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Jerry Marquis Looking forward to Wall's Auto/S&F Crane Service 150

14 August 1997

                    Star Looks Better For Marquis


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ENFIELD, Conn. -- There is probably no one looking more forward to the
Wall's Auto/S&F Crane Service 150 at Star Speedway in Epping, N.H. on
August 16 than Jerry Marquis. He is the race's defending champion, and
a confirmed lover of short track racing.

"Considering my experience and success on the quarter-milers around New 
England, I'm really looking forward to a great run at Star with the 
Ski-Doo/O'Connor GMC Chevrolet. I love these bullrings," said Marquis.

But, the last outing at a bullring, Thunder Road International
Speedbowl, was not very kind to Marquis and his team. He was forced
off the third turn, and caught a retaining wall head on, doing severe
damage to the race car, but none to himself.

"Well, that's one of the things about racing on these tracks...things
happen awfully fast. There is action on every part of the race track
at just about every moment, and I consider that to be a great
challenge for a driver. On some of the bigger tracks, you often have a
second or two to consider your options, but on a quarter-mile track
your instincts and automatic reactions take over," said Marquis
adding, "...and they had better be right."

Marquis has good reason to maintain a soft spot in his heart for the
bullrings of New England, for it was at the quarter-mile tracks such
as Riverside Park and Monadnock that Marquis drove to the 1991 NASCAR
Winston Racing Series Northeast Region Championship.

"I'm one driver who is hoping that they never take the quarter-mile
tracks off either the NASCAR Busch North Series or the NASCAR
Featherlite Modified Tour schedules. Beside the fact that they are the
roots for both series, they are a real blast to drive in any sort of
race car," said Marquis.

Will the setbacks from his last bullring outing weigh heavily on
Marquis' mind when he straps himself in at Star?

"You can't let things bother you. When we get to Star, we'll be loaded
for bear, just the same as we are everywhere we go. That is the way
team owners Mike and Pam O'Connor want it. That's the way Bob Howe and
the rest of the guys on the team want it," said Marquis.

And you can bet that Marquis wouldn't have it any other way, either.