Lake Underwood
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
who competed as a champion
Champion
A champion is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition.There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, and even further divisions at one or more of these levels, as in soccer. Their champions...
in the racing
Racing
A sport race is a competition of speed, against an objective criterion, usually a clock or to a specific point. The competitors in a race try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time...
of prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
automobiles and motorcycles. He was a master mechanic
Master craftsman
A master craftsman or master tradesman was a member of a guild. In the European guild system, only masters were allowed to be members of the guild....
who, although high performance fuel delivery and carburetor design and mechanics were his specialties, also invented automobile improvements, especially in electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
for German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
automobiles.
Underwood was one of the founders of the Watkins Glen
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen International is an auto race track located near Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. The facility is owned by International Speedway Corporation...
Racing School where he taught racecar driving skills. He participated in the training of Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
to drive race cars for the 1969 movie, Winning
Winning
Winning is a 1969 American motion picture starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. A number of racecar drivers and people associated with racing appear in the film, including Bobby Unser, Tony Hulman, Bobby Grim, Dan Gurney, Roger McCluskey, and Bruce Walkup.-Plot summary:The film centers on...
, which sparked Newman's lifetime enthusiasm for the motorsport
Motorsport
Motorsport or motorsports is the group of sports which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles, whether for racing or non-racing competition...
. Bob Sharp gave the driving lessons.
He was an active member of many racing, road racing
Road racing
Road racing is a general term for most forms of motor racing held on paved, purpose-built race tracks , as opposed to oval tracks and off-road racing...
, and automobile related clubs, some of which he helped to found. He served as president for some of them.
Porsche Club of America
Porsche Club of America
The Porsche Club of America is an organization of Porsche enthusiasts in the United States and Canada. It is organized into 139 regions, which are grouped into 13 zones...
identified Underwood as one of four race car drivers who established Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
as "the giant killer" in the early days of its racing in the United States. Carroll Shelby
Carroll Shelby
Carroll Hall Shelby is an American retired automotive designer and racing driver. He is most well known for making Mustangs for Ford Motor Company known as Mustang Cobras which he has done since 1965...
described him as one of the top ten drivers in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and in September 2003, Excellence
Excellence (magazine)
Excellence: The Magazine About Porsche is a magazine published by Ross Periodicals for owners and fans of Porsche cars....
: The Magazine About Porsche, named Lake Underwood as Porsche's Quiet Giant in an extensive article on some of his driving history.
Biography
He was born into the family of mechanical engineers who worked on the heavy waterHeavy water
Heavy water is water highly enriched in the hydrogen isotope deuterium; e.g., heavy water used in CANDU reactors is 99.75% enriched by hydrogen atom-fraction...
project in the development of nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
and in the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
. Born and raised in Blue Ridge, Georgia
Blue Ridge, Georgia
Blue Ridge is a city in Fannin County, Georgia, United States. The population was 1,210 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Fannin County.-Geography:Blue Ridge, GA is located at ....
, Underwood served as a flight crew airman
Airman
An airman is a member of the air component of a nation's armed service. In the United States Air Force and the Royal Air Force , it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank...
in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After the war he was graduated from Lehigh University
Lehigh University
Lehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, but has grown to include studies in a wide variety of disciplines...
.
He opened automobile dealerships in Maplewood, New Jersey
Maplewood, New Jersey
Maplewood is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 23,867.-History:...
where he dealt with the direct importer of Jaguar
Jaguar (car)
Jaguar Cars Ltd, known simply as Jaguar , is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Whitley, Coventry, England. It is part of the Jaguar Land Rover business, a subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors....
, Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
, Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
, and Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
—Max Hoffman
Max Hoffman
Max Hoffman, , was an Austrian-born importer of automobiles into the United States during the 1950s. Doing business among gentlemen who knew one another well, he was known for his handshake deals that always were upheld without a written contract...
, who was renowned for handshake deals in direct contacts with the manufacturers of the foreign vehicles, rather than the American model of contracts. The dealerships included Essex Sports Cars and Aircooled Automotive, which operated for more than four decades.
