Remembering Earl Lackey, “The Father of Speed”

Earl Lackey, “The Father of Speed,” was well-known throughout the racing community in Alaska. Along with his wife Karen and their family, the Lackeys owned and operated Alaska Raceway Park for over 20 years. Earl passed away last month and will leave behind a legacy that paved the way for racers in the Last Frontier.

“We will continue his legacy by racing here and sharing that with new generations,” Alaska Raceway Park owner and Earl’s daughter Michelle Lackey said.

Michelle was Earl and Karen’s only daughter and was raised alongside her brothers at the track. She explained that she grew up surrounded by a large racetrack family and described it as a great place to grow up.

The Lackeys first became involved with the raceway when their son Jim started racing in the 80s. The Lackeys joined a partnership with other families to operate the racetrack in the mid 90s before taking sole ownership in the late 90s. The family would then spend the next 20 years improving the racetrack and making it into what it is today.

Michelle began working at the track when her parents took over ownership and has completely taken over the operation in recent years. She said turning the space into a major hub for the community was very important for her father. Earl wanted to give people the opportunity to race, have a good time and share camaraderie with others.

“It’s a vital part of our community,” Michelle said. “It was important to dad and it's important to me that we continue to have this facility available for those people.”

The racetrack meant everything to Earl. Besides the love he had for his own family, Earl put everything he had into the track. He wanted to see it grow and most importantly provide a safe space for young people to do something within the community.

“It was especially important for him that there was a place for young people to do something active and healthy and exciting and help them grow,” Karen said. “He loved what we called the junior dragsters, the bandoleros, the kid’s classes. And then watching those kids grow up and become adults, and in some cases become adult racers as well.”

Earl’s passion for education and helping the next generation of racers could be seen through the creation of the Earl and Karen Lackey Scholarship at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He passed down his automotive knowledge to his own children that would race and become interested in cars. They would eventually pass it on to their children.

“Cars run in the family,” Karen said. “They’re all into cars, in one way or another.”

Rick Nissen is a racer at the track and a dear friend of Earl’s. The two had shared a professional relationship early on when Nissen worked for the municipality of Anchorage and Earl sold heavy equipment. He described Earl as being honest and treating his customers with respect.

Since retiring in 2011, Nissen has been helping Earl at the racetrack. The two would perform routine maintenance throughout the season, open the facility in the spring and close it down in the fall. Nissen shared a story on how Earl got him interested in racing again in the early 2000s. Earl gave Nissen a set of free tickets to check out the raceway, which would eventually lead to him purchasing a new car, racing and volunteering his time to make the raceway the best place it could be.

“He knew fully well what he was doing by doing that to me,” Nissen laughed. “He suckered me back in there.”

Nissen said that he shared a lot in common with Earl, which is why he thought the two got along so well. The two spoke once or twice per week outside of the racing season and Nissen would often bring food to the Lackeys to share dinner with them. Nissen said he shared a bond with Earl that not many had and that he looked to Earl as a second father. He said he enjoyed working with Earl and being a part of the racetrack family.

“It’s a big family out there,” Nissen said. “I just enjoyed being part of that.”

Earl drove the pace car until the last race of the year. Michelle said he referred to himself as “just the janitor,” but could be found tinkering on equipment and checking on the track to make sure everything went smooth. He enjoyed everything about the track and spent as much time as he could there this season.

Michelle joked that her request to her father for next year is to make sure they have good weather on race days.

“We’ll take care of everything down here, but we can’t really control the weather,” Michelle laughed. “He’s gotta put a word in with the Big Guy for sunshine for next year.”

Karen and Earl Lackey were married for 62 years. They raised four children together, James, Michelle, Michael and John, and each exemplified a unique set of skills and shared similar traits with their father. His legacy and love for motorsports is passed on to his grandchildren Tanner, Morgan, Makaela, Kaden and Teddy.

The Lackey family moved from Wisconsin to Point McKenzie in 1983 where they would manage the James Farm. Earl would work for NC Machinery and Yukon Equipment Inc. before entering the Top End Inc. partnership that owned Alaska Raceway Park in 1995 and taking sole ownership of the track in 1998.

Karen spoke of Earl as being old-fashioned and a highly unique person. He grew up working on farms in the Midwest and developed a strong work ethic that would become evident during his service in the U.S. Army as a Spec 5 in helicopter maintenance in Germany and later as an engineer. His handshake was a contract and his word was his bond. If he said he would do something, he would do it.

“The day that he died, he told a friend that he was going on a journey and he did that night,” Karen said. “He made up his mind it was time.”

Earl was community and service minded. He was a founder of King of Kings Evengelical Lutheran Church and served as an Elder and President of the Church Council. He served as a board member of the MTA for over 20 years and as well as for the Mat-Valley Sportsmen, where he also served as president. He enjoyed shooting and had an extensive gun collection that he took great care of. He enjoyed hunting across Alaska and back home in Wisconsin.

Karen said that one of Earl’s proudest moments was serving as a delegate to the 2024 republican convention in Milwaukee at the age of 83, the oldest delegate from Alaska. He was passionate about participating in local politics and believed real change started at a grassroots level.

The support from their track family has been "absolutely, unbelievably, overwhelming” Karen said. When Michelle shared the news of her father’s passing on the Alaska Raceway Park Facebook page, the post received over 400 comments in 24 hours of people sharing their condolences, memories and special moments they shared with Earl.

“The outpouring of support from the community has been amazing,” Michelle said. “We’ve had a ton of people coming in to visit and see him and talk to him and thank him for what he has built and what he’s done.”

Alaska Raceway Park won’t be the same without Earl, but Michelle said she plans to carry on his legacy and promote the sport of racing in Alaska for generations to come.

“That’s what I hope to continue, to be able to honor him by being able to make this work and make it grow and improve and keep it the place he had intended it to be: a safe, fun place for people to come and enjoy motorsports,” Michelle said.