Dick Lang Racing History: 1969 Daytona

6/4/07

1969 Daytona

The 24 Hours of Daytona (Feb 2, 1969)

Click here to read Owens-Corning Racing's newsletter regarding the preparations for the 1969 Daytona Race.

(The following is a quote from a self-decribed "BMW fanatic working in a Porsche Pit.")

At 3:08 pm on a warm sunny Saturday afternoon the green flag dropped and 62 snarling creations of metal, plastics, rubber and other assorted components began the 24 hours of Daytona. Exactly 24 hours later, 26 cars took the checkered flag behind Chuck Parsons in the Penske Hilton Lola T70, and those 24 hours became part of history. And in the sunshine, the victorious gladiators were drinking champagne and laughing, forgetting for the moment the tension, the sadness, the tiredness and the monotony of all those hours of racing.
Weeks and months of effort and experiment were over, although sooner for some than anticipated, as "to finish" became the name of the game. For a Maserati Berlinetta, the finish was before the start, as he pitted on the pace lap, and retired. On the 23rd lap, an Owens Corning Fiberglass Corvette driven by Tony De Lorenzo (co-driver-Dick Lang, Xenia, Ohio) had a flat tire, and while in the pits, the fuel pump ignited, burning the rear of the car seriously enough to become the first running retirement of the race.

66 Tony DeLorenzo / USA Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Owens Corning Fiberglass DNF-Fire GT+5.0 Dick Lang / USA - DND

*Dick Lang didn't get to drive because the fire occured before he got a chance.

[The tall guy at the top left of the photo of the car after the fire is Dick Lang --looking glum]

Click here to view model car from midlantic models based on that corvette.

An Owens-Corning Newsletter describes the events in detail. Click here to view the complete page.

According to the newsletter, DeLorenzo and Lang moved over to the team's other corvette (#67) and took over. Lang moved the car up to 11th place and then DeLorenzo took over for Lang and moved it up to 10th before he wrecked it into the wall after a blown tire caused him to lose control. (The flat was caused by crash debris on the track)

The end of the day:

Oh, here's a picture of actor James Garner at Daytona.

Nice story in Corvette Magazine on the success of Thompson and DeLorenzo with the Owens-Corning team: Corvette Magazine Story

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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.