Coo Coo Marlin

Clifton Burton "Coo Coo" Marlin (January 3, 1932 – August 14, 2005) was a NASCAR Winston Cup driver who spent 14 years in the series.

Coo Coo Marlin
Coo Coo Marlin
Born	Clifton Burton Marlin (1932-01-03)January 3, 1932 Columbia, Tennessee
Died	August 14, 2005(2005-08-14) (aged 73)
Cause of death	Lung cancer
NASCAR Cup Series career
165 races run over 14 years
Best finish	20th - 1975 Winston Cup Series season
First race	1966 Nashville 400 (Nashville)
Last race	1980 Talladega 500 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 51 0

Local track history

Marlin earned a name for himself at the short tracks in Tennessee and Alabama, running against Red Farmer, Bobby Allison, and Donnie Allison. He was a four-time track champion at Nashville Speedway USA (now Music City Motorplex).

Marlin was a speedway favorite with a lot of kids during the 1960s. He drove a fire-engine red 1964 Chevrolet Impala, No. 711, and was the first real "hero" to many youngsters. During this time, he and his racing "nemesis," Charlie Binkley No. 125, continuously thrilled audiences with their often tense finishes. Marlin was always available for photos and autographs in the pits after a race. His brother, Jack Marlin, was also a crowd favorite.

Grand National and Winston Cup career

Marlin advanced to part-time rides on the NASCAR Grand National circuit, starting with one race in 1966 and three in 1967. He ran more of the schedule as the series changed from Grand National to Winston Cup, but he never competed in more than 23 races in any season. He never won a race in his 165 Winston Cup starts from 1966 to 1980, but he had nine top 5 and 51 top 10 finishes, with many of those starts in a car numbered 14. However, in 1973, Marlin won a non points race, with one of the Duel races at Daytona that year.[1]

Death

Marlin died in his hometown of Columbia, Tennessee on August 14, 2005 of lung cancer at the age of 73.

Son's use of number 14 as memorial

Shortly after Marlin's death, his son Sterling was in negotiations with MB2 Motorsports to drive the team's second car for 2006. The team was unable to retain the No. 10 (which was to be used by Evernham Motorsports for 2006), so MB2 was looking for a new number. A still-grieving Sterling found the No. 14 available (ppc Racing's defunct Nextel Cup team had been the last to use it) and had MB2 request the No. 14, which was granted. It was run to honor his father during his year and a half with the team until his unexpected release from Ginn Racing mid-way through the 2007 season, after the team merged with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. The No. 14 is now run by Clint Bowyer, his owner and former driver Tony Stewart who chose the number for his own race team in honor of AJ Foyt, a childhood hero of his.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series

NASCAR Grand National Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	NGNC	Pts	Ref
1966	Gray Racing	97	Ford	AUG	RSD	DAY	DAY	DAY	CAR	BRI	ATL	HCY	CLB	GPS	BGS	NWS	MAR	DAR	LGY	MGR	MON	RCH	CLT	DTS	ASH	PIF	SMR	AWS	BLV	GPS	DAY	ODS	BRR	OXF	FON	ISP	BRI	SMR	NSV 8	ATL	CLB	AWS	BLV	BGS	DAR	HCY	RCH	HBO	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR						95th	360	[2]
1967	Charlie Hughes	04	Chevy	AUG	RSD	DAY 13	DAY	DAY 50	AWS	BRI	GPS	BGS	ATL	CLB	HCY	NWS	MAR	SVH	RCH	DAR	BLV	LGY	CLT	ASH	MGR	SMR	BIR	CAR	GPS	MGY	DAY	TRN	OXF	FDA	ISP	BRI	SMR																					88th	680	[3]
	Cunningham-Kelley Racing																																					NSV 17	ATL	BGS	CLB	SVH	DAR	HCY	RCH	BLV	HBO	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	AWS
1969	Cunningham-Kelley Racing	07	Chevy	MGR	MGY	RSD	DAY	DAY	DAY	CAR	AUG	BRI	ATL	CLB	HCY	GPS	RCH	NWS	MAR	AWS	DAR	BLV	LGY	CLT	MGR	SMR	MCH	KPT 22	GPS	NCF	DAY	DOV	TPN	TRN	BLV	BRI 30	NSV 7	SMR	ATL 13	MCH	SBO	BGS	AWS	DAR 31	HCY	RCH	TAL 10	CLB	MAR	NWS	CLT 39	SVH	AUG	CAR	JFC	MGR	TWS	52nd	375	[4]
1970				RSD	DAY 24	DAY	DAY 18	RCH	CAR	SVH	ATL 9	BRI 9	TAL 10	NWS	CLB	DAR	BLV	LGY	CLT 30	SMR	MAR	MCH 31	RSD	HCY	KPT	GPS	DAY 34	AST	TPN	TRN	BRI	SMR	NSV 6	ATL 15	CLB	ONA	MCH 17	TAL 14	BGS	SBO	DAR	HCY	RCH	DOV	NCF	NWS	CLT 34	MAR	MGR	CAR	LGY							38th	876	[5]
1971				RSD	DAY	DAY 13	DAY 20	ONT	RCH	CAR	HCY	BRI	ATL 15	CLB	GPS	SMR	NWS	MAR	DAR	SBO	TAL 39	ASH	KPT	CLT	DOV	MCH 27	RSD	HOU	GPS	DAY 31	BRI 14	AST	ISP	TRN	NSV 25	ATL 34	BGS	ONA	MCH 33	TAL 42	CLB	HCY	DAR	MAR	CLT	DOV	CAR 38	MGR	RCH	NWS	TWS							49th	527	[6]

