Kiekhaefer decided to use car racing to promote his now profitable boat motor company. He entered 1954 Chrysler New Yorker club coupes in the AAA Milwaukee Mile and won all three races entered. Tony Bettenhausen and Frank Mundy drove. He then purchased large and powerful Chrysler 300s
to use in NASCAR for the 1955 season. Kiekhaefer was a millionaire, so
he could afford the expensive cars unlike the other teams. He bought the
best equipment, and had a team, as well as transporters, unheard of in
NASCAR at the time.
He brought his car with no driver to the first race at the Daytona Beach Road Course. Retired former champion Tim Flock had retired after the 1954 season, but was convinced to return by Kiekhaefer for $40,000 [1].
Tim Flock was the number one driver, entering 38 events, with 18 wins, 18 poles, and 32 Top-10 finishes on his way to the NASCAR championship. Kiekhaefer and Flock had a falling out early in the 1956 season.
Kiekhaefer had six drivers race for him during the 45 event season.
The drivers had a combined 22 wins, 47 Top-10s, and 23 poles in their 64
races.
1956
Buck Baker
was number one driver for the team. Baker entered 44 events, with 14
wins, 12 poles, and 35 Top-10 finishes on his way to the team's second
consecutive champsionship.
Speedy Thompson
also drove for the team, entering 39 events, with 8 wins, 7 poles, and
28 Top-10 finishes on his way to third place in the points.
Kiekhaefer had nine drivers race for him in the 56 event season,
taking first, second, third, and ninth in the final series points. The
drivers combined for 30 wins, 25 poles, and 92 Top-10 finishes in their
126 races. Four drivers combined for 16 straight team wins between March
25 and June 3.
1957
Kiekhaefer quit NASCAR in January 1957 after battling Bill France,
over accusations of cheating by the other competitors (though no rules
infractions were found under NASCAR's close scrutiny), NASCAR changed
the rules to Kiekhaefer's disadvantage, and he didn't want a backlash to
affect Mercury sales after fans booed the team.
However, being the ever-changing personality he was, he then
purchased three 1957 Chrysler 300Cs with the intent of entering the road
race segment of NASCAR which only existed in 1956 and early 1957. The
first "Road America competition model" he purchased (a white 300C
hardtop) was resold without modification but two further cars began
preparation for the June race scheduled for the Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, near Mercury Marine's home plant in Fond du Lac.
The race and the series were cancelled. The two cars, a black 300C
hardtop and a special order Charcoal Gray 300C hardtop were reinstated
for street use and became Carl's personal car and that of his Chief
Engineer, Charles Strang, respectively.
Other highlights/innovations/firsts
- The team was the first to use dry paper air filters, which are now standard equipment in today's cars.
- Set a record lap of 140 mph at the Daytona Beach Road Course.
- First major national sponsor to NASCAR (excluding automotive-related companies) [2] in Mercury outboard motors.
- First to do scientific testing of the oil in his race car motors to
see what was affecting the performance of his motors via contamination.
- First professional team. The cars were professionally painted and
detailed. Team members wore uniforms. At a time when most drivers drove
their cars to the track, Kiekhaefer used the Mercury Marine box or "van"
style trucks with the race cars sticking out the back due to their
length. Multiple photos support this. The floors of the trucks had jacks
built into them to support the cars on their frames so they would not
ride on their wheel and axle bearings during transport to and from
races.
- While not the first "superteam" in NASCAR history, the Mercury
Marine team was legendary. The team raced five cars at most events
during the 1956 season, and even fielded six cars at the 1956 Daytona
Beach Road Course race.
Ray in Mena, AR.
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network
