Dick Lang Racing History: Cumberland

12/1/07

1961 Cumberland National Championship Sports Car Races

Cumberland National Championship Sports Car Races. May 15, 1961.

(Race Results)

Pos.	No.	Driver	Car	Entrant
1^st	1	Don Yenko	Chevrolet Corvette	Don Yenko
2^nd	13	Bob Johnson	Chevrolet Corvette	Bob Johnson
3^rd	77	Bruce Jennings	Porsche 356 Carrera	Bruce Jennings
4^th	18	Ben Moore	Chevrolet Corvette	Ben W. Moore
5^th	78	Joe Buzzetta	Porsche 356 Carrera	Joe Buzzetta
6^th	0	Grady Davis	Chevrolet Corvette	I. Grady Davis
7^th	203	Ed Smith	Chevrolet Corvette	Edwin Smith
8^th	84	Ed Myers	Chevrolet Corvette	Edwin Myers

#83. DNF.

10/4/07

1962 Cumberland

Cumberland. May 13, 1962. Lang is in the red corvette #85 in the starting grid. The 2nd picture is also of the starting grid, but from the infield. #85 can be seen if you click on the picture for a larger image.

Click HERE for a diagram of the Cumberland Race Course.

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SCCA National Cumberland [AP+BP] results^[1] ^[2]^[3]

Div.	Finish	Driver	Car Model	Car #	Comments
AP	1st	Dick Thompson	Corvette 327	11
AP	2d	Bob Grossman	Ferrari 250	90
AP	3rd	Charlie Hayes	Ferrari 250	7
AP	4th	Dick Lang	Corvette	85
AP	5th	Ben Moore	Corvette	18
AP	6th	Chuck Dietrich	Ferrari 250	27
AP	7th	Doug Thiem	Ferrari 250	7
BP	8th	Ralph Salyer	Corvette	1	1st in BP
AP	9th	Bob Brown	Corvette	41
AP	10th	Martin Kinner	Corvette	47
BP	11th	Grady Davis	Corvette	2
BP	12th	Bruce Jennings	Porsche 356	79
BP	13th	Bob Spooner	Corvette	33
AP	14th	Ed Myers	Corvette	84
BP	15th	George McKean	Corvette	24
BP	16th	Ed Fuchs	Porsche 356	36
AP	17th	Allan Wylie	Ferrari 250 GT	9
AP	18th	Tom Fleming	Jaguar XKE	72
BP	19th	Rod Semrad	Porsche 356	135
AP	20th	Harry Mergner	Corvette	8
BP	21st	Mary Haines Collins	Corvette	205
BP	22d	Barnie Burnett	Porsche 356	221
BP	23d	Morrow Decker	Porsche 356	0
BP	24th	Roy Jumnick	Corvette	44

Velocetody.com has a nice story on the race here.
From the article:

So the SCCA AP contingent arrived at Cumberland in May 1962. This time five SWB appeared. As far as the author knows this is the most SWB Ferrari to race in the same event in the US.

Opposed to the Ferrari were nine 327 Corvettes and one E Type. By this time the the AP race was over shadowing the all modified Main race as the most exciting event at SCCA meetings.
Thompson won the drag race to the first corner and held Grossman at bay for the rest of the race. Hayes pushed Grossman, but was unable to pass. Yenko (BP) dropped out and the race ended up Thompson 327 1st, Grossman, Hayes SWBs 2nd and 3rd, Lang and Moore with 327s next followed by Dietrich and Thiem AP6 and AP7.
… At the end of the season the AP standings were: Thompson 70 points Thiem 56 points Grossman 36 Points Lang (327) 24 points.

9/4/07

1963 Cumberland Maryland

May 12, 1963, Cumberland, MD.

A&B Production Results^[1]

Div.	Finish	Driver	Car Model	Car #
AP	1st	Bob Johnson	Shelby Cobra	33
AP	2d	Dick Lang	Corvette Sting Ray	85
AP	3rd	Dick Thompson	Corvette Sting Ray
BP	1st	Robert Mouat	Corvette	57

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

Lang won this cool "cooler" trophy for best
"A" Corvette. Click to enlarge.

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.