People of NASCAR: Marsall Teague
Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 8:40pm CST
By Frank Morrison, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
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[thumb:387:l] Marshall Pleasent Teague, the most brilliant racing mind of the early days was born in Daytona Beach, FL. His racing career began on December 2, 1945 at Seminole Speedway in Orlando, FL. Marshall was still a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps so his name on the entry list as LT. Marshall Teague. Marshall was one of 22 drivers entered in the event with headliners such as Bill France, Fonty Flock, and Sgt. Red Byron. Teague finished second to France in his first effort.
Teague was a regular on the Stock Car Circuit in the late 40’s winning races from ‘46 to ‘48 with regularity. When the late model division became the premier event for NASCAR Teague built a Hudson Hornet to drive in that division. His Mechanical ability allowed him to do this for himself and Herb Thomas.
After his fifth career start at Daytona he had his first tropy. During the 1951 campaign Teague won 5 races out of 15 starts. He also provide technical support and a car for Herb Thomas during his title run. Teague got all points stripped for racing in the Mexico’s Carrera Panamericana race in the winter of 1951. The Mexico Road race started a disagreement between Teague and Bill France that lasted until the day Teague died.
Before Teague could race in the Daytona Road course the next season he had to pay a $600 fine. Teague then defended his Championship at Daytona and then rattled off a win at Jacksonville and was among the contenders for the championship.
The final straw that turned Teague against NASCAR came on April 12, 1952 when he recieved a letter informing him that his points had been stripped for taking part in a non NASCAR race at Tampa which Teague denied. He quit NASCAR and joined the AAA stock car circuit with hopes of getting a ride for the 1953 Indy 500. Teague won a number of races in AAA in 1952 including the AAA Stock Car Driver of the Year award. Teague’s life long dream of driving in the Indy 500 came true in 1953 he qualified 22nd and finished 18th when an oil leak ended his run with 31 laps remaining.
In the ’50’s Teague ran both AAA Stock Car and Championship Big Car tour. He took the ‘54 AAA Stock Car Championship it was his second title in three years. His dream of winning the Indy 500 almost came as he ran out of gas on the last lap and finished 7th in 1957.
In 1959 when the Daytona International Speedway opened Teague wanted to try and break the closed circuit speed record, Root Motorsports built a streamed lined closed-wheeled car for him to break record. On February 11, 1959 during a warm-up lap the car got sideways, the seatbelts broke and Teague was ejected from car and died instantly. The first casualty of Daytona International Speedway was a hometown hero and great technical expert and pioneer of NASCAR.
Filed Under: Features, Frank Morrison, Guest Authors, Nascar, The People Of Nascar
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