Carl Kiekhaefer
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| Owner(s) Name | Carl Kiekhaefer |
| Racing Series | NASCAR Grand National |
| Number of Championships | 2 (1955 and 1956) |
| Number of Wins | 52 (including 16 straight) |
| Car Number(s) | 300, 300A, 300B, 300C, 301, 500, 500B |
| Notable Driver(s) | Buck Baker Bob Flock Fonty Flock Tim Flock Speedy Thompson Herb Thomas |
| Notable Sponsor(s) | Mercury outboard motors |
| Manufacturer | Chrysler |
| Shop Location | |
| Year Opened | 1955 |
| Year Closed | 1956 |
Elmer Carl Kiekhaefer (1906 - October 5, 1983) was the owner of Kiekhaefer Marine (later Mercury Marine), and also a two-time NASCAR championship car owner.
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[edit] Kiekhaefer Mercury founder
Kiekhaefer was born in Wisconsin. He was a young engineer right out of college when he received his first of his over 200 patents. He purchased an outboard motor manufacturing company in Cedarburg, Wisconsin in 1939. He bought the company intending to make magnetic separators for the area's dairy industry. The purchased company had 300 defective motors that he rebuilt and sold to catalog company Montgomery Ward. Orders kept coming in for the motors, and Kiekhaefer Corporation was born.
[edit] NASCAR owner
Kiekhaefer decided to use car racing to promote his now profitable boat motor company. He entered a 1954 Chrysler New Yorker club coupe in the AAA races at the Milwaukee Mile and won all three races entered. Tony Bettenhausen and Frank Mundy drove. He then purchased large and powerful Chrysler 300 cars 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 fleet of cars.
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 he was convinced to come out of retirement by Kiekhaefer for $40,000 [1].
[edit] 1955
Tim Flock was the primary driver for the team. Flock entered 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 6 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.
[edit] 1956
Buck Baker was a primary 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 was also a primary driver for the team. Thompson entered 39 events, with 8 wins, 7 poles, and 28 Top-10 finishes on his way to finishing third in the final points.
Kiekhaefer had 9 drivers race for him in the 56 event season, including 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.
[edit] 1957
Kiekhaefer quit NASCAR in January of 1957 after battling Bill France. Kiekhaefer left NASCAR after two highly successful seasons because he was accused of cheating by the other competitors (even 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 track at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, which is close to Mercury Marine's home plant in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. 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.
[edit] Other highlights/innovations/firsts
- The team was the first to use dry paper air filters, which are now standard equipment in today's cars.
- Kiekhaefer's team set a record lap of 140 miles per hour at the Daytona Beach Road Course.
- Kiekhaefer brought the first major national sponsor to NASCAR (excluding automotive-related companies) [2] in Mercury outboard motors.
- Kiekhaefer was the 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.
- He brought a new level of professionalism to NASCAR. He brought the cars to the track in trucks, when most drivers drove their car to the track. The cars were professionally painted and detailed. Team members wore uniforms. 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.
- The team was considered to be the first superteam in NASCAR. 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.
[edit] Off-road racing
Kiekhaefer participated in the 1952 and 1953 Carrera Panamericana (Mexican Road Race (later Baja 1000)). In 1952 he entered Chrysler Saratogas with the hemi V8 in that light body. For 1953 the factory built Chrysler New Yorker Specials known as Pan Am models. Kiekhaefer entered four of these in the '53 race.
[edit] Boating pioneer
In 1957 Kiekhaefer introduced the Mark 75 motor, the industry's first 6-cylinder 60 hp (horsepower) outboard motor. Two Mark 75 motors set an endurance record by running for 68.75 days nonstop and over 50,000 miles. The motors were refueled on the run, and averaged 30.3 mph (miles per hour).
In 1961 Kiekhaefer Marine merged with the Brunswick Corporation.
Later that year Kiekhaefer would use his NASCAR and boat engineering skills to develop the 100 hp stern drive engine now known as MerCruiser. And as any offshore racing fan knows, the MerCruiser engine is the most successful stern drive ever developed. The engine once held over 80 percent of the worldwide market share.
Kiekhaefer resigned as president of the company in 1969, and the company name changed to Mercury Marine.
[edit] Awards
- He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1998 for his contributions to power boat racing.
- He received the National Marine Manufacturers Association Awards Gallery 1988 Hall of Fame Award (in the first class).
- He was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall Of Fame in 1980.
- In 1976 he received the 20th Annual Ole Evinrude Award for an "…immeasurable contribution to boating" from competitor Evinrude.
