NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Marlin Says It Is ‘Probably” All Over
NASCAR driver Sterling Marlin says he is ready to exit racing...
Larry Woody  | http://www.RacinToday.com  |  Posted November 17, 2009   Charlotte, NC
Sterling Marlin is currently in 51st position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

The last of the Good Ol’ Boys is preparing to ride off into the sunset.

Sterling Marlin plans to enter Sunday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway then, after over 30 years of life in the fast lane, will “probably” hang up his helmet.

“Will I miss it? Yeah, in some ways,” said Marlin, 52, who raced his way out of the Carter’s Creek tobacco fields and into international fame with back-to-back Daytona 500 victories in ’94 and ’95.

“But in some ways I’ll kinda be glad when it’s over. The sport has changed. It’s not much fun any more.”

One of the biggest changes is the steady decline of Southern drivers. They once dominated stock car racing; now they’re a vanishing species.

Sterling attended his first race when he was two weeks old. His mom, Eula Faye, held him in her arms while his dad, Coo Coo banged his way around Nashville’s Fairgrounds Speedway. The roar of racing engines was his lullaby.

By his early teens Sterling was behind the wheel, following in the tire tracks of his dad and uncle Jack. He won everything there was to win in Nashville. At 18 he made his debut in the big-league Sprint Cup Series. He hasn’t slowed down since.

Until now. Sterling has spent the last few years struggling with second-tier rides – the kind he was forced to accept throughout the first 17 years of his career. When he finally got a good car he broke it in by winning the Daytona 500.

Now he’s back where he started, trying to make a slow car to go fast and keep up with the superstars that his daddy called “hot dogs.”


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Larry Woody

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