By Justin Marks
......(3-25-10) - I'm often asked the question: "If you could win any race at any track this year, which one would it be?"
It's a tough question because you need to think about what is important to you. One racer's choice could be completely different than another's. When I ponder the variables, my mind goes to the obvious popular responses. Daytona comes to mind. It's a prestigious race at one of America's biggest venues. Same with Talladega. It's important to a lot of drivers to win races on TV and on NASCAR conjunction weekends because of the perceived "discovery" scenario. That brings Texas, Michigan, Pocono, and Kansas to mind. These are the obvious race wins that can have values on them exceeding the smaller tracks ARCA travels to. But for me, my mind goes to a bit of a different place. The reason we all spend so much money and devote so much time to this sport is because first and foremost we all love to RACE. It's the passion for wheel to wheel competition and the desire to win in the trenches against the best without ever having to overcome equipment, engine, pit crew, or personnel deficiencies. Because of this, if I could win anywhere, I'd take the checkered flag at Salem Speedway. Let me explain.
Salem Speedway represents everything racing is supposed to be. The first time I ever came to Salem in 2006 I was amazed at what it was like to drive there. I was very early in the stock car portion of my career and, after competing at Talladega, Pocono, Michigan, and Kentucky, I thought I was actually "driving" for the first time. I was up on the wheel, driving hard. In the race, every time the caution came out I found myself slumping down into the seat, recovering from what I could only refer to as madness during the previous run. Late in the race, I hit the wall off turn 4 and had a decent shunt in turn 1, I was kinda proud I hit the wall so hard at a half-mile actually. My crew chief didn't agree. After I was towed to the scrap yard that accumulates during the race between turns 3 and 4, I found myself looking up at the racetrack like a kid watching my first race. I was taken to that place we've all been when you are transfixed on the speed, color, and excitement of the racetrack. As I watched the end of the race and the drivers hustling their cars inches off the wall wheel to wheel, I thought to myself, now THIS is racing. Forget about media centers and press conferences, Gatorade Victory Lanes and driver introduction stages. This place gets back to the way racing should be. It's about talent, bravery, intelligence, racecraft, and desire. Some of these things seem to become inexplicably absent from the equation at the 100,000 seat shrines of our sport. Winning at Salem doesn't come from what famous owner's name is embroidered on your firesuit. It doesn't happen because your spotter or driving coach or mentor has NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship rings. I watched a driver show up in a small trailer behind a dually with Michigan plates, a few friends in the pit box, and small town sponsors on the hood, lay down the law on the big teams. When you win at Salem, it answers the question of whether or not you're a racer, something I think everyone in this garage wants to be.
The ARCA races at Salem Speedway are also special events that represent racing as it exists in its purest form. No matter the state of the economy or TV viewership and attendance figures at the top of the sport, the ARCA race at Salem will always be a packed house. The fans in the stands aren't there because their Cup tickets got them Friday's ARCA race for free, or because they showed up early to their favorite NASCAR weekend. These are ARCA fans, our fans. They were there for all of ARCA's 86 previous races at this historic track. They watched Bobby Allison, Iggy Katona, and Jack Bowsher win there. They watched epic battles as Frank Kimmel emerged as ARCA's greatest champion of the modern era. They were on their lawn chairs in the infield as young guns like Justin Lofton, Patrick Sheltra and Justin Allgaier added their names to Salem's rich history. The town of Salem, IN is proud of their bi-annual events that run much the same way as the inaugural one did in the fall of 1955. The photograph in this column a friend of mine took just before the start of my first race at Salem. I look at it and remember the electricity that was in the air as the last fans took their seats and the warm Midwest air settled in on the speedway. It was the same feeling I had when my grandfather took me to 34 Raceway in Burlington, Iowa as a young child.
So as we head into April here in 2010 and the teams prepare their Salem cars, crew chiefs looking over notes and drivers running laps in their heads (and some on simulators), I ponder over the sense of achievement and pride I'd take in winning there. I know that I'd earn respect as a racer. And isn't that more important than big salaries, TV interviews, and fancy cars? It is to me
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