Raymond Beadle
| Raymond Beadle | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Born |
December 16, 1943 Spur, Texas |
| Died | October 20, 2014 (aged 70) Dallas, Texas |
| Retired | 1987 (as racer), 1990 (as owner) |
| Years active | 1970s–1990 |
| Teams | Don Schumacher Racing; Blue Max Racing |
| Best finish | 1st (7 times) in 1975, 1976, 1979–1981, 1989 |
| Awards | |
| 2014 | Motorsports Hall of Fame of America |
Raymond Beadle (December 16, 1943 – October 20, 2014) was an American drag racer and auto racing team owner.
Beadle was perhaps best known as the driver and owner of the "Blue Max" Funny Car. Beadle won three consecutive NHRA Funny Car championships from 1979 to 1981 and three IHRA Funny Car championships, 1975–76 and 1981.
In NASCAR, Beadle owned a NASCAR Winston Cup Series team from 1983 to 1990, winning the 1989 Winston Cup Series Championship with driver Rusty Wallace. His team's car number was always No. 27 and his car was usually a Pontiac.
He also owned a World of Outlaws Sprint car racing team, driven by Sammy Swindell.
Almost immediately after jump-starting Harry Schmidt's Blue Max team, Beadle rivaled "Jungle" Jim Liberman in popularity and Don Prudhomme in on-track success. By the end of his first year with the Max, Beadle was the U.S. Nationals champion, and by the end of the decade, he was the reigning world champ and a bona-fide superstar.
Beadle never claimed to be a tuner, and Schmidt wasn't interested in driving, promoting, or worrying about the day-to-day business of racing. Beadle was. He had the Blue Max name copyrighted, incorporated the medal from which the Blue Max movie got its name into the paint scheme, lined up sponsors and race dates, and immediately demanded four times what Schmidt had commanded in appearance fees and got it.
In 1975, the car had been Harry Schmidt's Blue Max, and in 1976, it said Beadle & Schmidt. The 1977 car, also a Mustang II, was Beadle's alone, sponsored by English Leather and Napa Regal Ride.
Beadle won the NHRA championship in 1979 with two wins in five finals against Tom Hoover, Gary Burgin, Billy Meyer, a young John Force, and Jim Dunn. In 1980, he won in Columbus, Denver, and Seattle, was runner-up in Gainesville and Ontario, and defended the championship. In 1981, he won the title a third time, and again Prudhomme was second. The Blue Max, now a Plymouth Horizon, reached the final four times in 1981 and won the biggest, the U.S. Nationals. Driving a Ford EXP in 1982, Beadle went after a fourth straight championship, but slipped to fifth in the points standings by year's end.
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