Lake C. Underwood died at the age of eighty-two in Roseland, New Jersey on September 12, 2008. http://google.com/search?q=cache:8NlAesP4adMJ:search.nj.com/sp%3Faff%3D106%26keywords%3D%26sNum%3D5001+%22lake+c+underwood%22&cd=15&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Racing history
Sports car racing
Sports car racing is a form of circuit auto racing with automobiles that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built or related to road-going sports cars....
in MG
MG (car)
The MG Car Company is a former British sports car manufacturer founded in the 1920s by Cecil Kimber. Best known for its two-seat open sports cars, MG also produced saloons and coupés....
s initially, but soon was piloting a vehicle powered by a Porsche 356
Porsche 356
The Porsche 356 was the company's first production automobile. It was a lightweight and nimble handling rear-engine rear-wheel-drive 2 door sports car available in hardtop coupe and open configurations. Design innovations continued during the years of manufacture, contributing to its motorsports...
engine
Engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...
loaned to him by the inventor, Ben Shereshaw, who owned a 1952 Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
Supercar
Supercar
Supercar is a term used most often to describe an expensive high end car. It has been defined specifically as "a very expensive, fast or powerful car"...
. Porsche factory disk brakes—not used on production
Mass production
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
vehicles at the time—were adapted for the vehicle by Dick DeBiasse,http://www.rosenet.org/GOV/mayorcouncil/minutes/2000w/10_23_00w.htmhttp://www.rosenet.org/GOV/mayorcouncil/minutes/2001r/04_23_01r.htm (the founder of AER Research in Madison, New Jersey
Madison, New Jersey
Madison is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the population was 16,530. It also is known as "The Rose City".-Geography:Madison is located at ....
) who was able to reduce the weight of the parts without altering their effectiveness—giving the vehicle a distinct competitive advantage.
Before long, managers at Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
recognized that racing in American circuits could increase sales. They chose Underwood and his team to become the recipients of engineering tips from the factory as well as factory equipment.
Underwood became a founding member of the Northern New Jersey Region chapter http://www.nnjr-pca.com/ of the Porsche Club of America
Porsche Club of America
The Porsche Club of America is an organization of Porsche enthusiasts in the United States and Canada. It is organized into 139 regions, which are grouped into 13 zones...
, serving as its second president. By nomination in 1957, he is among the few ever invited to join the Road Racing Drivers Club
Road racing
Road racing is a general term for most forms of motor racing held on paved, purpose-built race tracks , as opposed to oval tracks and off-road racing...
, serving as its president as well. He maintained friendships with others driving both motorcycles and Porsches, such as Mark Donohue
Mark Donohue
Mark Neary Donohue, Jr. , nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American racecar driver known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories. Donohue is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp “Can-Am Killer” Porsche 917-30 and as the winner of the 1972...
, George Mennen
Mennen
Mennen is a brand owned in most parts of the world by the Colgate-Palmolive Company. Its most notable product, Mennen Speed Stick, with its fougère perfume and green wide stick, was the market leader among deodorants and antiperspirants for men for many years...
, and Stirling Moss
Stirling Moss
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, OBE FIE is a former racing driver from England...
.
He won two F-Production National Championships in 1956 and 1957 with one of the "bathtub" Porsches. Driving a Lister Jaguar, he finished sixth in his class at the 1959 12 Hours of Sebring
12 Hours of Sebring
The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, a former Army Air Force base in Sebring, Florida...
. After switching to a larger engine in his Porsche in 1963, Underwood won his third F-Production National Championship.
