Fabulous Hudson Hornet
Encyclopedia
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
Grand National (now Sprint Cup Series) and AAA
American Automobile Association
AAA , formerly known as the American Automobile Association, is a federation of 51 independently operated motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a not-for-profit member service organization with more than 51 million members. AAA provides services to its members such as travel, automotive,...
stock car produced by the Hudson Motor Car Company
Hudson Motor Car Company
The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other brand automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, from 1909 to 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form American Motors. The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was dropped.- Company strategy...
. Marshall Teague
Marshall Teague
Marshall Teague was an American race car driver.He was nicknamed by NASCAR fans as the "King of the Beach" for his performances at the Daytona Beach Road Course....
and Herb Thomas
Herb Thomas
Herbert Watson Thomas was a NASCAR pioneer who was one of the series' most successful drivers in the 1950s.-Background:...
each drove in a Hudson Hornet
Hudson Hornet
The Hudson Hornet is an automobile that was produced by the Hudson Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan between 1951 and 1954. The Hornet was also built by American Motors Corporation in Kenosha, Wisconsin and marketed under the Hudson brand between 1955 and 1957.The first-generation Hudson...
that they nicknamed the "Fabulous Hudson Hornet".
Marshall Teague
Marshall Teague drove his Fabulous Hudson Hornet in selected NASCAR events during the 1951 and 1952 seasons. Teague approached the Hudson Motor Car Company by traveling to Michigan and visiting their plant without an appointment. By the end of the visit Hudson virtually assured Teague of corporate support and cars; the relationship was formalized shortly thereafter. Teague was also instrumental in helping Hudson tune the inline six-cylinder-powered Hudson Hornet to its maximum stock capability. He nicknamed his Hudson Hornet the "Fabulous Hudson Hornet". When combined with the car's light weight and low center of gravity (because of its monocoqueMonocoque
Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...
body), the Hornet allowed Teague and the other Hudson drivers to dominate various stock car racing series from 1951 through 1954, consistently beating other drivers in cars powered by larger, more modern engines. Teague and his crew chief
Pit stop
In motorsports, a pit stop is where a racing vehicle stops in the pits during a race for refuelling, new tires, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, or any combination of the above...
Smokey Yunick
Smokey Yunick
Henry "Smokey" Yunick was an American mechanic and car designer associated with motorsports. Yunick was deeply involved in the early years of NASCAR, and he is probably most associated with that racing genre...
won 27 of 34 events in major stock car events , including seven NASCAR events. Teague left NASCAR during the 1952 season in a dispute with NASCAR's owner Bill France, Sr.
Teague was awarded the 1951 AAA Stock Car Driver of the Year, and the 1952 and 1954 AAA National Stock Car Champion while driving in the Fabulous Hudson Hornet.
The original Fabulous Hudson Hornet can be found today, fully restored, at the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum
Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Collection
The Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum in Ypsilanti, Michigan is a unique automotive museum that is home to production cars from the Willow Run Plant and Hudson Motors...
in Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...
.
Herb Thomas
Plymouth (automobile)
Plymouth was a marque of automobile based in the United States, produced by the Chrysler Corporation and its successor DaimlerChrysler.-Origins:...
car, plus one win in an Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...
. He switched mid season to his Fabulous Hudson Hornet, and won the 1951 championship.
Thomas dominated the entire 1953 NASCAR Grand National season. He won a series best 12 races en route to becoming the first two-time series champion.
Legacy
Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator CorporationNash Motors
Also see: Kelvinator and American Motors CorporationNash Motors was an automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the United States from 1916 to 1938. From 1938 to 1954, Nash was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation...
in 1954 to become American Motors Corporation. The Hudson name was retired in 1957, in the face of continually declining sales. The Hornet name was used by AMC for their compact sedan from 1970 to 1977. AMC raced the AMC Javelin
AMC Javelin
The Javelin was a production version of one of the AMC AMX prototypes shown during the 1966 AMX project nationwide tour. Intended to rival other pony cars such as the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. American Motor's Javelin debuted on 22 August 1967, for the 1968 model year...
in the Trans-Am Series
Trans-Am Series
The Trans-Am Series is an automobile racing series which was created in 1966 by Sports Car Club of America President John Bishop. Originally known as the Trans-American Sedan Championship it has evolved over time from its original format as a manufacturers championship for modified racing sedans...
and the AMC Matador
AMC Matador
The AMC Matador is a mid-size car that was built and sold by American Motors Corporation from 1971 to 1978. The Matador came in two generations: 1971 to 1973 and a major redesign from 1974 to 1978...
in NASCAR. They did well enough to win the Trans-Am Series, and try again with a new fastback coupe in NASCAR.
The Chrysler Corporation
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
(now partially owned by Fiat Group
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
) subsequently bought AMC in 1987. Chrysler continues to race its Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
brand in NASCAR as well as the spinoff Ram Trucks
Ram Trucks
Ram Trucks is a United States-based brand of light to mid-weight pickup trucks established in 2009 as a division of Chrysler Group LLC.-Background:...
division in NASCAR's Camping World Truck Series. The Hornet name has since been revived on the subcompact Dodge Hornet
Dodge Hornet
The Dodge Hornet is a concept car mini MPV designed and developed by Dodge and revealed in 2006. Dodge's first attempt at building a car this small, the car was expected to be released in 2010, but following the 2009 financial crisis and the restructuring of the Chrysler Group, the concept was...
for Europe.
Cars (2006)
The 2006 animated film CarsCars (film)
Cars is a 2006 American animated family film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Joe Ranft. It is the seventh Disney·Pixar feature film, and Pixar's final, independently-produced motion picture before its purchase by Disney...
tells the story of a hotshot race car, Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
(voiced by Owen Wilson
Owen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon,...
) who finds himself stuck in the Route 66
U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66 was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 -- with road signs erected the following year...
town of Radiator Springs. The town's judge and doctor is Doc Hudson (voiced by Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
), a Hornet that turns out to be the real Fabulous Hudson Hornet himself. He shares many of the same records as the real Hornet, although their fates differ. His number is also 51 (in reference to the year his model was created).