Jimmy King & Don Marshall
Back when they were a bit lighter and younger, Jimmy King and Don Marshall were friends, even fellow car club members with five other guys (kids) in the King Pins and the Southern New England Timing Association during the mid-50s. Jimmy remembers having a cool 1941 Ford and being too young to drive it, so older buddy Don offered to handle the chore. Wanting a gearhead playground, they were instrumental in opening the Navy base in Charleston, Rhode Island to monthly drag racing, through SNETA. Other groups at Sanford, Maine and at Orange, Massachusetts meant that Jimmy and Don could drag race every Sunday somewhere in New England by 1957.
Jimmy landed a job at a Ford dealership name Tasca, working near Bill Lawton and John Healy. He was hitting the strips with his nailhead Buick powered 1946 Chevy. The car wasn’t fast enough so Jimmy found a Scotty Finn K88 chassis and stuck a gas burning small block Chevy in it, while Don decided to try again with two less wheels and six fewer cylinders. He went motorcycle racing with the gas burning Harley Davidson, then stepped up to a unique blown, reverse rotation Triumph. A local Harley Davidson dealer notice Don success and set him up with a deal on a new 1963 Harley. Don went on to set land speed records at Bonneville in the gas classes, hitting 136 and 142 MPH with no fairings. Then went to the quarter-mile with a load of nitro and clicked 150 MPH. Meanwhile, Jimmy’s desire to go faster got him into a Haulin chassis with a 392. Don, and other local friends, were usually around pitching in with parts and assistance. However even in the mid-60s, it was tough to field a competitive top fuel car by yourself, let alone find enough events for a nitro bike. That’s when the two longtime friends got together, and the King and Marshall team became official. It wasn’t long until they decided to make a leap. They sold most of their “toys”, purchased a new Don Long/Tom Hanna car in late 1967, and planned on some traveling.
The team fielded competitive top fuelers and funny cars until the mid-70s, followed by a few special appearances until 1980. Jimmy return to his garage in Rhode Island, while Don spent the winters in Florida and summers in Rhode Island. Jimmy and Don remained good friends and they often got together usually at major racing events and other drag race related occasions. King and Marshall was perhaps the most prolific and successful drag racing team ever from the New England area; like most fuel teams in their era, they campaigned mostly out of their own pockets because they were doing it for the fun and the challenge. Yet they were quick to acknowledge the assistance from New England Speed Equipment, the New England Plymouth Dealers Association, and Marvin Rifchin of M&H Tire. Like most easterners, they didn’t receive a lot of national publicity for the success but they generated huge fan appeal wherever they raced, and a good deal of local and regional media attention. Jimmy King was voted Most Popular Driver by the fans at the three New England tracks for four consecutive years.