Robert Charles Tullius (December 7, 1930 – March 16, 2026) was an American race car driver and racing team owner.
Early years Tullius considered a career in teaching after graduating from high school. He served a term in the U.S. Air Force, and while there quarterbacked the Chanute Air Force base football team until a leg injury put an end to his playing.
Tullius took a job in sales with Kodak, first in Rochester, New York and later in Alexandria, Virginia.
In 1960, Tullius bought a Triumph TR3 for his wife. She rarely drove the car. Tullius took the TR3 to racing school himself, and won the graduation race.
Motorsports career
Tullius' racing career began in earnest in 1961, when in his first four races he finished first or second, and won the points championship. For 1962, Tullius asked Triumph to provide him with a TR4 to race, promising to "beat the pants off [their] TR4s with [his] TR3" unless they did. Tullius and Ed Diehl built the proffered TR4 into a racer. Tullius placed second in the TR4 in its first race at Lime Rock, but on its next outing at Lake Garnett, the car was totaled. When Triumph refused to replace the car, Tullius and Diehl bought two more wrecked TR4s and built a replacement car using parts from all three.
Tullius' decision to pursue motorsports professionally was made in 1963. His supervisor at Kodak forced Tullius to choose between his day job and racing; Tullius opted for racing. He soon became the principal driver for Triumph's North American Competition Director Kas Kastner. In 1963, he also raced in his first 12 Hours of Sebring and went on to win six SCCA championship races in the factory TR4.
Group 44 In 1965, Tullius established his own racing team, named Group 44 Incorporated, to pursue his chosen vocation while supporting his family. Co-founders included mechanic Brian Fuerstenau and New York advertising executive Dick Gilmartin, both of whom were also race drivers. Gilmartin left Group 44 in 1965.
In 1963, the three future founders were sitting in a motel in Sebring working on a name for their team. Gilmartin took a napkin and wrote "Group" on it for the three of them, the "44" was contributed by Tullius, and finally "Incorporated". Tullius originally asked the SCCA for permission to use the number 1 on his cars because it could be applied with a single line of tape, but was denied. "44" was also taken, so he began using "444", and dropped the third numeral later. At Lime Rock, Tullius' wife cut one of the numerals backwards and, lacking a sheet of contact paper to recut it, cut the second "4" in the same way, so that Tullius raced with a reversed "44". He continued to run cars with some numbers reversed after that.
Group 44 developed a three-pronged approach to their business. They raced their own cars, built racing cars for paying customers, and ran an extensive marketing and sponsoring department for vehicle manufacturers and racing teams. The company originally used a color scheme of white with black stripes, but added a green stripe when Quaker State motor oil, a division of Royal Dutch Shell, became a sponsor. This sponsorship lasted for several decades. The cars were not only well prepared, but immaculately presented. The team also used a unique articulated transporter painted in team colors to ferry their cars between races.
For most of the years it was active, Group 44 was exclusively associated with vehicles from British Leyland, initially fielding Triumph TRs and Spitfires and later campaigning models from MG and Jaguar. When Group 44 entered two Jaguar XJR-5 cars in the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans, it was the first time a Jaguar had raced at Le Mans in 27 years. When Group 44 cars traveled to an event their cars were displayed at the local British Leyland dealers and the team was promoted through local media. For a time almost all of British Leyland's marketing in the United States went through Group 44.
After Group 44 lost the Jaguar GTP program to Tom Walkinshaw Racing, the team was retained to prepare and field a set of three Audi 200 Quattros in the Trans Am Series. Driver Hurley Haywood won the series drivers' championship in 1988.
Group 44 continued to operate until 1990, only shutting down when the last of their sponsorship contracts expired. The team won 14 national SCCA championships and three Trans Am titles. Among the more than 300 race victories there are also eleven successes in IMSA GTP championship races.
Other racing Tullius personally raced cars from a wide range of manufacturers, including Alpine, AMC, Chevrolet, Dodge, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Plymouth, Porsche, Ferrari, and Ford.
At the inaugural Trans Am Sedan Championship race on March 25, 1966 at Sebring, Tullius finished second overall and first in the Over 2.0 Litre class in a Dodge Dart. In the final years of Trans Am, Tullius drove Herb Adams' Gray Ghost Pontiac Tempest.
Tullius drove competitively until 1988, with his final win coming at the 1986 3 Hours of Daytona.www.racingsportscars.com He appeared in no fewer than 252 races, winning 38 and posting 43 class wins. In 1965 and 1975, he won the overall standings of the SCCA Championships and in 1977 and 1978, the overall ratings of the category I of the Trans Am Series. In the 1983 IMSA GTP series, he finished in second place behind Al Holbert. Three times he was on the pole of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he also won the 1985 GTP class with a 13th-place finish. His best showing at Sebring was a fourth place in 1985.
Post-racing Tullius bought the final TR6 and TR8s built by British Leyland when production of those makes of automobiles ceased.
In 1969, Tullius developed an interest in aviation which he continued to pursue after retiring from racing. He became a World War II airplane enthusiast, and participated in several Warbird Air Shows. He also took part in the Young Eagles program operated by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).
