NASCAR Winston Cup California 500 Preview -- #4, Sterling Marlin
17 June 1997
#4 Sterling Marlin, Kodak Gold Film Chevrolet Monte Carlo
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
California 500 Presented by NAPA Advance
California Speedway
STERLING MARLIN NOTES & QUOTES: CALIFORNIA 500
"I'm beginning to wonder if we ticked off a witch doctor"
FONTANA, CA - Because it is the first race for the NASCAR Winston Cup teams
at the sport's newest facility, this week's California 500 is considered one
of the biggest races of the year. No driver has had more success in winning
the big race than Sterling Marlin, one of only three two-time Daytona 500
winners in the field and one of two to have done so in the 1990's.
Marlin first career victory came in the 1994 Daytona 500, stunning many in
the racing world but not Marlin and not his Kodak Gold Film Chevrolet
teammates. A year later he backed it up with a second Daytona 500 (joining
legendary Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough as the only driver to have won
the event back-to-back), and big wins became expected from the now
39-year-old Columbia, Tenn., native.
Though not a believer in "luck," Marlin admits circumstances haven't always
worked in the Kodak Gold Film Chevrolet team's favor this season; everything
from a groundhog upsetting the timing lights during the team's qualifying run
at Pocono, Pa., to a screwdriver falling on the race track and piercing the
car's radiator at Darlington, S.C., have afflicted the team this season.
They head to the California 500 this week looking to "shake the monkey off
their backs" and move back into the winning column. None on this team is a
stranger to victory. Morgan-McClure Motorsports, which fields the Kodak Gold
Film Chevrolets, has won with two different drivers.
The thoughts of Kodak Gold Film Chevrolet driver Sterling Marlin heading into
California:
"I'm not particularly superstitious, and never have been. I don't really
believe in luck. I figure you make your own luck. If things aren't going your
way you just work harder and keep going, and sooner or later things will work
out. We've had years where things did kind of work in our favor and we got a
break here or there. 'What goes around comes around,' is an old racing saying
but it's pretty well true. Everything averages out, the good and the bad.
"By the same token, I'm beginning to wonder if we've ticked off a witch
doctor somewhere and, every week, he's pulling that Sterling doll out,
grabbing his knitting needles and shoving them things in me. Maybe you can
make voodoo dolls out of those die-cast cars, and he's just playing with the
thing every week. Wherever this guy is, I hope his cable runs out someday
soon and we can shake this bad luck.
"All we can do is keep working harder. Every week we figure, 'OK, this is our
week to shake this thing and get going.' Every week it seems like it's
something else. I still think we'll shake it and move on. We don't have any
problems a win or two wouldn't cure. Somebody told me the other day, 'Hey,
you guys will look back at this some day and laugh,' and I said, 'Naw, don't
think so.' But it would sure be a lot easier if we were looking at the
valleys from the top of the mountain rather than from a valley.
"We think California will be a good spot for us. It's supposed to be a clone
of Michigan and we've run pretty well at Michigan over the years. It's got
the sweeping turns and is pretty wide, too. I guess the banking is a little
less but, for the most part, not so much as you would notice except with a
race car. We had a pretty good setup for Michigan. We qualified fourth and
showed a lot of speed there. I think we can take what we learned there and
use it at California.
"I kind of like going out to Los Angeles and that area. It's been a long time
since we raced there and we need to be there. Adding Southern California back
to the schedule is great for the series and it's great for our sponsors.
Kodak Gold Film is tickled to be racing there again, and so am I. Every time
we add a good market to our schedule, it works for everybody. Adding a market
like Los Angeles, well, it's pretty obvious what that does for you.
"I remember running Riverside and Ontario too. Ontario was a great track,
maybe just a little ahead of its time. Riverside was a super road course,
really tricky. But the thing I remember most, whether it was when I was
racing or when I was out there with Daddy (long-time NASCAR racer Coo Coo
Marlin) was how great the fans were. They really appreciated good racing and
appreciated having us out there. I can't think of any place more of a 'car
state' than California. I'm not surprised this place was sold out so quickly;
I'll be more surprised if they can't add another 25,000 seats and fill them
up without blinking an eye."
By Williams Company of America, Inc.