393 - Randy Lanier (Part Two): On The Run
08/04/22 • 83 min
1 Listener
What do you get when you combine a drug smuggling enterprise straight out of an episode of Miami Vice with the high-dollar sports car racing world of the 1980s? You get the story of Randy Lanier, and on this week’s episode he joins Dale Earnhardt Jr. and co-host Mike Davis to tell it.
At one time a top prospect in American motorsports, Lanier made headlines when he was indicted in 1986 for operating a multi-million dollar drug distribution effort responsible for bringing over 300 tons of marijuana to the United States from Columbia. Just a handful of months before he was Rookie of the Year in the 70th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Originally born in rural Lynchburg, Virginia, Lanier and his family of seven moved to Hollywood, Florida when he was 13. The sunny beach lifestyle was captivating for young Randy, and was soon introduced to the thriving marijuana subculture of the 1960s. His father, who worked as a draftsman, was concerned about his seemingly wayward lifestyle and got him a job in construction. But, due to his longhaired appearance, fellow construction workers began asking Randy if he knew where to buy marijuana, and his stint in drug dealing began.
Randy shares a frightening story of getting robbed at gun-point during a sale, which temporarily took him away from Florida to Colorado. It was there he met a guru, who invited him to an ashram in Boulder where he learned the art of meditation, which proved to be a big part of his survival in prison as well as a cornerstone of his life today. Upon returning to Florida, Randy continued on his new path until tragically losing his brother Glen in a motorcycle accident. The event was catastrophic for the Lanier family, and Randy explains it spun him out, back into the familiarity of selling marijuana.
While he may not have realized it at the time, Lanier’s eventual career in motorsports was implanted in the back of his mind, thanks in part to listening to the Indianapolis 500 broadcast on the radio when he was a young boy at his family farm in Virginia. Randy recalls a story from the late 1970s when he was attending a car show at the Miami Beach Convention Center and noticed a SCCA-sponsored booth. He picked up a pamphlet and eventually made the call to inquire about becoming a licensed driver. Soon after, he purchased his first race car: a 1957 Porsche 256. After renting out a small warehouse to be his shop and preparing the car for racing action, he entered his first amateur contest at West Palm Beach Speedway in 1980. As legend would have it, he won.
From there he rapidly progressed through the sports car ranks, arriving at the headlining IMSA GT circuit. After spending a few seasons in borrowed rides with minimal results, he decided to take matters into his own hands and form his own racing team. But, to win on a consistent basis required a large bank roll, and so the two roads of Lanier’s life intersected.
At this point, he had some experience with off-shore drug smuggling. At age 19 he used some of his dealing profits to purchase a 27-foot speed boat, initially intended to be a frivolous expenditure for thrill-seeking. He soon began traveling to the Bahamas to bring in loads of marijuana from awaiting motherships. In order to fund his newly formed Blue Thunder Racing team, Lanier expanded from speed boats to fishing boats, then tug boats and finally a full-on barge. The results were instant, and in 1984 he won the IMSA Championship. The next year, he took on CART racing with the intention of heading to Indianapolis. The transition proved difficult, and although he had a successful debut in 1986 in the 500, a devastating crash at Michigan a few weeks later effectively ended his racing career. As it turns out, his drug smuggling efforts caught up with him and soon after he was indicted.
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What do you get when you combine a drug smuggling enterprise straight out of an episode of Miami Vice with the high-dollar sports car racing world of the 1980s? You get the story of Randy Lanier, and on this week’s episode he joins Dale Earnhardt Jr. and co-host Mike Davis to tell it.
At one time a top prospect in American motorsports, Lanier made headlines when he was indicted in 1986 for operating a multi-million dollar drug distribution effort responsible for bringing over 300 tons of marijuana to the United States from Columbia. Just a handful of months before he was Rookie of the Year in the 70th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Originally born in rural Lynchburg, Virginia, Lanier and his family of seven moved to Hollywood, Florida when he was 13. The sunny beach lifestyle was captivating for young Randy, and was soon introduced to the thriving marijuana subculture of the 1960s. His father, who worked as a draftsman, was concerned about his seemingly wayward lifestyle and got him a job in construction. But, due to his longhaired appearance, fellow construction workers began asking Randy if he knew where to buy marijuana, and his stint in drug dealing began.