Lake Underwood raced in Class F (F-Production or FP), in SCCA, factory Jaguar
Jaguar (car)
Jaguar Cars Ltd, known simply as Jaguar , is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Whitley, Coventry, England. It is part of the Jaguar Land Rover business, a subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors....
s, Jaguar D-Type
Jaguar D-type
The Jaguar D-Type, like its predecessor the C-Type, was a factory-built race car. Although it shared the basic straight-6 XK engine design with the C-Type, the majority of the car was radically different...
s, and Costin Lister Jaguar
Jaguar (car)
Jaguar Cars Ltd, known simply as Jaguar , is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Whitley, Coventry, England. It is part of the Jaguar Land Rover business, a subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors....
s for Briggs Swift Cunningham II
Briggs Cunningham
Briggs Swift Cunningham II was an American entrepreneur and sportsman, who raced automobiles and yachts. Born into a wealthy family, he became a racing car constructor, driver, and team owner as well as a sports car manufacturer and automobile collector.He skippered the victorious yacht Columbia...
, Porsche 356
Porsche 356
The Porsche 356 was the company's first production automobile. It was a lightweight and nimble handling rear-engine rear-wheel-drive 2 door sports car available in hardtop coupe and open configurations. Design innovations continued during the years of manufacture, contributing to its motorsports...
s, Porsche 550 spyder
Porsche 550
The Porsche 550 was a sports car produced by Porsche from 1953-1956.Inspired by the Porsche 356 which was created by Ferry Porsche, and some spyder prototypes built and raced by Walter Glöckler starting in 1951, the factory decided to build a car designed for use in auto racing. The model Porsche...
s, and on the Cunningham Team in Porsche 904
Porsche 904
The Porsche 904 is an automobile which was produced by Porsche in Germany in 1964 and 1965. It was officially called Porsche Carrera GTS due to the same naming rights problem that required renaming the Porsche 901 to Porsche 911.- History :...
s and Porsche 906
Porsche 906
The Porsche 906 or Carrera 6 was the last street-legal racing car from Porsche. It was announced in January 1966 and 50 examples were subsequently produced, thus meeting the homologation requirements of the FIA's new Group 4 Sports Car category to the letter...
s.
At 12 Hours of Sebring in 1964, Briggs Cunningham
Briggs Cunningham
Briggs Swift Cunningham II was an American entrepreneur and sportsman, who raced automobiles and yachts. Born into a wealthy family, he became a racing car constructor, driver, and team owner as well as a sports car manufacturer and automobile collector.He skippered the victorious yacht Columbia...
and Lake Underwood drove their jointly-owned silver Porsche 904 GTS
Porsche 904
The Porsche 904 is an automobile which was produced by Porsche in Germany in 1964 and 1965. It was officially called Porsche Carrera GTS due to the same naming rights problem that required renaming the Porsche 901 to Porsche 911.- History :...
, Number 37, to capture first place in under-2-liter 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.
In 1965 Lake Underwood raced in 12 Hours of Sebring for the Porsche factory. Co-driver, Günter Klass
Günter Klass
Günter "Bobby" Klass was a versatile German racing driver, competing in hillclimbing, rallying, and the World Sportscar Championship as factory driver for Porsche and the Scuderia Ferrari.-Career:...
, and Underwood drove a 904 GT in the race and they won first in under-2-liter GT class, fifth overall, and first overall in the prestigious Index of Performance.
He was following Don Wester when Don's automobile struck Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti
Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...
's at Sebring
Sebring Raceway
Sebring International Raceway is a road course auto racing facility located near Sebring, Florida.Sebring Raceway is one of the oldest continuously-operating race tracks in the United States, its first race being run in 1950...
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.
Other sports
Underwood also was an accomplished all-around sportsman in aviationAviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
, boating
Boating
Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels , focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or water skiing...
, hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
, hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
, offshore game fishing
Big-game fishing
Big-game fishing, often referred to as offshore sportfishing, offshore gamefishing, or blue-water fishing is a form of recreational fishing, targeting large fish renowned for their sporting qualities, such as tuna and marlin.-History:...
, and skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
. Deep water fishing was a favorite pastime combined with boating. An excellent marksman, he completed his American sheep
Ovis
Ovis is a genus of mammals, part of the goat-antelope subfamily of the ruminant family Bovidae. Its five or more highly gregarious species are known as sheep...
and mountain goat
Mountain goat
The Mountain Goat , also known as the Rocky Mountain Goat, is a large-hoofed mammal found only in North America. Despite its vernacular name, it is not a member of Capra, the genus of true goats...
grand slam while hiking in the high Rockies
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
and in the Alaska Range
Mountain peaks of Alaska
This article comprises three sortable tables of mountain peaks of the U.S. State of Alaska.Topographic elevation is the vertical distance above the reference geoid, a precise mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface. Topographic prominence is the...
during the 1960s, before becoming an advocate of conservation
Conservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....
