You may have heard of Mike Marlar, Skylar Marlar and/or Camaron Marlar, but what about the brothers’ father, David Marlar? You’ll often see him in at least one of his sons’ pits at the races, but if he shows up with a hobby stock, too, take note. In four seasons, Marlar has racked up 31 wins, with victories at tracks such as at Lake Cumberland Speedway in Burnside, Kentucky.
David used to race back in the 1990s and early 2000s, but when Mike started racing late models, he parked his racing ambitions to support Mike, as well as Skylar and Camaron. However, David found himself back in the seat of a race car come Christmas 2019.
“I was sitting at the breakfast table, and I hear a car coming up the driveway all cammed up, loud,” David, of Winfield, Tennessee, said. “I’m like, ‘Who’s coming up here on Christmas morning?’ The kids stayed all night long on Christmas Eve. I went out and looked, and it was Camaron … and this car was my Christmas present. Camaron, Skylar, and Mikey had all worked any time they had spare time in putting this car together.
“I was surprised and happy. I hadn’t really thought about racing, but if you have a race car, you’re going to race it.”
While David seems like one of the fastest racers in his area nowadays, it didn’t start out that way.
“Mikey said I was driving too slow,” said David. “When I got back into the car, I was concentrating too much on keeping the car straight, under me and not spinning.”
Once David knocked the rust off, he found a lot of familiarity with the hobby stock painted like the car he had in the 1990s. If that painted rainbow looks familiar, it took inspiration from the paint scheme of a hot shoe at the time, Jeff Gordon.
“It’s pretty much the same car I ran back then,” David said. “It’s pretty much all the same stuff.”
As far as racing again, David Marlar doesn’t do it necessarily because he needs to. He credits his pit crew for much of his success. The team consists of his grandkids McCoy, 7; Maverick, 10; and Holston, 16. When they aren’t turning wrenches on grandad’s hobby stock, they’re finding success behind the wheel of go-karts.
“If it wasn’t for my pit crew, I wouldn’t be here,” said David. “I got to watch [my kids and grandkids], and me getting to race is just an added pleasure.
“To me it’s all about family. People have said to me over the years, ‘Wouldn’t you love to have the money you blown on racing?’ I’ve not blown money on racing. I’ve never had any drug rehab [with my kids] or going to get my kids out of jail. I feel I’ve got the best family in the world. If it wasn’t for racing, I might not have that.”
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