Randy shares a frightening story of getting robbed at gun-point during a sale, which temporarily took him away from Florida to Colorado. It was there he met a guru, who invited him to an ashram in Boulder where he learned the art of meditation, which proved to be a big part of his survival in prison as well as a cornerstone of his life today. Upon returning to Florida, Randy continued on his new path until tragically losing his brother Glen in a motorcycle accident. The event was catastrophic for the Lanier family, and Randy explains it spun him out, back into the familiarity of selling marijuana.
While he may not have realized it at the time, Lanier’s eventual career in motorsports was implanted in the back of his mind, thanks in part to listening to the Indianapolis 500 broadcast on the radio when he was a young boy at his family farm in Virginia. Randy recalls a story from the late 1970s when he was attending a car show at the Miami Beach Convention Center and noticed a SCCA-sponsored booth. He picked up a pamphlet and eventually made the call to inquire about becoming a licensed driver. Soon after, he purchased his first race car: a 1957 Porsche 256. After renting out a small warehouse to be his shop and preparing the car for racing action, he entered his first amateur contest at West Palm Beach Speedway in 1980. As legend would have it, he won.
From there he rapidly progressed through the sports car ranks, arriving at the headlining IMSA GT circuit. After spending a few seasons in borrowed rides with minimal results, he decided to take matters into his own hands and form his own racing team. But, to win on a consistent basis required a large bank roll, and so the two roads of Lanier’s life intersected.
At this point, he had some experience with off-shore drug smuggling. At age 19 he used some of his dealing profits to purchase a 27-foot speed boat, initially intended to be a frivolous expenditure for thrill-seeking. He soon began traveling to the Bahamas to bring in loads of marijuana from awaiting motherships. In order to fund his newly formed Blue Thunder Racing team, Lanier expanded from speed boats to fishing boats, then tug boats and finally a full-on barge. The results were instant, and in 1984 he won the IMSA Championship. The next year, he took on CART racing with the intention of heading to Indianapolis. The transition proved difficult, and although he had a successful debut in 1986 in the 500, a devastating crash at Michigan a few weeks later effectively ended his racing career. As it turns out, his drug smuggling efforts caught up with him and soon after he was indicted.
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Previous Episode
392 - Randy Lanier: Speed Funded By Weed
What do you get when you combine a drug smuggling enterprise straight out of an episode of Miami Vice with the high-dollar sports car racing world of the 1980s? You get the story of Randy Lanier, and on this week’s episode he joins Dale Earnhardt Jr. and co-host Mike Davis to tell it.
At one time a top prospect in American motorsports, Lanier made headlines when he was indicted in 1986 for operating a multi-million dollar drug distribution effort responsible for bringing over 300 tons of marijuana to the United States from Columbia. Just a handful of months before he was Rookie of the Year in the 70th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Originally born in rural Lynchburg, Virginia, Lanier and his family of seven moved to Hollywood, Florida when he was 13. The sunny beach lifestyle was captivating for young Randy, and was soon introduced to the thriving marijuana subculture of the 1960s. His father, who worked as a draftsman, was concerned about his seemingly wayward lifestyle and got him a job in construction. But, due to his longhaired appearance, fellow construction workers began asking Randy if he knew where to buy marijuana, and his stint in drug dealing began.
Randy shares a frightening story of getting robbed at gun-point during a sale, which temporarily took him away from Florida to Colorado. It was there he met a guru, who invited him to an ashram in Boulder where he learned the art of meditation, which proved to be a big part of his survival in prison as well as a cornerstone of his life today. Upon returning to Florida, Randy continued on his new path until tragically losing his brother Glen in a motorcycle accident. The event was catastrophic for the Lanier family, and Randy explains it spun him out, back into the familiarity of selling marijuana.
While he may not have realized it at the time, Lanier’s eventual career in motorsports was implanted in the back of his mind, thanks in part to listening to the Indianapolis 500 broadcast on the radio when he was a young boy at his family farm in Virginia. Randy recalls a story from the late 1970s when he was attending a car show at the Miami Beach Convention Center and noticed a SCCA-sponsored booth. He picked up a pamphlet and eventually made the call to inquire about becoming a licensed driver. Soon after, he purchased his first race car: a 1957 Porsche 256. After renting out a small warehouse to be his shop and preparing the car for racing action, he entered his first amateur contest at West Palm Beach Speedway in 1980. As legend would have it, he won.