, wildlife management
Wildlife management
Wildlife management attempts to balance the needs of wildlife with the needs of people using the best available science. Wildlife management can include game keeping, wildlife conservation and pest control...
, and habitat conservation
Habitat conservation
Habitat conservation is a land management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore, habitat areas for wild plants and animals, especially conservation reliant species, and prevent their extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range...
.
External links
- http://www.briggscunningham.com/cmuseum.html
- http://www.classicscars.com/chassis/porsche/904.htm
- http://www.bullpublishing.com/books/pdfs/porsche.pdf
- http://www.pca.org/join/history.html history of Porsche Club of America
- http://www.excellence-mag.com/back_issues.html - back issue archive from April 1987 to present - see - #122 September 2003 - Lake Underwood: Quiet Giant
- http://www.rrdc.org/ see - members bio list - biography and photograph (includes biographies of all ever invited to join Road Racing Drivers Club, living and deceased)
- http://www.jcna.com/library/news/jcna0050.html - a Costin Lister Jaguar raced as part of the Briggs Cunningham Team - detailed history - shown in detail, click for views
- http://www.listercars.com/heritage.htm - rare Jaguar of 1959 (only two powered by Jaguar)
- http://www.nationalroadrally.com/tradition.html
- http://www.virhistory.com/vir/57-oct/hh-5710.htm
- http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/frame.php?file=car.php&carnum=2179
- http://www.classicscars.com/wspr/results/wscc/ms1958.html
- http://www.teamdan.com/archive/wsc/1958/58seb.html
- http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jong/Races/1967%20Marlboro.html
- http://www.themaseraticlub.com/ITOL_Briggs.html Briggs Swift Cunningham - tribute 2003
- http://www.nnjr-pca.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102:about-nnjr-and-its-history&catid=71:static-content-general&Itemid=76 NNJR-PCA - Northern New Jersey Region Porsche Club of America - brief history 1957-2006
- http://www.racecar.com/story.asp?NewsID=5302
- http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/story.htm
- http://www.imsaracing.net/imsaNS.cfm?h=/2003/news/header.htm&p=/2003/news04/2-282004133248ALMS.htm
- http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Virginia-1957-10-27c-photo.html driving 356
- http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Virginia-1957-10-27a-photo.html driving 550
- http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Sebring-1964-03-21-photo.html driving 904 - two photographs are displayed alternatively
- http://www.carmemories.com/cgi-bin/viewexperience.cgi?experience_id=441
- http://www.imca-slotracing.com/QUIZZ1.htm
- http://www.motorsportsalmanac.com/sidebyside.asp?s=transom
- http://www.supercars.net/Search2?INPUT=porsche&searchType=cars
- http://wsrp.ic.cz/wsc1958.html
- http://wsrp.ic.cz/wsc1959.html
- http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?s=cc81639790bde2b73774681b722aba79&showtopic=1194&pid=4049766&st=80&#entry4049766 post 140 on December 20, 2009 by S&M Minis shows photographs of Lake Underwood driving at the Marlboro Double 300 Trans Am on August 12, 1967 as part of an Alfa team when Horst teamed with Lake Underwood for this event, Horst in the Alfa GTA (#3) Lake Underwood (#37); there were separate races run for the over and under 2 liter cars; all three Alfas DNF'd within a lap of each other and were placed 15th (Baker/Richards, 167 laps), 16th (Winkler/Feistman, 166 laps), and 17th (Kwech/Underwood, 166 laps) because the cars weren't placed by the typical number of laps finished on the official SCCA results sheet, but instead by the track position when the flag fell - using the laps completed records, the three Alfas would have been seventh, eighth, and ninth