Marshall Teague (racing driver)
| Marshall Teague | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Teague, circa 1957 | |||||||
| Born | Marshall Pleasant Teague February 22, 1921 Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S. | ||||||
| Died | February 11, 1959 (aged 37) Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S. | ||||||
| Championship titles | |||||||
| AAA Stock Car (1952, 1954) Major victories NASCAR Daytona Beach (1951, 1952) | |||||||
| AAA/USAC Stock Car career | |||||||
| Years active | 1952–1958 | ||||||
| Championships | 2 | ||||||
| Best finish | 1st in 1952, 1954 | ||||||
| NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
| 23 races run over 4 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 62nd (1949) | ||||||
| First race | 1949 Race 2 (Daytona Beach) | ||||||
| Last race | 1952 Race 6 (Columbia) | ||||||
| First win | 1951 Race 1 (Daytona Beach) | ||||||
| Last win | 1952 Race 3 (Speedway Park) | ||||||
| |||||||
| Champ Car career | |||||||
| 2 races run over 5 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 18th (1957) | ||||||
| First race | 1953 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis) | ||||||
| Last race | 1957 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis) | ||||||
| |||||||
| Formula One World Championship career | |||||||
| Active years | 1953–1954, 1956–1958 | ||||||
| Teams | Kurtis Kraft, Kuzma | ||||||
| Entries | 5 (3 starts) | ||||||
| Championships | 0 | ||||||
| Wins | 0 | ||||||
| Podiums | 0 | ||||||
| Career points | 0 | ||||||
| Pole positions | 0 | ||||||
| Fastest laps | 0 | ||||||
| First entry | 1953 Indianapolis 500 | ||||||
| Last entry | 1958 Indianapolis 500 | ||||||
Marshall Pleasant Teague[1] (February 22, 1921 – February 11, 1959) was an American race car driver nicknamed by NASCAR fans as the "King of the Beach" for his performances at the Daytona Beach Road Course.
He walked into fellow Daytona Beach resident Smokey Yunick's "Best Damned Garage in Town", and launched Yunick's NASCAR mechanic career.
Career
[edit]
Teague competed in 23 NASCAR Grand National Series races from 1949 to 1952, winning seven of them.
Teague approached the Hudson Motor Car Company by traveling to Michigan and visiting the automaker's factory without an appointment. By the end of his visit, Hudson virtually assured Teague of corporate support and cars, with the relationship formalized shortly after his visit. This "is generally regarded as the first stock car racing team backed by a Detroit auto manufacturer."[2]
During the 1951 and 1952 racing seasons, Teague was a member of the Hudson Motors team and driving what were called the "Fabulous Hudson Hornet" stock cars.[3]
Teague was also instrumental in helping Hudson tune the 308 cu in (5.0 L) straight-6 powered Hudson Hornet to its maximum stock capability. When combined with the car's light weight and low center of gravity, the Hornet allowed Teague and the other Hudson drivers to dominate stock car racing from 1951 through 1954, consistently beating out other drivers in cars powered by larger, more modern engines. Smokey Yunick and Teague won 27 of 34 events in major stock car events.[4]
In 1953, Teague dropped out of NASCAR following a dispute with NASCAR founder William France Sr. and went to the AAA and USAC racing circuits.
The Indianapolis 500 was part of the FIA World Championship from 1950 through 1960. Drivers competing at Indy during those years were credited with World Championship points and participation. Teague participated in three World Championship races, but scored no World Championship points.
Death
[edit]Driving a reconfigured Indy car at the newly opened Daytona International Speedway, Teague died while attempting to break the closed course speed record, which had been established by Tony Bettenhausen in qualifying for the 1957 Race of Two Worlds at about 177 mph. Teague was conducting test sessions in preparation for the April start of the 1959 USAC Championship Car season, piloting a "Sumar Special" streamliner, a Kurtis Kraft chassis with a 270 c.i. Meyer-Drake Offenhauser engine, streamlined fenders, and a canopy enclosing the driver, thus being classified as Formula Libre.
