Edward Everett Mayer (September 8, 1935 – January 30, 2009) was an American motor racing entrepreneur who was successful in several categories of racing, including

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

and IndyCars.

Life and career

Mayer was born in

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. While studying law at

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...

, he became involved in the Rev-Em

Formula Junior Formula Junior is an open wheel formula racing class first adopted in October 1958 by the CSI (''International Sporting Commission'', the part of the FIA that then regulated motorsports). The class was intended to provide an entry level class ...

team whose drivers included his brother

Timmy Timmy, or sometimes Timmie, is a masculine name, a short form of Timothy or Tim. This variation is popular as a nickname and is commonly used when someone is young, but is often used in adulthood. It is a version of the Greek name ( Timόtheos ...

and

Peter Revson Peter Jeffrey Revson (February 27, 1939 – March 22, 1974) was an American race car driver and heir to the Revlon cosmetics fortune. He was a two-time Formula One race winner and had success at the Indianapolis 500. Background Peter Revson w ...

. After graduating in 1962 Mayer followed his brother and Revson to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and joined

Bruce McLaren Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing car designer, driver, engineer, and inventor. His name lives on in the McLaren team which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, ...

who was setting up his Formula One team. Despite the death of his brother in 1964, Mayer continued to be involved in motor sport and assumed control of the

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

team after Bruce McLaren was killed in 1970. For much of the 1970s McLaren enjoyed considerable success, with both

Emerson Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi (; born 12 December 1946) is a Brazilian former automobile racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the Indianapolis 500 twice each and the CART championship once. Moving up from Formula Two, Fittip ...

and

James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) ''Autocourse Grand Prix Archive'', 14 October 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007. was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in . After retiring from racing in ...

taking the drivers title. In addition to Formula One, McLaren also competed in USAC,

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

, and CanAm racing under Mayer's management. The McLaren team won the Indianapolis 500 twice; a McLaren chassis entered by Roger Penske also won the 500. Towards the end of the decade the team's Formula 1 results began to decline and title sponsor

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Mar ...

engineered a merger with the Project 4 team run by

Ron Dennis Ronald Dennis Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 1 June 1947) is a British people, British businessman and Official British Business Ambassador for the United Kingdom. He is best known for his former role as owner, CEO, chairman and founder ...

. Mayer remained as joint managing-director until 1982, when he sold his shares and left the team he had helped to create. Mayer continued to work in motor sport, firstly in

racing, running the Texaco Star team under the Mayer Motor Racing banner, and then in 1986 returning to Formula One as manager of

Haas Lola Team Haas (USA) Ltd., sometimes called Beatrice Haas after its major sponsor, was an American Formula One team founded by Carl Haas in 1984 after an agreement with Beatrice Foods, a US consumer products conglomerate, which competed in the Worl ...

, a new team he co-founded with

Carl Haas Carl A. Haas (February 26, 1929 – June 29, 2016) was an American auto racing impresario. He co-owned the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team in the Champ Car and IndyCar Series with Paul Newman and Mike Lanigan. He also owned Carl A. Haas Mo ...

and running 1980 World Champion, Alan Jones alongside of former

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

and

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

driver

Patrick Tambay Patrick Daniel Tambay (25 June 1949 – 4 December 2022) was a French racing driver, commentator, and politician, who competed in 123 Formula One races between 1977 and 1986, securing five pole positions and winning twice. Between 1977 and 198 ...

. While the results were poor, the team showed great potential with the car generally regarded as one of the best in the F1 paddock but was let down by the under powered Ford TEC turbo engine, until the acquisition of sponsor Beatrice forced the team's withdrawal. Following a year's retirement, Mayer then returned to CART racing, joining the

Penske Penske Corporation, Inc. () is an American diversified transportation services company based in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan. Roger Penske is the chairman of the privately held company, and Rob Kurnick is the president. Holding ...

team, as Vice-Chairman of Penske's motorsports operations, presiding over the teams' success in the 1990s. He moved to a consultancy role with Penske, which he continued until 2007. Mayer lived in England. He and wife Sarah (Sally) Bryant (divorced in 1993) had two children, Tim Mayer (named after Teddy's brother), who is also in motorsports, and Anne. Both live in the United States. Mayer died on January 30, 2009, of complications following his decade-long struggle with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer, Teddy Formula One team owners IndyCar Series people Cornell Law School alumni 1935 births 2009 deaths Sportspeople from Scranton, Pennsylvania Neurological disease deaths in England Deaths from Parkinson's disease American motorsport people McLaren people IndyCar Series team owners Sports car racing team owners