racing story to share with Dick is a priceless gift that I will be able to keep with me forever.

Todd Comments:

I agree completely with Jack. That racing school was the most fun I've probably ever had. Dad was a great sport to go along with it. He didn't enjoy it at all until he won that final race. Then he finally relaxed and smiled. Also, to be fair, I did blow it by passing the pace car, and I was gaining on dad with a few laps to go. But once he got through slower traffic he left me in the dust. I started pushing too hard to catch him and fell further back. Yet another lesson from Dad.

Langs Chevrolet History

Lang's Chevrolet was in business from 1926 until it was sold in 2016. Dick Lang began working for his father, Fred W. Lang, in the 1950s. Dick began running the business in the 1960s.

Here are some old pictures of the business.

Xenia 1926 Grand Opening of the Dealership

Fred Lang delivering a new car to a customer.

Used Car Lot in the 1940s(?)

"New" Fairborn Dealership circa 1953.

"Modern" Service and Parts Department in the 50s.

Dick Lang "promoting" the business at a young age.