Same class, same track for 46 years for Eddie Marshall. This past Saturday, he won his 36th feature at the track he’s called home since 1980, Lebanon Valley Speedway.
“A win at Lebanon Valley is absolutely hard to come by,” Marshall, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, said. “It is so hard to win there that I can say every one of my wins is equally memorable, whether it’s the $5,000 King of the Track 15 years ago or a 20-lap feature last Saturday night. There were years where [Billy] Decker, [Brett] Hearn, [Kenny] Tremont or [Andy] Bachetti would get six to 10 wins, leaving half the season or less for the rest of the field.”
Only one other driver, Mike King, started their racing career at Lebanon Valley Speedway before Marshall. The names have changed over the years, but Marshall’s and King’s remain constants in the standings. Marshall frequents Lebanon Valley despite hauling two to three hours to compete there.
“For me, it was always fun to race at Lebanon Valley Speedway,” Marshall said. “The long, fast straightaways and the speed I enjoy so much. The New York State Fair track in Syracuse was another of my favorites.”
While Marshall has been a fixture at the track, his crew and cars have changed over the years. None of his original team members still turn wrenches on his cars. Billy Foglia, who started on Marshall’s team in the early 1990s, continues to help, though. Marshall’s family business, Marshall Oil Co., along with R&M Heating and Advanced Water Technologies have sponsored his modified for years.
Ernie Marshall, his father, turns 90 this year and has been with him throughout his career.
“My dad is still very much involved in racing,” Marshall said. “He likes to stay active and racing keeps him going. I watched my dad and my uncle Andy race at the Danbury Fair Racearena in the 1960s. My dad later hauled north and won a Lebanon Valley championship while I was still a kid.”
Win or lose, Eddie Marshall has still kept running Lebanon Valley Speedway, and he has no plans of changing that.
“We had years here or there where we didn’t win,” Marshall said. “Needless to say, I never lost the desire to race at Lebanon Valley Speedway.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
