Highs And Lows For Tony Marks Racing At Lucas Oil Raceway

Highs And Lows For Tony Marks Racing At Lucas Oil Raceway

Topics: Jared Marks, Ansell Protective Gloves 200

Highs And Lows For Tony Marks Racing At Lucas Oil Raceway

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
Tony Marks Racing
August 1, 2011

CLERMONT, Indiana (August 1, 2011) - - Tony Marks Racing (TMR) joined the rest of the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards tour at Lucas Oil Raceway after a 25-year hiatus on Thursday night in the Ansell Protective Gloves 200.

With two cars entered with Jared Marks in the No. 8 Mad Croc / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger and rookie Maryeve Dufault in the No. 12 Mad Croc / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger, the Mooresville, North Carolina-based team was striving for solid results.

Just one practice session set the tone for the 12th race of the season. Marks led the way with an impressive seventh fastest time. Dufault clocked the 33rd fastest lap in a field that was separated by less than two seconds.

Changes were made to both automobiles hoping to allow the drivers to finesse through the hot asphalt during qualifying. Marks landed himself in 12th with Dufault lining up 29th.

The 17-year old Marks found himself as a contender by hovering around the 10th position. Knowing he had a good No. 8 Mad Croc / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger, the Napoleon, Ohio native was biding his time before planning to make his attack in the final 50 laps of the contest.

Unfortunately, Marks’ night was cut short as he was swept into a lap 136-restart incident which destroyed the front-end of the No. 8 Mad Croc / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger. Marks climbed from his machine and waived to the fans before making the trip to the infield care center where he was treated and released.

Marks would settle for a discouraging 30th place finish.

Dufault in her 11th race of the season logged laps and utilized the 203-lap event to become further accustomed to short track racing. She completed her first short track race of the year in the 24th position.

“It was a hard hit, but I’m okay,” said Marks, a development driver for Tony Marks Racing. “I hate it for Mad Croc, Dodge, TMT and the guys. We were going to have a good night, the car was that good. The wreck happened so fast by the time I saw it, I was in it. We’ll just have to pick up the pieces and rebound in our next race.”

Dufault, the Sorel Quebec native was satisfied with taking the checkered flag. “I wish we could have finished a little better for Mad Croc, Dodge and everyone at TMR,” she said. “I couldn’t get the car to turn like I needed it to. We never gave up though, we kept making changes and it helped. I was comfortable by the end of the race, we just ran out of time. It was a nice feeling though to actually finish a short track race.”

For Ohio entrepreneur, former racer and car owner Tony Mark, the trials and tribulations of a first-year team press on. “Jared was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked anymore from him because he was giving everything he had. There isn’t a question that if not for the wreck; we would have finished in the top-10 for sure. Maryeve learned a lot and that only helps her transition to stock cars. She did a good job and was paying attention to everything happening around her. We’ll take what we learned and see if we can’t apply it down the road.”

Next up for the ARCA Racing Series is a return to trip to the “Tricky Triangle” at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway for the running of the Pennsylvania 125. The 50-lap shootout is set for Saturday, August 6 with live coverage on the SPEED channel beginning at 3:00 p.m.

For additional information on TMT, Inc. please visit; tmtcompanies.net.

For more on Maryeve Dufault, please log onto Maryeveracing.com.

To learn more about Tony Marks Racing, please click over to Tmr-racing.com.

See the buzz that VR-12 is creating by clicking over to their website at VR-12.com.

About Tony Marks Racing (TMR):

Tony Marks Racing was founded in 2009 through the passion for racing of team owner and former driver Tony Marks. Marks is the successful owner of TMT, Inc., a logistics, warehousing and packaging company with over 400 employees whose customers are mainly comprised of Fortune 100 companies.

Marks began his racing career in 1985 getting behind the wheel of everything from drag racers, Dirt Late Models, SCCA Formula Fords, USAC F2000 Open Wheel and ARCA cars. Tony personally raced until 2005 amassing numerous wins, championships and track records along the way until he then changed his focus from driver to owner and began building racing programs for his children Jared (16 years old) and Rachel (13 years old). Under the auspices of TMR, Jared began his racing career in 2002 in quarter midgets and now competes in late model, CRA, ASA and ARCA Series events while Rachel continues her development program racing quarter midgets and Bandoleros.

TMR has been at the forefront of charitable giving through its’ “Driving Against Hunger” and “Million Meal Challenge” race programs which have raised over $200,000 for Forgotten Harvest in 2010 at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series events at Michigan International Speedway.

For the NASCAR events TMR along with TMT, Inc. partnered with Forgotten Harvest for the “Million Meal Challenge For Our Kids” which helps to bridge the hunger gap while schools are out of session and feeds 20,000 children per day in the Detroit metro area. Forgotten Harvest was significantly displayed on the entry of Chase Austin during both the Truck and Nationwide events at Michigan International Speedway along with logos of “Million Meal Challenge” sponsors Walgreen’s, United Race Group, Holyfield’s Choice Alka-Power Water and Vitamin Spice. Evander Holyfield was also instrumental in the challenge, acting as Grand Marshall for the August race and announcing his “Fight Against Hunger” on behalf of Forgotten Harvest.

As the first race team to “Drive Against Hunger” through their partnership with Forgotten Harvest, TMR plans to continue their alliance with Forgotten Harvest and once again “Drive Against Hunger” during the 2011 season.

PHOTO CAPTION: Jared Marks, driver of the No. 8 Mad Croc Energy / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards for Tony Marks Racing (TMR).

TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:

NAME: Chris Knight, Knight Motorsports Management
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: chris@chrisknightpr.com