Ted Horn was one of the most naturally talented race car drivers this country has produced.
He won the AAA National Championship three consecutive years, 1946 through 1948.
With his famed sprint car, “Baby,” he took three AAA Sprint Car Championships, along with multiple feature wins. 24 in 1948 alone. He set 88 AAA track speed records. And he established a record at Indianapolis that remains intact today. Nine consecutive 500s with top-four finishes.
Resolved as a youth to become a farmer, Horn’s initiation into the sport was most unusual.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he’d moved several times with his family before they put down roots in Los Angeles. In 1926, the 16-year-old was on his way to work at the Los Angeles Times when a traffic cop pulled him over.
Running late, Horn had his $15 Model T jalopy, rattling and banging at well past the speed limit. For whatever reason, the cop took a liking to the kid with the toothy grin and didn’t ticket him. Instead, he made a deal.
“I tell you what,” he told Horn. “Go to San Jose on Sunday, there’s a track there. They always have more cars than drivers. Get one, and when you get all the speed out of your system, come back to the station house for your car. That’s where it’ll be.”
Motivated to retrieve his only transportation, Horn dutifully made his way to San Jose Speedway. But the only car available wouldn’t run. The next week, the same.
However, Noel Bullock, noting the kid’s determination, told him he could drive his car at Banning Speedway the following Sunday. Bullock’s Rajo ran, but Horn didn’t for long. He tangled with another driver and flipped out of the track.
His obligation fulfilled, Horn retrieved his car from the police. Still, despite his poor performance, he derived an unexpected thrill from his brief stint in a race car. Racing had him hooked.
For the next two years, Horn chased race cars up and down the length of California. He raced jalopies, stock cars, and outlaw big cars until a break came. A ride at Legion Ascot Speedway.
Drivers of the caliber of Wilbur Shaw, Floyd Roberts and Bill Cummings raced weekly for large purses at the popular five-eighths-mile oval. Horn didn’t experience storybook immediate success, but he persevered and clawed his way to the top of the action.
His reputation established on the West Coast, Horn moved east in 1934 to compete in the rich AAA races of the Midwest and the East Coast, including the Indianapolis 500. He made Paterson, New Jersey’s Gasoline Alley, his headquarters and operated from there for the remainder of his career.
The first year “Back East,” a car owner offered him a shot at Indianapolis. After a few laps in the car, Horn decided that it wasn’t speedy enough to make the show and passed on the opportunity.
He did make the 1935 500 driving one of the 10 Ford team cars, headed by 1925 Indianapolis winner Pete DePaolo.
The Miller-built cars’ design had an Achilles heel, however. The steering boxes were mounted too close to the hot exhaust manifold, which cooked the grease, causing the steering gears to seize. Horn’s failed after 145 laps.
Incredibly, that was his only DNF at Indianapolis. Beginning in 1936, Horn completed every lap but one in nine consecutive 500s — 1,799 of a possible 1,800 and racked up a second-place finish, four thirds, and four fourths in the process.
One of those drivers who should have but didn’t win a 500, fate consistently kept him from victory. The 1947 500 provides no better example of not only the Speedway’s callous fickleness but Horn’s extraordinary ability.
Horn won the pole in the former Wilbur Shaw Maserati, but come the race, he immediately encountered trouble. Forced into two early stops to repair a major oil leak, by lap 16 he was already a seemingly insurmountable seven laps behind.
But he charged through the field, turning laps six mph faster than the leaders. He was sixth at the halfway point and third behind only Mauri Rose and Bill Holland at the checker.
During the Victory Banquet, Tommy Milton praised the drivers for the competitive race and congratulated Rose on his win. Then he added, “But every one of you knows who drove the greatest race yesterday, Ted Horn!”
Surely a 500 victory awaited him. But it wasn’t to be. With a third championship secured, Ted Horn perished at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds on October 10, 1948.
