Marshall Pleasant Teague (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.
Teague walked into fellow Daytona Beach resident Smokey Yunick's "Best Damned Garage in Town", and launched Yunick's NASCAR mechanic career.
Career
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."
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 Bill 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 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 , 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. "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 No. 6 Fabulous Hudson Hornet, was one of the primary inspirations for Doc Hudson in the film Cars.
Awards and honors
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) Named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers (1998) Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2014) Named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers (2023)
Motorsports career results
Indianapolis 500
YearCarStartQualRankFinishLapsLedRetired19532222135.72125181690Oil Leak195416* - - -15??Running31** - - -23??Clutch19574828140.3292672000RunningTotals3690
Starts3Poles0Front Row0Wins0Top 50Top 101Retired1
* Shared drive with Duane Carter, Jimmy Jackson and Tony Bettenhausen ** Shared drive with Gene Hartley
NASCAR (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 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 Pts Ref 1949 Bill Appleton 6 Hudson CLT DAB14 HBO LAN HAM MAR HEI NWS 62nd 4 1950 Paul Cox DAB32 CLT LAN MAR CAN VER DSP MCF CLT HBO17 DSP HAM DAR63 LAN NWS VER MAR WIN HBO 119th - 1951 Marshall Teague DAB1 CLT3 NMO GAR1** HBO ASF1* NWS MAR23 CAN1 CLS31 CLB3 DSP6 GAR GRS1* BAI31 HEI AWS29 MCF ALS MSF33 FMS MOR ABS DAR33 CLB CCS LAN6 CLT DSP WIL HBO TPN PGS MAR OAK NWS HMS JSP ATL GAR NMO NA - 1952 PBS DAB1* JSP1** NWS16 MAR CLB22 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 -
References
External links