Marshall Pleasant Teague (February 22, 1921 – February 11, 1959) was an American race car driver nicknamed by
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
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.
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
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."
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.
Teague was also instrumental in helping Hudson tune the 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.
In 1953, Teague dropped out of NASCAR following a dispute with NASCAR founder
William France Sr.
William Henry Getty France (September 26, 1909 – June 7, 1992) was an American businessman and racing driver. He was also known as Bill France Sr. or Big Bill. He is best known for founding and managing NASCAR, a sanctioning body of US-based s ...
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
Driving a reconfigured
Indy car
IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis 5 ...
at the newly opened
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, about north of Orlando, Florida, Orlando. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race ...
, 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
Kurtis Kraft was an American designer and builder of race cars. The company built midget cars, quartermidgets, sports cars, sprint cars, Bonneville cars, and USAC Championship cars. It was founded by Frank Kurtis when he built his own mid ...
chassis with a 270 c.i. Meyer-Drake
Offenhauser
The Offenhauser Racing Engine, or Offy, is a racing engine design that dominated American open wheel racing for more than 50 years and is still popular among vintage sprint and midget car racers.
History
The Offenhauser engine, familiarl ...
engine, streamlined fenders, and a canopy enclosing the driver, thus being classified as Formula Libre.
On February 9, 1959, Teague, clocked at , 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.
The next day, the left rear tire was cut as a result of running over a foreign object, which forced Teague to pit.
Teague was trying to go even faster on February 11, 1959, 11 days before the first
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...
. "Teague pushed the speed envelope in the high-powered Sumar Special streamliner – to an estimated ." His car spun and flipped through the third turn and Teague was thrown, seat and all, from his car. He died nearly instantly, 11 days shy of his 38th birthday.
Legacy
Teague, along with his #6 Fabulous Hudson Hornet, was the inspiration for Doc Hudson in the film ''
Cars
A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...
( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.)