Former McLaren boss American Teddy Mayer has died this week leaving Formula 1 to mourn the loss of a truly great gentleman. Orchestrating the efforts of McLaren after Bruce’s death and taking James Hunt to a title is no small feat. He later joined Penske in CART and remained a consultant until 2007. Teddy will be missed.
Ron Dennis said:
“Teddy was one of motor racing’s few truly great men,” said Dennis.
“As far as I and all at McLaren are concerned, he has particular importance, on account of the fact that in 1963 he was part of the very small team of talented enthusiasts who, alongside Bruce McLaren, founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd.
“Bruce died tragically young in 1970, having won grands prix but no world championships with his fledgling team, but when I bought into the team in 1980 Teddy had built on the foundations laid by Bruce, Tyler Alexander and himself and had already achieved a lot – two Formula One world championships with Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt, as well as huge success in the States.
“Those fantastic cars – the magnificent McLaren Can-Am cars driven by Denny Hulme and Bruce himself and the superb McLaren CART cars driven by guys like Johnny Rutherford, as well as James’s and Emerson’s iconic McLaren M23 Formula 1 cars – grace the boulevard reception area of the McLaren Technology Centre today.”
