Lake Underwood

Lake Carl Underwood[2] (July 4, 1926 – September 12, 2008) was an American entrepreneur who competed as a champion in the racing of prototype automobiles and motorcycles.

Born and raised in Blue Ridge, Georgia, Underwood served as a flight crew airman in the United States Navy during World War II.

Underwood became a founding member of the Northern New Jersey Region chapter [1] of the Porsche Club of America, serving as its second president.

At 12 Hours of Sebring in 1964, Briggs Cunningham and Lake Underwood drove their jointly owned silver Porsche 904 GTS, Number 37, to capture first place in under-2-liter (prototype class) and ninth overall 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.

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 Underwood estimated was going 140 mph at the time.

Driving a Porsche 906 with Ed Hugus, Underwood's final Sebring race garnered fourth place in the Sport Prototype class.

[12] Underwood also was an accomplished all-around sportsman in aviation, boating, hiking, hunting, offshore game fishing, tennis, and skiing.