Tullius' personal hangar in Sebring, Florida held several of his own aircraft. Among them were a North American T-6 Texan, a Fairchild PT-26A, a Waco ZPF-6 biplane, and a Beechcraft King Air twin in which he had logged several thousand hours of pilot-in-command time. Tullius also owned a Mustang P-51D, which he donated to the Royal Air Force Museum. Other planes reported to have been in the hangar were a Stearman and a North American T-28 Trojan. A selection of original Group 44 cars shared space in the hangar with the planes.
Personal life and death In 1972, Tullius was in Bangkok visiting a friend when he was struck in the street by a chauffeur-driven car and injured.
Tullius had a son and a daughter. His son, Russel, died on November 4, 2021, at the age of 62.
Bob Tullius died in Port Orange, Florida on March 16, 2026, at the age of 95.
Honors Tullius was inducted into the Sebring Hall of Fame in 2014. He became a member of the SCCA Hall of Fame in 2015. He entered the British Sports Car Hall of Fame in 2017. In 2018, he was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. In 2025, he was inducted into the Trans Am Series Hall of Fame.
Racing record Le Mans results Year Team Car Teammate Teammate Placement Cause of retirement 1964 Triumph Motor Company Triumph Spitfire Michael Rothschild DNF Accident 1968 Howmet Castings Howmet TX Hugh Dibley Disqualified 1984 Jaguar Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5 Doc Bundy Brian Redman DNF Transmission failure 1985 Jaguar Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5 Claude Ballot-Léna Chip Robinson 13th, Class win
Sebring results Year Team Car Teammate Teammate Placement Cause of retirement 1963 Triumph Motor Company Triumph TR4 Bruce Kellner Lew Spencer 32nd 1964 Autosport International Alpine M63 Ray Cuomo DNF Transmission failure 1965 Triumph Motor Company Triumph Spitfire Charlie Gates 30th 1966 Triumph Motor Company Triumph TR4A Charlie Gates DNF Engine failure 1968 British Leyland Triumph TR250K Jim Dittemore DNF Suspension 1969 Wilton Jowett Chevrolet Camaro Wilton Jowett 45th 1970 Bruce Jennings Porsche 911T Bruce Jennings DNF Engine failure 1973 Murray Racing Team Chevrolet Corvette Ike Knupp DNF Engine failure 1980 Group 44 Triumph TR8 Bill Adam 6th, Class win 1981 Group 44 Triumph TR8 Bill Adam 10th 1983 Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5 Bill Adam DNF Engine failure 1984 Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5 Doc Bundy DNF Ignition damage 1985 Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5 Chip Robinson 4th 1986 Group 44 Jaguar XJR-7 Chip Robinson Claude Ballot-Léna DNF Oil pump
World Sportscar Championship results Season Team Race car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 1963 Standard Motor Company Triumph TR4 DAY SEB SEB TAR SPA MAI NÜR CON ROS LEM MON WIS TAV FRE CCE RTT OVI NÜR MON MON TDF BRI 32 1964 Autosport InternationalStandard Motor Company Alpine M63Triumph Spitfire DAY SEB TAR MON SPA CON NÜR ROS LEM REI FRE CCE RTT SIM NÜR MON TDF BRI BRI PAR DNF DNF 1965 Harley CunninghamStandard Triumph Ford CortinaTriumph Spitfire DAY SEB BOL MON MON RTT TAR SPA NÜR MUG ROS LEM RIE BOZ FRE CCE OVI NÜR BRI BRI DNF 30 1966 Standard Triumph Triumph TR4 DAY SEB MON TAR SPA NÜR LEM MUG CCE HOK SIM NÜR ZEL DNF 1968 LeylandHowmet Triumph TR5Howmet TX DAY SEB BRH MON TAR NÜR SPA WAT ZEL LMS DNF 12 DNF 1969 Wilton Jowett Chevrolet Camaro DAY SEB BRH MON TAR SPA NÜR LMS GLN ÖST 45 1970 Toad Hall RacingBruce Jennings Porsche 911 DAY SEB BRH MON TAR SPA NÜR LMS GLN ÖST DNF DNF 13 1971 John McComb Ford Mustang BUE DAY SEB BRH MON SPA TAR NÜR LMS ÖST GLN DNF 1977 Group 44 Jaguar XJS DAY MUG DIJ MON SIL NÜR VAL PER WAT EST LEC MOS IMO SAL BRH HOK VAL 14 3 1978 Group 44 Jaguar XJS DAY SEB MUG TAL DIJ SIL NÜR LEM MIS DAY WAT VAL ROD 7 1979 NARTJRTGroup 44 Ferrari 512 BBTriumph TR8 DAY SEB MUG TAL DIJ RIV SIL NÜR LEM PER DAY WAT SPA BRH ROA VAL ELS 57 7 6 1980 Group 44JRT Triumph TR8 DAY BRH SEB MUG MON RIV SIL NÜR LMS DAY WAT SPA MOS VAL RAM DIJ 52 6 26 8 7 1981 Group 44 Triumph TR8 DAY SEB MUG MON RSD SIL NÜR LMS PER DAY GLN SPA MOS ROA BRH 10 1984 Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5 MON SIL LMS NÜR BRH MOS SPA IMO FUJ KYA SAN DNF 1985 Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5 MUG MON SIL LMS HOC MOS SPA BRH FUJ SHA 13
References
Further reading
External links