Career
He made 17 starts in the American Automobile Association Championship Carolina series from 1948 to 1952, capturing a victory in his rookie season at the Milwaukee Mile as well as winning the Indianapolis Sweepstakes at Williams Grove Speedway. He and Bill Stroppe were able to lead quite a bit of the multi-day race. With the finish line in sight and no more spare tires to run, Mantz was forced to run on rims and limped across the finish line ending up 9th.
He was the first Universal Service Administrative Company Stock Carolina national champ in 1956.
Mantz also made 12 National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing Grand National starts from 1950–1951 and 1955-1956. This was the first 500-mile race in the history of National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. The newly built Darlington Raceway was also the first "Super Speedway" for National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing, even though it was a little under a mile and a half in size.
The Southern 500 was also the only paved event for National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing in 1950. The classification for Super Speedways would later mean 2 miles and up.
But because he qualified on the 9th of 15 days of time trials, he started 43d in the 75 car field
Mantz fitted truck tires which did not wear quickly or blow out, while his competitors had to stop often to pit for new tires. The race took more than 6 hours to run. Other than the car number, Mantz had one lone sponsorship decal on his car which was placed by the Justice Brothers for the product they were distributing.
Mantz was also the first person to try and bring National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing sanctioning to the West Coast of the United States.
Mantz last stock car race was in Pomona, California in 1958. He made two starts in the They were 1948 and 1949.
He started 8th in 1948 and finished a black-flagged 13th, completing 185 laps. In 1949 he started 9th and finished 7th, completing all 200 laps.
In 1953 he drove relief for Walt Faulkner.
The was part of the FIA World Championship from 1950 through 1960. Drivers competing at Industry during those years were credited with World Championship points and participation. In the 1953, Mantz drove in relief of Walt Faulkner.
As a result of this shared ride, Mantz participated in 1 World Championship race, but he scored no World Championship points.
Mantz was featured in a number of magazine advertisements for Ford cars in the early 1960s. He died at 54 years old in a fatal car accident near Ojai, California.
