In 1981, Speed again ran his own operation starting 27 of the 31 races on the schedule. Lake was unable to qualify for the 1981 Daytona 500, but did manage to win the 30-lap consolation race, leading the race from start to finish. He scored a ninth-place finish in both races at Rockingham and at Bristol. He followed that up with a seventh in Martinsville Speedway's spring event, an eighth at the now-defunct Texas World Speedway and a sixth in the late summer Talladega event. Speed's final top ten would come at Bristol in August where he finished seventh. The final points tally came up with Speed finishing 18th in points. One special footnote for Speed during the '81 season was that he enabled future NASCAR pace car driver Elmo Langley to start his 536th and final NASCAR race at Dover in the Mason-Dixon 500. Langley started 29th and finished 29th completing only six laps before a driveshaft failure.