From there he rapidly progressed through the sports car ranks, arriving at the headlining IMSA GT circuit. After spending a few seasons in borrowed rides with minimal results, he decided to take matters into his own hands and form his own racing team. But, to win on a consistent basis required a large bank roll, and so the two roads of Lanier’s life intersected.
DIRTY AIR
Before Randy joins the show, Dale, Mike and Matthew discuss:
- Listeners respond to Dale and Mike’s heated discussion
- The chaotic Cup race at the Indianapolis Road Course
- Indianapolis Oval or Road Course?
- Dale Jr.’s return to North Wilkesboro
ASKJR presented by Xfinity
The fan questions came rolling in about:
- Doing commentary for other sports
- Should NASCAR return to Iowa Speedway?
- The 1995 Impala from MTV Cribs
- Dale’s perfect tailgate menu
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Next Episode
394 - Ty Gibbs: Growing Up Gibbs
In just a few short seasons, Ty Gibbs went from winning in the periphery of the stock car world to becoming one of the most polarizing characters in the NASCAR garage. On this week’s episode of The Dale Jr. Download, Ty joins Dale Earnhardt Jr. and co-host Mike Davis in the Bojangles Studio to discuss his meteoric rise to becoming a focal point in motorsports.
Gibbs stunned onlookers when he won the February 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series event at the Daytona Road Course, in what was his first attempt in the division. After starting deep in the pack on a late restart, Gibbs put on a driving display that saw him pass several cars and even drive through the grass to take the point, holding off accomplished road racer Austin Cindric in the process. The victory would make history, as it made Gibbs the first driver in the modern NASCAR era to win a national series event in his first attempt.
While Ty has come off as soft-spoken in many of his public interviews, he gives The Download listeners a rare look into his home life, filling Dale and Mike in about his siblings and new townhouse. After Kurt Busch’s recent hard crash at Pocono, Ty received the call to fill in at the last moment, minutes after finishing second in the Saturday afternoon Xfinity event. He explained that to best prepare for the challenge of driving a car he had zero experience in, he retreated home to run laps on his sim racing setup and sleep in his own bed before returning to Pocono early the next morning for the Cup race.
The interview covers Ty’s early years in racing, from competing in shifter karts at venues like the GoPro Motorplex to running late model stock cars on the prestigious CARS tour. He recalls the moment he knew he wanted to pursue a career in racing came after his grandfather Joe, whom he affectionately refers to as “Coach”, took him and his cousin to test a go-kart at Millbridge Speedway. When Mike asked if he has ever struggled with getting acclimated to any type of race vehicle, Ty explained the challenge in transitioning from karts to late models and how it took a couple of years to get comfortable. At one point, he was racing his kart full-time while testing a late model at Hickory Speedway during the week.
Dale and Ty dig into the challenge of dealing with the public perception of coming from an established racing family. Ty gave some insight into how he tunes out the criticism he faces, finding that focusing on his love for motorsports keeps him motivated to move forward. Many young racers are forced to grow up in the public eye, and Gibbs talks about his ongoing maturation in dealing with conflicts both on the track and off.
Ty’s future has been a hot topic of discussion as he continues to find success in the Xfinity Series and now filling in at 23XI Racing in Kurt Busch’s absence. He explains he ultimately wants to race in many different types of cars, mirroring the career path of Kyle Larson, whom he looks up to in many regards. They also discuss the future of Joe Gibbs Racing and what roles Ty may see himself in as the years roll on.
This year in the Xfinity Series, one of the main storylines to watch has been JR Motorsports versus Ty Gibbs. And while usually, you’d never invite your competition into your very race shop, Dale Jr. recognizes that Ty is going to be a part of motorsports for many years to come and is choosing to embrace him.
DIRTY AIR
Before Ty joins the show, Dale, Mike, Alex and Hannah discuss:
- New Kyle Petty shirts available on the DirtyMoMedia.com
- Dale’s play-by-play commentary at Michigan
- Bubba Wallace’s passionate post-race interview
- The modified race opener at North Wilkesboro
ASKJR presented by Xfinity
This week the fans asked about:
- The future’s perspective on today’s NASCAR world
- Racing left-handed
- Dale’s most prized vintage t-shirt
- Applying Mike Joy’s commentary advice
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
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