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1972	Cunningham-Kelley Racing	14	Chevy	RSD	DAY 25	RCH	ONT	CAR	ATL 12	BRI 6	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL 35	CLT 28	DOV 24	MCH	RSD	TWS 3	DAY 4	BRI 22	TRN	ATL 29	TAL 16	MCH 34	NSV 26	DAR 10	RCH	DOV 36	MAR 11	NWS 30	CLT 34	CAR 27	TWS 7	25th	3852.9	[7]
1973				RSD	DAY 29	RCH	CAR 14	BRI 7	ATL 6	NWS	DAR	MAR	TAL 6	NSV 6	CLT 33	DOV 35	TWS 28	RSD	MCH 11	DAY 38	BRI 27	ATL 30	TAL 40	NSV 3	DAR 7	RCH	DOV 6	NWS 11	MAR 23	CLT 19	CAR 10				22nd	4233.89	[8]
1974				RSD	DAY 4	RCH	CAR 24	BRI 10	ATL 28	DAR 19	NWS	MAR 12	TAL 7	NSV 9	DOV	CLT 38	RSD	MCH 13	DAY 18	BRI 12	NSV 28	ATL 9	POC	TAL 35	MCH 11	DAR 29	RCH 18	DOV 25	NWS 11	MAR 22	CLT 22	CAR 12	ONT		22nd	581.66	[9]
1975				RSD	DAY 17	RCH	CAR 26	BRI	ATL 7	NWS	DAR 5	MAR	TAL 5	NSV 3	DOV 6	CLT 40	RSD	MCH 12	DAY 34	NSV 26	POC 7	TAL 5	MCH 35	DAR 39	DOV 31	NWS 12	MAR 29	CLT 42	RCH 9	CAR 10	BRI 7	ATL 8	ONT		20th	2584	[10]
1976				RSD	DAY 21	CAR 8	RCH	BRI	ATL 6	NWS	DAR	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	RSD	MCH 13	DAY 6	NSV 8	POC	TAL 34	MCH 12	BRI	DAR 8	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 32	CAR 10	ATL 30	ONT DNQ		28th	1412	[11]
1977				RSD	DAY 4	RCH	CAR	ATL 8	NWS	DAR	BRI	MAR	TAL 8	NSV 8	DOV	CLT 12	RSD	MCH	DAY 13	NSV 11	POC	TAL 40	MCH	BRI	DAR 26	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 12	CAR	ATL 10	ONT		34th	1004	[12]
1978				RSD	DAY 26	RCH	CAR	ATL 39	BRI	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL 41	DOV	CLT	NSV 22	RSD	MCH	DAY 38	NSV	POC	TAL 26	MCH	BRI	DAR 30	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 7	CAR	ATL 10	ONT		36th	765	[13]
1979				RSD	DAY 9	CAR	RCH	ATL 38	NWS	BRI	DAR	MAR	TAL 10	NSV	DOV	CLT 30	TWS	RSD	MCH	DAY 25	NSV	POC	TAL 29	MCH	BRI	DAR 36	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	NWS	CAR	ATL	ONT	33rd	613	[14]
1980				RSD	DAY QL^†	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL 11	NSV	DOV	CLT	TWS	RSD	MCH	DAY 14	NSV	POC	TAL 37	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	NWS	MAR	CLT	CAR	ATL	ONT	54th	303	[15]
^† - Qualified but replaced by Sterling Marlin

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1967	Charlie Hughes	Chevrolet	27	50
1970	Cunningham-Kelley Racing	Chevrolet	40	18
1971			26	20
1972			3	25
1973			4	29
1974			31	4
1975			35	17
1976			10	21
1977			13	4
1978			16	26
1979			37	9
1980			QL^†
^† - Qualified but replaced by Sterling Marlin

References

1. Coo Coo Marlin page of Racing-reference website , retrieved May 21, 2007.
2. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1966 NASCAR Grand National Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
3. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1967 NASCAR Grand National Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
4. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1969 NASCAR Grand National Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
5. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1970 NASCAR Grand National Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
6. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
7. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1972 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
8. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
9. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
10. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1975 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
11. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
12. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1977 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
13. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1978 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
14. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
15. "Coo Coo Marlin – 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 7, 2019.

External links

• ESPN Obituary
• Coo Coo Marlin driver statistics at Racing-Reference