Teddy Mayer, long time manager of the McLaren F1 tea, and later the Penske CART team, passed away at his home yesterday (January 30) aged 73.

American born Mayer  moved to Europe in 1962 and became part of the team that helped Bruce McLaren form his eponymous Formula One team, taking over as team principal after McLaren’s tragic death in 1970.

My first recollection of Mayer is during mid 1970s as he mentored James Hunt from a mecurical talent into a deserving World Champion.  Mayer also oversaw Emerson Fittipaldi’s chamionship year (1974) at McLaren as well as the company’s victories in CART and Can-Am racing. Mayer stayed with McLaren until 1982, when he moved on to run his own team in CART for four seasons.

James Hunt & Teddy Mayer talk tactics before the USGP West – Long Beach 1977

He returned to F1 in 1986 as part of the promising Haas-Lola team. After sponsor issued forced that team to go out of business, Mayer once more returned  to CART with the Penske organization, with whom he stayed until his retirement in 2007.

Mayer was a highly influential contributor at the highest levels of single seater racing for decades, and from what I’ve read on of the true gentlemen of racing.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 9:44 pm and is filed under ChampCar, Formula One, Racers Past. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.