CHARLOTTE, N.C. – For Justin Marks, the 2016 season was all about achieving goals. He takes great pride in making that happen for so many drivers.
“These young guys come to the K&N Pro Series and into our team with a dream in their eye about winning a championship and having that propel them to their dreams in NASCAR,” said Marks at the 2016 Night of Champions Awards Ceremony in Charlotte. “So to see them fulfill those dreams, like Justin did this year and William did the year before and everybody else, is special.”
Marks and team co-owner Harry Scott celebrated a fourth consecutive owner’s title in the K&N Pro Series East, this time with driver Justin Haley behind the wheel. Haley’s title run propelled him to a full-time ride in the Camping World Truck Series with GMS Racing in 2017.
Though he is the team co-owner, Marks was quick to give credit to HScott Motorsports’ success down through the organization. “I don’t do a lot. People want to give a lot of praise to the owners, but we don’t do a lot. It’s all about the guys at the shop and about the drivers. They’ve all worked so hard,” he said. “We take a lot of pride in being able to provide an opportunity. But they do the work.”
However, things will be different for Marks in 2017. HScott Motorsports announced last year that they would be shutting down their K&N Pro Series operations at the end of the season. Haley’s title drew a close to one of the most dominant stretches of time for any team in the series’ history.
Marks spoke on the matter at the awards ceremony. “Racing is a business, like anything else, and sometimes business success and success on the race track aren’t the same thing,” he said. “But I’m very, very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish as a company the last number of years and it’s a shame to see it come to an end.”
However, he was also quick to emphasize that neither he nor team co-owner Harry Scott believed that this would be the end of their involvement in the sport.
“I truly believe for Harry and myself that it’s only a temporary hiatus from NASCAR and from short track racing and from everything that we’ve been doing. the cards just weren’t in place for us to carry on for next season,” he said. “But we’re just really really really happy and really proud of what everybody has done and what everybody has accomplished and it’s a great group of guys.
“We don’t regret getting involved in it, we don’t regret a dollar that we’ve spent or an hour that we’ve put into it. So it’s really great just to be here and celebrate another championship.”
So, then, what does Marks take away from this period of time? Being an enabler of dreams is high up on the list.
“It’s these nights. Seeing Justin up there tonight and seeing William up there last year and Ben Rhodes and Dylan and all these guys, it’s special,” he said. “These people come and they work for these teams with a dream in their eye and they want to be champions, they want to win races, and the most memorable part is just seeing people set a goal and then realize that goal. Harry and I are just lucky to be a part of it.”
Audio with HScott Motorsports co-owner Justin Marks:
