Mercurial? Maybe, but he set the eventual standard

The seeds for multicar team ownership, marketing and competitive operations in NASCAR today were planted 55 years ago by a man named Carl Kiekhaefer.

When he broke into NASCAR in 1955, seemingly out of nowhere, Kiekhaefer treated the enterprise as a business, not a hobby. His main goal was to promote Mercury Outboards, which manufactured boat motors and which Kiekhaefer owned.

He reasoned that if his cars could win races it would translate into sales of his product.

This is, of course, the same goal of every team owner today. Victories mean good exposure, and potential sales, for the sponsor’s and auto manufacturer’s product.

Dietrich Mateschitz is the owner of both Red Bull and Team Red Bull – thus the sponsor is also the team boss. He’s no different from Kiekhaefer in that he obviously views NASCAR as a means to promote sales of his energy drink – and Toyota cars.

Kiekhaefer, a mercurial sort, hit NASCAR like a tornado.

Stock car racing had never seen a force like him. He had new, daring and innovative ideas. No other team owner had attempted to adopt the strategies he devised.

Kiekhaefer eventually established a multicar team, virtually unheard of at the time.

His cars – Chryslers - were distinctive because the Mercury Outboard colors and logo were all over them.

Each car had its own huge hauler, again unprecedented, and the vehicles were decorated with the Mercury name and colors.

You really don’t have to be told that what Kiekhaefer did has been the staple in NASCAR for years now. But, five decades ago, it had never before been seen.

Kiekhaefer went beyond appearances. He wanted to win.

In order to do that he hired the best possible people.

In 1955, NASCAR boss Bill France Sr. suggested Kiekhaefer hire driver Herschel McGriff. But McGriff opted to return to his lumber business in the Northwest.

Along came Tim Flock. He was out of racing but eager to return. Kiekhaefer snapped him up and the results were astounding.

Kiekhaefer cars won 22 of 40 races. Flock won 18 of them and the championship.

Keikhaefer achieved his goals. He got maximum exposure for Mercury and, needless to say, a delighted Chrysler reaped tremendous benefits. But Kiekhaefer wanted more.

In 1956, Kiekhaefer fielded three cars with Flock, Buck Baker and Speedy Thompson as his drivers. Also during that turbulent season, his stable included Fonty Flock, Frank Mundy and Herb Thomas. They were among the best of the day.

Sound familiar?

Today can we not rank Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin of Hendrick Motorsports among the best? The case can also be made for Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards and others who compete for the top multicar teams.

Kiekhaefer cars won 30 of 50 starts in 1956, including 16 in a row, and Baker emerged as the champion.

Those victories might not have been achieved without Kiekhaefer's initiative and innovation.

He paid his drivers salaries unheard of at the time – as high as $40,000 per year in addition to percentages of race purses. Such compensation is very much in place today, and has been for quite some time.

Kiekhaefer employed a weatherman to take readings on meteorological data at each track. He demanded that his drivers compile reports on gear ratios, oil temperatures, engine performance and more. Samples from dirt tracks were taken.

Thus, in a much more elementary form, Kiekhaefer established a system of logistics and information gathering that is routine today. Drivers are still involved, but so are crew chiefs, car chiefs, engineers, specialists, testing programs, computers and related electronics.

Kiekhaefer made everyone work together, through shared information, to make them better for the next race – which is done today.

Kiekhaefer was a demanding perfectionist and something of an autocrat.

He would reserve an entire 40- to 50-room motel and instruct his men to stay in rooms on one side while wives and girlfriends stayed on the other.

No “activity” between them was allowed the night before a race.

Well, I don’t think you have to be told that nothing like that is enforced today – as if it could have been.

Kiekhaefer implemented rigid curfews. Can’t imagine that today, either.

He left NASCAR after just two seasons. Like that tornado, Kiekhaefer came and went, as did a few of his drivers who rebelled against his iron-fisted rule.

It’s been written that Kiekhaefer departed because his cars won so often – believe it or not.

However, when his drivers were introduced, they received an unwelcome reception – rounds of boos – from fans who were tired of Kiekhaefer victories and felt that his dominance was not good for the sport.

Kiekhaefer feared that such negative response would harm the sales of his outboards and Chrysler’s passenger cars.

The suspicion here is that his teams were also heavily scrutinized by NASCAR to the point that Kiekhaefer became fed up.

It’s been said that there are fans today who have shunned NASCAR because they are tired of the superiority displayed by Johnson and his Hendrick team.

And I have to believe that NASCAR always keeps a keen eye on them. For example, the No. 48 team was pulled repeatedly for post-race inspection last year, especially during the Chase.

Kiekhaefer won 52 races in 90 starts over two years – and then was gone.

He was the first vastly successful multicar team owner in NASCAR’s history.

What he did in two short seasons laid the foundation for what almost all teams do today. They do it by different means and with vastly improved technology, of course, but in the end, it’s all the same.

Without the curfews, of course.