NASCAR’s Sterling Marlin, PASS racing coming to the County

    Former NASCAR driver Sterling Marlin will make his way to northern Maine’s center for speed – Spud Speedway – to participate in the Pro All Star Series Friday and Saturday, Aug. 20 and 21.
    Marlin, who resides in Nashville, Tenn., was the 1983 Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) rookie of the year and finished third in the racing series both in 1995 and 2001. He is a two-time winner of the Daytona 500, pulling off the feat in consecutive years in 1994 and 1995.
Sterling Marlin
    He competed in a limited number of races in the 2009 Sprint Cup series and has not raced this year.
    This will mark Marlin’s first trip to the speedway and also is the first time the PASS super late model and modified cars will compete on the track.
    Racers will be looking to take their share of the $25,000 purse put on the line by PASS and Spud Speedway. PASS racing is a touring series that starts out in Florida in January and host races at various tracks along the entire east coast. Drivers from all over compete in this series, which is one the fastest forms of stock car racing.
    Maine favorites Johnny Clark, Ben Rowe and Presque Isle’s own Kirk Thibeau will battle it out for 150 laps of green-flag racing against Marlin, the two-time Daytona 500 winner.
    According to race track owner Troy Haney, Marlin is excited to come up from his home town of Nashville, Tenn. to compete in the PASS series for the first time in his career. He will arrive at Spud Speedway Friday afternoon to practice the car and will have a meet-and-greet with fans in the stands that evening.
    Saturday, he will in Presque Isle for another meet-and-greet session from 10 a.m.-noon at Advantage Gases & Tools.
    Friday night’s activities will include practice sessions for both series of PASS, a full card of qualifying for the weekly divisions and the first-ever Larry Cowett Memorial Race. Cowett was an influential car builder at the track for many years, and track staff and former drivers wanted to have a race in his honor. The race will feature former Spud Speedway racers such as Chink Maynard, Andy Marino, Johnny Albert and Mark Jones, to name just a few. On Saturday, all weekly divisions will have their feature races along with a 40-lap Modified race and a 150 Super Late Model race.     
    Track owners Troy and Jen Haney are excited to bring this high caliber form of racing to the County for everyone to enjoy. It was a goal of theirs when they bought the track in 2009 to bring in shows that folks in the County are not used to seeing right here in their backyard.
    Racing begins at 6 p.m. both nights. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.spud-speedway.com.