On February 9, 1959, Teague, clocked at 171.821 mph (276.5 km/h), markedly improved Ed Elisian's unofficial 148-mph-one-lap record for an American race track, which had been set in preparation for the 1958 Indianapolis 500.[5][6]
The next day, the left rear tire was cut as a result of running over a foreign object, which forced Teague to pit.[7]
Teague was trying to go even faster on February 11, 1959, eleven days before the first Daytona 500. "Teague pushed the speed envelope in the high-powered Sumar Special streamliner – to an estimated 140 mph (230 km/h)."[8] His car spun and flipped through the third turn and Teague was thrown, seat and all, from his car. He died nearly instantly, eleven days shy of his 38th birthday.[4][9][10][11]
Legacy
[edit]Teague was the inspiration for Doc Hudson in the film Cars.[8]
Awards and honors
[edit]- AAA Stock Car Driver of the Year (1951)
- National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Hall of Fame (1968)
- National Auto Racing Hall of Fame (1988)
- TRS/NASCAR Mechanics Hall of Fame (1989)
- Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame (1991)
- Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2014)[12]
Motorsports career results
[edit]Indianapolis 500
[edit]
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* Shared drive with Duane Carter, Jimmy Jackson and Tony Bettenhausen
** Shared drive with Gene Hartley
NASCAR
[edit](key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.)
Grand National Series
[edit]| NASCAR Grand National Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | NGNC | Pts | Ref | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1949 | Bill Appleton | 6 | Hudson | CLT | DAB 14 |
HBO | LAN | HAM | MAR | HEI | NWS | 62nd | 4 | [13] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1950 | Paul Cox | DAB 32 |
CLT | LAN | MAR | CAN | VER | DSP | MCF | CLT | HBO 17 |
DSP | HAM | DAR 63 |
LAN | NWS | VER | MAR | WIN | HBO | 119th | - | [14] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1951 | Marshall Teague | DAB 1 |
CLT 3 |
NMO | GAR 1** |
HBO | ASF 1* |
NWS | MAR 23 |
CAN 1 |
CLS 31 |
CLB 3 |
DSP 6 |
GAR | GRS 1* |
BAI 31 |
HEI | AWS 29 |
MCF | ALS | MSF 33 |
FMS | MOR | ABS | DAR 33 |
CLB | CCS | LAN 6 |
CLT | DSP | WIL | HBO | TPN | PGS | MAR | OAK | NWS | HMS | JSP | ATL | GAR | NMO | NA | - | [15] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1952 | PBS | DAB 1* |
JSP 1** |
NWS 16 |
MAR | CLB 22 |
ATL | CCS | LAN | DAR | DSP | CAN | HAY | FMS | HBO | CLT | MSF | NIF | OSW | MON | MOR | PPS | MCF | AWS | DAR | CCS | LAN | DSP | WIL | HBO | MAR | NWS | ATL | PBS | NA | - | [16] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
[edit]- ^ The Talk of Gasoline Alley. July 24, 2013. WFNI.
- ^ Wood, Perry Allen (2010). Declarations of stock car independents: Interviews with twelve racers of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. McFarland. p. 5. ISBN 9780786457809. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- ^ Via, Roland (2010). "Marshall Teague". marshallteague.com. Archived from the original on 1 August 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- ^ a b Via, Roland (2003). "Marshall Teague Biography". legendsofnascar.com. Archived from the original on 19 August 2006. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- ^ Marc. "The Jimmy Daywalt Tribute Site". Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- ^ "Just 'playing around' at 171 mph – Teague". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. 10 February 1959. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- ^ Kahn, Bernard (11 February 1959). "Teague had close call and didn't know it!". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- ^ a b Parente, Audrey (9 February 2008). "Life lost; legend lives local race car hero's death preceded 1st Daytona 500". News Journal. Daytona Beach, Florida. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- ^ Hinton, Ed (2002). Daytona: From the Birth of Speed to the Death of the Man in Black. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-446-61178-7.
- ^ "Teague dies in Daytona wreck". The Spartanburg Herald. Associated Press. February 12, 1959.
- ^ Kahn, Bernard (12 February 1959). "Experts divided on wreck cause". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- ^ "Marshall Teague". www.mshf.com. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
- ^ "Marshall Teague – 1949 NASCAR Strictly Stock Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
- ^ "Marshall Teague – 1950 NASCAR Grand National Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
- ^ "Marshall Teague – 1951 NASCAR Grand National Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
- ^ "Marshall Teague – 1952 NASCAR Grand National Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
External links
[edit]- Marshall Teague driver statistics at Racing-Reference
- Marshall Teague owner statistics at Racing-Reference
- "Marshall Teague NASCAR Winston Cup Career: 1949-52". nascar.com. 6 February 2002. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- Marshall Teague at Find a Grave