Dick Lang Racing History: Cobra

Showing posts with label Cobra. Show all posts

9/4/07

1963 "Governor's Cup" at V.I.R.

SCCA National Virginia [CM+EM+AP+BP]
VIR National Cup, Virginia International Raceway, Danville Date: 27.4.1963
Did not finish: 85 Dick Lang (USA) Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray

A&B Production Results & C Modified Results^[1]

Div.	Finish	Driver	Car Model	Car #	Comments
AP	1st	Dick Thompson	Corvette Sting Ray	10	Z06
AP	2d	Bob Johnson	Shelby Cobra 289	33
AP	3rd	Duncan Black	Corvette Sting Ray	9
AP	4th	Bob Holbert	Shelby Cobra 289	1
AP	5th	Roy Kumnick	Corvette Corvette	49
BP	1st	Don Yenko	Corvette	12	1957 Corvette
BP	2d	Robert Mouat	Corvette	51
BP	3rd	Bob Sinn	Corvette	83
C Mod	1st	Don Devine	Scarab Mk II	26
C Mod	2d	Harry Heuer	Chapparral 1	25
C Mod	3rd	Ed Lowther	Corvette Grand Sport	11

Summary of the race from Corvette News (click to read):

1963 Bridgehampton, Long Island

June 2, Bridgehampton L.I. International Raceway

A&B Production Results

Div.	Finish	Driver	Car Model	Car #
AP	1st	Bob Johnson	Shelby Cobra	33
AP	2d	Dick Thompson	Corvette Sting Ray
AP	3rd	Bob Brown	Shelby Cobra
AP	3rd	Dick Thompson	Corvette Sting Ray
BP	1st	Robert Mouat	Corvette
CP	1st	Paul Richards	Fiat-Abarth

1963 Lime Rock CT

June 15, Lime Rock Raceway.

A&B Production Results

Div.	Finish	Driver	Car Model	Car #
AP	1st	Bob Brown	Shelby Cobra	33
BP	1st	Don Yenko	Corvette	57

1963 Mid-Ohio

SCCA US Road Racing Championship GT race
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, OH
September 22, 1963
70 laps on 2.4 mile road course; 168 miles

Fin	St	Driver	#	Owner	Car	Laps	Money	Status	Laps Led
1	1	Bob Holbert	99	Vic Damone	Cobra CSX2137	70	1,000	running	69
2	2	Ken Miles	98	Temple Buell	Shelby Cobra CSX2139	67	500	running	0
3	5	Dick Lang	85	Lang Chevrolet	Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray	67	300	running	0
4		Tony Denman			Chevrolet Corvette	65	200	running	0
5		Bob Bienerth	5	Bob Bienerth	Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray	62	150	running	0
6		Jack Moore			Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray	57	100	running	0
7		Al Rogers	1	Scuderia Left Turn	Morgan SS	47		running	0
8	4	Mike Gammino	23	Michael Gammino	Ferrari 250 GTO 3387GT	46		running	0
9	3	Bob Johnson	33	Bob Johnson	Shelby Cobra CSX2026	2		timing chain	1

8/4/07

12 Hours of Sebring, March 21, 1964
Shelby Cobra #CSX2138 – Ford V8 2v OHV 4727cc N/A GT5.0
Sponsors: GOODYEAR
Driven by: Dan Gerber (USA)/George Reed (USA)
DNS: Dick Lang (USA)
Result: did not finish (Fuel tank) - 117 laps

Lang was scheduled to co-drive a Cobra at the 1964 Sebring 12 hour race, but the car dropped out due to a leak in the fuel tank before his shift began.

Click HERE for a picture of the #19 Gerber Cobra.

1964 Mid-Ohio (June)

June 14, 1964 @ Mid-Ohio.
SCCA National Races at Mid-Ohio : AP Class
First: Dick Lang, Corvette Sting Ray
(Click on photos to view larger image)

Bob Johnson in the #33 Cobra

Taking the checkered flag

1964 Mid-Ohio (July)

July 12, 1964. Divisional Race at Mid-Ohio

Top 4

Bob Johnson (Cobra)
Dan Gerber (Cobra)
Tom Swindell (Stingray)
Dick Lang (Stingray)

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.