To become a consistent contender with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series for a new driver/team, it’s often said to be a three to five year process. Brent Marks is in the midst of his second full season on the road with the series and has seen a surge in performance versus his rookie season last year. The highlight of this season thus far is a pair of wins for the sophomore driver.

“The season kind of started off a little slow for us and we were struggling a little bit and just kept on working on things,” said Marks. “Once we got to Wilmot (Raceway in Wisconsin) and got that win, things just really started clicking. We’ve been running the same program the last few months and it’s been running really good for us.” 

Compared to last year, Marks is higher in the points standings, has five more top-five finishes than he did in all of 2017 and has already matched the number of top-10 finishes he had a year ago, with still over 20 nights of racing remaining this year. The 27-year-old is visiting many tracks on the schedule for the second and even third time this year.

“We’ve been really consistent, passed a lot of racing cars and seem to be a contender for top-five finishes a lot of the nights,” noted the native of Myerstown, PA. “That’s what our goal was, especially going back to some of these tracks for the second time that we struggled at last year. My main goal was to improve at the tracks we went to for the first time last year and struggled at. I wish we had started the season out a little better, but I am very happy with how we are running right now. We are still working and getting better. We have a fast race car and that’s very important.”

Marks scored his first-career World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series win on June 2 at Wilmot Raceway in dominant fashion. He started fifth and took the lead from 2013 series champion Daryn Pittman on lap-13 and never looked back. Marks won by four-and-a-half second and lapped up to the ninth-place car. He did all of that, while nursing a flat right front tire for the last handful of laps. Marks followed that up with another dominating win at the end of July at Weedsport Speedway in New York, where he again lapped up to the ninth-place finisher.

“It’s always hard to get the first one out,” he shared. “I had been trying for a lot of years to get a World of Outlaws win. I had plenty of wins back home and in that surrounding area, but to get that first World of Outlaws win and to do it outside of the state of Pennsylvania was special to me and our team. Everything is going good and we have to keep our momentum up and make sure things are going well.”

Marks started the season with just one full-time crew member, Jesse Lentz. The duo was competing against teams who had three full-time crew members. Just before his win at Wilmot, Marks hired a second crew member, Dallas Schott, who joined the team the week after that race. 

“It’s always been important to have more than one crew member,” explained Marks. “With all the rainouts happening earlier in the year, I wanted to get someone sooner, but we just couldn’t. It’s been really helpful to have a second crew member. It takes pressure off me and lets me concentrate on important things throughout the day, rather than just worrying about getting things ready. Jesse (Lentz) and I were working super hard and having Dallas (Schott) come aboard has taken pressure off me and Jesse as well.”

Marks has had an uncanny knack for passing cars at-will in feature events this season. In fact, he has passed more cars than any other driver in main events this season, 220 and counting, through August 25. Last weekend, in the box score, he lost two spots from his starting position at Big Sky Speedway, but actually passed more cars than anyone, after having a flat tire in the early going and having to restart at the tail of the field. Marks also leads the series with nine KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Awards, which goes to the driver who passes the most cars, relative to their starting spot in the A-Feature each night.

“We work on the car throughout the night and come feature time, we just seem to be really good,” stated Marks. “We just need to work on the beginning of the night a little bit. I actually hired Jim Shuttleworth out of Pennsylvania for a part-time deal the rest of this year and possibly next year to crew chief our car. I am hoping that working with him will improve our night early on and we can be better in time trials and start up front more. When we do have those nights where we get in the dash and get in position, we are right there in the hunt every single time for a win. We just need to make that happen on a consistent basis.”

Marks is one of four owner/drivers following the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series full-time time. In addition to driving, he also has to handle the business side of the team, which can be a full-time job in itself. He relies on a strong group of partners to help the operation make it up and down the road.

“It’s hard, especially with all the rain this year,” said Marks, when asked about owning his own team. “We missed a lot of races. When we are not racing we still have bills to pay. It’s a lot of stress, but I try to surround myself with the best people I can to take that stress away. All of my partners are awesome. We just have to make sure everyone is happy and everyone is staying involved and we’ll be okay.”