Horn, "Ted" (Eylard Theodore)
Auto Racing
b. Feb. 27, 1910, Cincinnati, OH
d. Oct. 10, 1948
If the fable of the tortoise and the hare could conceivably be applied to auto racing, Ted Horn was the tortoise. He began racing in a $12 jalopy when he was 15, but he wasn't a genuine success at the sport until he was 35.
After a serious crash when he was 18, his parents urged him to find a safer job, and he did, for a while. He entered another race when he was 21, crashed again, but returned to racing once more as soon as he got out of the hospital. Through the 1930s, he had moderate success, finishing second in the 1936 Indy 500 and third in the championship point standings for the year. He was third at Indy in 1937, fourth in 1938, 1939, and 1940, third again in 1941.
Horn was rejected for military service in World War II because of his past injuries. Racing resumed on a limited scale in 1945, and Horn was suddenly a winner, placing first in all seven races he entered. There was no national championship that year, but he won the title in 1946, 1947, and 1948, becoming the first three-time winner. He also placed third, third, and fourth in the Indy 500 during those years, giving him 10 straight finishes in the top four.
He clinched the 1948 championship with a third-place finish at the DuQuoin, IL, track in September. A month later he was racing at DuQuoin again. He crashed on the second lap and died in a hospital a short time later.