Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Marlin knows winning recipe at Daytona

Victories put famed track in perspective

Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. His golf notebook appears Wednesday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4089.

Sterling Marlin knows all about breaking streaks at the Daytona 500.

While Dale Earnhardt made headlines for winning last year's 500 in his 20th attempt, Marlin was winless in his first 278 NASCAR Winston Cup starts before he took the checkered flag in the 1994 Daytona 500.

Then, he won it again the following year.

"I just enjoy racing there, it's a fun track," Marlin said during a recent test session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "I've always run good there, my dad (former Winston Cup star Coo Coo Marlin) ran good there and I've been fortunate to have some good cars."

Marlin said he did not realize the full significance of winning the Daytona 500 at the time he won his first race there.

"I knew it was big, but I didn't know it was quite that big," Marlin said. "It was my first career win and it really turned things around for us."

Marlin would like nothing more than to add a third Daytona 500 title to his resume -- especially considering the $8 million purse being offered at this year's race.

When Marlin won the Daytona 500 in 1994, he earned slightly more than $300,000. This year's winner will take home at least $1.1 million.

"It sure pays a lot more (now) than it did when I won it," Marlin said. "I want to win it even more (now) than I did then."

Marlin won both the '94 and '95 500s while driving the No. 4 Kodak Chevrolet for Morgan-McClure Racing. Last season, Marlin joined Felix Sabates' Team Sabco and won one of the Twin 125 qualifying races but finished 22nd in the 500 in the Coors Light Chevrolet.

"Last year we went down there with the Coors car and won a qualifying race but we broke a shock in the 500 and wound up 22nd," Marlin said. "I don't think we could have beat Earnhardt, but we might have been top five."

Marlin finished ninth in Thursday's first 125-mile qualifying race and will start on the ninth row for Sunday's 41st Daytona 500.

"We're in much better shape than we were last year," Marlin said of his second year with Team Sabco. "Last year, when we first started, we had a crew chief turnover real quick and it took us about half a year to get things straightened out.

"We were (34th) in points after two or three races and we come all the way back to 13th. We had a good chance to win Martinsville and it got away from us, an alternator went out, and we had a good shot to win in California, on the road course. We've just got to work hard and get your stuff running better and driving better and try to get a win."

And if that elusive seventh career victory doesn't come Sunday in Daytona, Marlin said he would love to do it March 7 in the Las Vegas 400 at LVMS.

"It would sure be good to win here," Marlin said of the 1.5-mile superspeedway. "It pays a lot."

* NASCAR: Winston Cup rookie Buckshot Jones has denied a rumor that has been circulating about his failed attempt to land United Parcel Service as a primary sponsor on his car.

As the rumor had it, Jones and UPS agreed to a multi-million dollar sponsorship agreement, with one of the provisions being that Jones had to use UPS shipping services exclusively. When Jones returned the signed contract to UPS via Federal Express -- UPS' biggest rival -- UPS was supposed to have terminated the deal.

No so, Jones' father and team owner Billy Jones said.

"If UPS would have sent me that contract, they would have never had to worry about it being shipped back by UPS or Federal Express," Jones said. "I would have hand delivered it."

Jones said that he and UPS simply were unable to reach an agreement. Jones' No. 00 Pontiac will be sponsored this season by Crown Fiber. ...

Two dates on the 1999 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule, at Portland, Ore., and Louisville, Ky., have been changed, according to series officials.

The truck series' first visit to Portland International Raceway, initially set for Saturday, June 19, moves ahead to Friday, June 18 as a twi-night race.

Louisville Motor Speedway's Kroger 225, which had been slotted for Friday night, Oct. 1, drops back one week to Oct. 8. The move provides teams an off-week following the Sept. 24 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

* CART: Adrian Fernandez and Greg Moore represented CART in the opening round of the IROC series today at Daytona International Speedway.

Moore said moving from the open-wheel Champ cars to the heavier IROC car took some adjustment.

"Actually, this is one of the first times I have driven a car with a roof," Moore said. "It's like being a downhill ski racer and suddenly becoming a snowboard racer; you just have to throw everything you have learned out the window."

* IRL: While virtually all of the major auto racing series saw gains in attendance in 1998, the IRL was one of the few that experienced a drop -- despite adding three races to its schedule.

According to figures compiled by the Goodyear Tire company, the IRL attracted 1,291,653 to its 11 races in 1998 -- a drop of 4.1 percent from 1997.

* BACKMARKERS: Bob Miller has returned to Las Vegas Motor Speedway as director of facilities, according to Speedway general manager Chris Powell. Miller served as the track's facilities superintendent from 1996 to 1997 before leaving to become director of operations at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado. ...

Las Vegas-based White Lightning Racing took first overall and first in class at the season-opening SNORE AVI 250 in Laughlin. Drivers Brian Collins and Billy Georke debuted their new Chevrolet V-6 Class 1 Unlimited truck on the 31-mile circuit.

Other class winners were Jeremy Gubler (Class 10); Jeff Carr (Class 1-2/1600); Dwaine Walters, Rob Walters and Kevin Lumsden (Class 9); Greg Price, Mike Powada, Krisanne Steele, Amy Sebron and Keith Sondej (Class 5/1600); Jason Johnson and Ruab Evers (Mini); Jason Gubler and Tammi Gubler (Sports Buggy); and Mark Pettit, Bob Ryan, Wade Humphries, Daniel Hibner and Bert Schneider (Sports Truck).

archive