| Lake Underwood |
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| 1926 births | |
| underwood, lake | |
| living people | |
| people from new jersey | |
| american racecar drivers | |
| lehigh university alumni | |
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Porsche Club Of America identified Lake Underwood as one of four Race Car Driver s who established Porsche as ''the giant killer'' in the early days of its racing in the USA . Carroll Shelby described Lake Underwood as one of the top ten drivers in the USA and in #122 September 2003, Excellence :The Magazine About Porsche, named Lake Underwood as ''Porsche's Quiet Giant'' in an extensive article on the driver’s history. BIOGRAPHY He was born into the family of a Physicist who worked on the Heavy Water Project in the development of Atomic Energy and in the Manhattan Project . After serving as an Aviator in World War Two , Lake Underwood attended Lehigh University . He opened an automobile dealership in Maplewood, New Jersey where he dealt with a direct importer of Jaguar , Mercedes Benz , Porsche , Volkswagen , and Fiat — Max Hoffman , who was renowned for handshake deals in direct contacts with the manufacturers of the foreign vehicles, rather than the American model of contracts. RACING HISTORY Lake Underwood began Sports Car Racing in a vehicle powered by a Porsche 356 Engine loaned to him by the inventor, Ben Shereshaw , who owned a 1952 Porsche Supercar . Porsche factory Disk Brakes —not used on Production vehicles at the time—were adapted for the vehicle by Dick DeBiasse . Managers at Porsche recognized that racing in American circuits could increase sales and they chose Underwood and his team to become the recipients of engineering tips from the factory and factory equipment. Underwood became a founding member of the Northern New Jersey chapter of the Porsche Club Of America and he is among the few ever invited to join the Road Racing Drivers Club. He maintained friendships with others driving both motorcycles and Porsches, such as Mark Donohue , Steve McQueen , George Mennen , and Stirling Moss . Lake Underwood raced in Class F , F-Production , FP , in SCCA , at Indianapolis in the Indy 500 of the Indy Racing League , and Prototype s in the Grand Prix motor racing circuit in Formula One racing of Maserati s, factory Jaguar s, Jaguar D-Type s, and Lister Jaguar s for Briggs Swift Cunningham II, Porsche 356 s, Porsche 718 s, and later, in Porsche 904 s and Porsche 906 s. He was following Don Wester when Don's automobile struck Mario Andretti 's at Sebring in 1966 and Underwood had to drive blindly through the tragic accident scene where four spectators were killed after they entered a prohibited area and were struck by Wester’s vehicle that was estimated to be going 140 mph at the time. Previously at 12 Hours Of Sebring in 1964 , Briggs Cunningham and Lake Underwood drove the silver '' Porsche 904 GTS'', ''Number 37'', to capture first place in P3.0 for the race car—during its debut racing season—good photographs of the automobile taken by Bill Kutz are accessible via the external link provided below to the Internet site of racingsportscars.com, which has posted many historic photographs of the automobiles that participated in that event and data of interest to enthusiasts. EXTERNAL LINKS
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