Short for "GeologicalScienceBlog", subjects will include Geology, Climatology, Environmental Science, NASCAR, Beer, Property Rights, Politics from a Christian Conservative/Libertarian viewpoint, and random thoughts. My background is two degrees in Geology (BS, MS), 8 years of geology/environmental employment and almost 8 years of teaching Geology and Environmental Science on a Junior College level. <68>

Sunday, August 14, 2005

On the Passing of Coo Coo Marlin

If you are not a long-time NASCAR fan, the name will probably mean nothing to you. Clifton (Coo Coo) Marlin was the father of current driver Sterling Marlin and possible future driver Steadman Marlin. He passed away at age 73 from lung cancer today.

He never won any official points races in NASCAR's premier division (now called Nextel Cup), but he did win a qualifying race for the Daytona 500 in the early/mid 1970s. In his 165 races, he did have 9 top-five finishes and 51 top-ten finishes. He made his living as a farmer and cattleman, to him racing was an expensive hobby, but he did it fairly well. He was a force to be reckoned with on some Tennessee short tracks in the late 1950s and 1960s. At one time, he was the second winningest driver at the Nashville Fairgrounds Raceway, behind Darrell Waltrip.

Despite not winning in the "big leagues", Coo Coo got to vicariously enjoy his son Sterling winning two Daytona 500s and a Pepsi 400 at Daytona, in addition to seven other NASCAR Nextel Cup victories. Sterling finished third in the point standing twice, in 1995 and 2001. Sterling lead the point standings for 26 weeks in 2002, but his closest quest for the championship was cut short by a broken neck, resulting from a crash at Kansas Motorspeedway, perhaps exacerbating an injury from a hard crash at Richmond, VA a few weeks earlier. He just hasn't been the same since then. Sterling started off well this season, maintaining a position in the top 10 of the point standings for the first eight races, but a series of crashes, many of which were not his fault have dropped him far back in the standings and resulted in his contract for the #40 Coors Light Dodge not being renewed.

Sterling still works on his family's farm in Columbia, TN. I wonder if Coo Coo's passing will provide the impetus to go ahead and "hang up" his helmet at the end of this season. He was hoping to finish his career in the #40 after one or two more seasons. It probably depends on the quality of the options for future rides.
Posted by: on-the-rocks / 5:34 PM
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