Sterling Marlin exits his race car in 1996. (source:Wiki Commons)
Sterling Marlin is one of the few remaining links to the colorful beginnings of NASCAR and the good ‘ole Southern boys who made the sport so vibrant and entertaining. Sterling was born on the 30th June 1957 in Columbia, Tennessee and is the only son of the late Coo Coo Marlin, former NASCAR driver who was four times track champion at Nashville Speedway (now Music City Motorplex) and Eula Faye. Although he was raised and worked on his parent’s farm Sterling’s dream was always to become a race car driver, this was strengthened by his work in the garage from the age of around twelve.
By the time he was sixteen he was crew chief to his father and started to drive. It was in 1976 that Sterling made his debut in NASCAR Cup racing at Nashville Speedway, substituting for his father who had been injured. He drove the #14 H.B. Cunningham Chevrolet, started at 30th position and finished at 29th after having fuel pump problems early in the race. He made two starts in 1978 finishing 9th and 25th respectively. He raced again in 1979 at Nashville Speedway, finishing seventeenth and in 1980 he had two Top 10’s, eighth in the Daytona 500 and seventh at Nashville Speedway. Sterling won three consecutive track championships at Nashville Speedway from 1980-82.
He was hired by Roger Hamby to drive the #17 Chevrolet in 1983 and he gained a tenth position finish at Dover International Speedway and finished 19th in the final point standings, securing the coveted 1983 “Rookie of the Year” honours. He spent most of the 1984 season driving for Sadler Brothers Racing and posted two Top 10 finishes. Sterling made eight starts in 1985, again driving for Sadler Brothers Racing for seven of them, his best finish was twelfth at Talladega Superspeedway and his last race of the season was at Charlotte Motor Speedway driving the Helen Rae Special. He finished in 29th position after having flywheel problems. His best finish in the 1986 season was in the Firecracker 400 when he finished second, driving the #1 Bull’s Eye Barbecue Sauce car.
In 1987 he was hired full-time by Billy Hagan, driving the #44 Oldsmobile and posted four Top 5’s and finished eleventh in the final point standings. The following year, 1988, he had seven Top 10 finishes out of the first ten starts and finished tenth in the final point standings. In 1989 he tied a career best thirteen Top 10 finishes but was twelfth in the final pint standings. Sterling won his first career win in the NASCAR Busch Series in 1990 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, driving for Fred Turner in the #48 Diamond Ridge Chevrolet. He drove for Junior Johnson in 1991 and had a second place finish at the start of the season and gained two poles at Talladega Superspeedway and the Firecracker 400 giving him a seventh position in the final point standings. The following year he gained five poles and had six Top 5 finishes. Finally, after 278 starts Sterling had his first career win at the 1994 Daytona 500, driving the #4 Kodak car. He won again the following year, 1995, and he became one of only three drivers who have won the Daytona 500 two years consecutively. The other drivers are Carl Yarborough and Richard Petty. “There is no doubt that my fondest memory is winning that first Daytona 500,” Sterling said. He is also the only driver to have his first two career wins at the Daytona 500. The 1995 season saw Sterling post two more wins and finish a career high third in the final point standings. Sterling won at Michigan International Speedway in 2001 marking Dodge’s first victory since returning to Cup racing after two decades. He also won the UAW-GM Quality 500 and finished a tie at third place in the final point standings. 2002 saw him the closest he has ever been to winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, winning victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway holding the lead in points for twenty five weeks but an early accident in the Chevy Monte Carlo 400 in September robbed him of chance to gain the extra points needed. Disappointingly, he finished the season in fourth place after a 21st position at Dover International Speedway. He did gain fourteen Top 10 finishes and six Top 10 qualifying tries in twenty nine starts and had two poles, at Pocono Raceway in June and Darlington Raceway in September. Overall, during his thirty two year career , Sterling had ten wins and 216 Top 10’s with eleven poles racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and two wins and twenty two Top ten with one pole in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He was awarded the Tennessee Professional Athlete of the Year in 1995 and 1996 he was nominated the Tennessee Professional Athlete of the Year in 2002. Sterling announced that he would be retiring from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on the 18th of March 2010 but the name Marlin will live on in NASCAR with his son, Steadman, competing on a limited basis since 2000 in the NASCAR Busch Series. A great guy, Sterling, even after an illustrious career in racing and earning big money during his career he still remains as down-to-earth as ever, “as country as cornbread” as one colleague put it!.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Marlin
http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/smarlin00/cup/bio.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coo_Coo_Marlin
http://www.stockcarracing.com/thehistoryof/bio/134_0302_sterling_marlin_biography/index.html#ixzz1Rzh7g200
http://www.mahalo.com/sterling-marlin/
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