The story may sound familiar–a gearhead father bonds with his young son, hands him a wrench, and the seed is planted. That was the case with John Lingenfelter, and by 1973, he had quit his job as an engineer with International Harvester to give full-time racing a try. Today’s feature, along with the majority of CorvSport’s digital content, is FREE and not behind a paywall. If/when any pop-ups appear, please click to dismiss them and continue enjoying the article.
While John was victorious in his early racing days, the bulk of the prize money was reinvested in his creations. But, in 1984, John was able to marry his “genius for speed” with a solid income stream, and soon thereafter, Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE) ventured into the “mail-order business” with a 383 small block V8.
As the National Corvette Museum wrote for John’s 2006 Hall of Fame induction, “Corvettes became his focus with the release of Tuned Port Injection on the C4. His innovations brought him to the attention of Reeves Callaway who asked him to build the engine for the legendary Sledgehammer, the car Lingenfelter himself drove to a record 254.76 mph. With the release of the C5, Lingenfelter achieved superstar status with some of the fastest, yet drivable and reliable Corvettes ever made. John Lingenfelter died on Christmas Day, 2003.”
It’s hard to believe that nearly twenty-two years have passed since John’s untimely death, but the company’s legacy lived on with Ken Lingenfelter, who coincidentally recently joined the National Corvette Museum’s Board of Directors as an At-Large Member.
