An excerpt from "The Beginning", Volume I of the "Forty Years of Stock Car Racing Series"
Teague Leads All the Way at Gardena; Mundy Races Rental Car
GARDENA, CA (April 8, 1951) -- Marshall Teague drove his Hudson Hornet into the lead at the drop of the green flag and never looked back as he won the 100-mile NASCAR Grand National event at Carrell Speedway.
Teague maintained his point lead in the 1951 point standings with the triumph. Most of the other NASCAR regulars were in Mobile, AL for a same-day Grand National race.
Johnny Mantz, winner of last year's inaugural Southern 500 at Darlington, finished second in a Nash. Mantz had relief help from veteran campaigner Slick Smith. George Seeger was third in a Plymouth, Fred Steinbroner came home fourth in a Ford and Erick Erickson's Pontiac took fifth place.
Andy Pierce started on the pole but quicky lost sight of Teague's speedy Hudson. Danny Weinberg and Pierce were both eliminated in an early wreck. Weinberg's Hudson broke a wheel and flipped after tagging the rear of Pierce's Buick. Fred Lee then smashed into Pierce, went airborne and landed on top of the Pierce Buick. The three-car incident completely blocked the track. Dick Rathmann, running with a full head of steam, barely missed the wreckage. Rathmann went on to finish seventh.
Frank Mundy hitched a ride out West with Teague, sharing the driving duties for the long cross-country venture. Mundy attempted to land a ride for the race, but when no California team owner would let the 'stranger' borrow a car, the feisty driver from Atlanta improvised. Mundy had come 3,000 miles to drive in the race, so he went down to a local rental car agency and rented a 1950 Chevrolet. Filing his entry, he qualified 17th in the field of 20 and finished 11th in the race.
Mundy waited until well past dark to return the car, "so the attendants would not notice the bald tires," he said.
Marshall Teague was one of the great dirt trackers in NASCAR's early years.