[7] Lanier began his motorsport career in 1978, following a meeting with the Sports Car Club of America at an auto show taking place in Miami Beach Convention Center on how to make a start in racing, he bought himself a 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster, where he used it to compete in E Production at the SCCA Southeast Regional Championship, eventually winning the class in 1980.
[9] Partnering with Bob Wollek and Edgar Dören, the trio ran in 3rd place for 18 hours until their run ended[8] when Lanier took over at dawn on his first lap, considered by fellow driver Desiré Wilson to be unsuited to drive as he had been seen previously acting nervously in the pits, he drove the car off course destroying the suspension.
[10] He was invited by the same team to partner with Preston Henn and Denis Morin at the 24 Hours of Le Mans,[8] retiring after they ran out of fuel.
[15][Note 1][16] Lanier along with Eugene Fischer[18] and Ben Kramer, owner of Apache boats; and twelve others[19] ran a multi-million dollar drug empire between 1982 and 1986 when the arrest took place.
[21] A week prior to the Indy time trials, his former driving partner Bill Whittington was arrested and Lanier's name began to surface.
[13] Months after an Illinois dealer was arrested when a local state trooper discovered a small haul of cannabis in a broken down truck.
[2] He was convicted of importing and distributing over 300 tons of Colombian marijuana,[23][24] believed to be worth $68 million by prosecutors[25] and was due to be sentenced when he disappeared.
[13] Lanier had also cut a deal after his arrest for conspiracy to distribute marijuana, but at the last minute refused to testify against Jack Kramer, father of Ben.
[28] Lanier and his partner Ben Kramer received life without parole sentences on October 4, 1988[23] under the newly enacted Continuing Criminal Enterprise statute (also known as the "Super Drug Kingpin" law), owing to their refusal to cooperate with the prosecution.
[31] Maggi, who married Lanier on August 31, 1990, at Oxford Federal Correctional Institution in Wisconsin.,[2] was sentenced on April 30, 1993, to nine years in prison for money laundering.
[33] Otherwise serving a life sentence, for reasons undisclosed under sealed motions, Lanier was scheduled to be released from prison, with a discharge date of October 15, 2014,[34] which was reportedly confirmed to Autoweek magazine insiders by Jim Porter, first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons website also confirmed Lanier's date of discharge conditional to the requirement that he spend six months in a halfway house before entering a three-year period of supervised release where he would be disallowed alcohol and firearms.
Lanier stated that he had a job awaiting him at a classic car museum in Florida,[28] said to be for Preston Henn, owner of Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop.