When you are a kid and your Dad is racing with the likes of Rick Goudy, Bobby Olivero and Bruce Walkup, it is easy to get hooked on racing. Dwayne knew from an early age that he wanted to follow in their footsteps, but didn’t start a racing career until after completing high school, where the sporting activity of choice was baseball. Finally in 1987, Marcum began driving a USAC Midget, the New York Seltzer Special, which gained him the nickname of “Soda Pop Kid”, on both pavement and dirt. From 1988 to 1994, Dwayne ran his own car and then moved over to wheel the Bob Marcus Midget in 1995 through 97, scoring a top ten finish at Turkey Night. During the 1998 and 99 seasons Marcum ran the full USAC Midget schedule for Ed Crouteau and didn’t miss a show, including Turkey Night, finishing in the top ten of season points. 2000 and 2001 found Marcum at the wheel of the Chris Walker Midget. Dwayne also ran some USAC sprint shows in 1997 and competed with the VRA Sprints, driving for Fred Thompson for a couple of years.

During the 2003 season, Marcum made connections with Jim and Petie Ruth, their son, Jim Jr. and his girlfriend, Renee. After working out a program suitable to all, the #25 began running at Perris, but during the Oval Nationals, Dwayne had a nasty crash in turn three, which not only destroyed the car, but caused him some nagging injuries.

With the off-season to recuperate, it was time to plan for 2004. Dwayne secured a new “state of the art” Stinger Chassis and slid the Ruth’s new Raney engineered 410 bullet into place. When they unloaded on opening night at Perris, many teams took time to check out some of the new innovations of this beautifully prepared blue and white #25 sprinter.

For the next couple of races, the team dialed in the new car with a lot of help from Richard Harvey Sr. from Stinger Chassis. While running in the “A” Main at Hanford, a sudden puff of smoke signaled an engine problem. The team missed a race or two, but was able to secure another engine to return to the wars. Marcum exhibited steady improvement, now with a better handling car and increased horsepower in the engine, making it to the “A” features and showing a willingness to take it to the top and drive around some of the competition.

The crew consists of Chief-Jim Ruth Jr., Charles Marcum, Jim’s girlfriend, Renee, Jay, Bruce Rueter and Alisa. Sponsors helping to keep the team on the track are Tribal Motorsports, Clovis Collision & Customs, Hudson Collision & Customs, Anchor Nuts & Bolts, Financial Achievements, Sign-A-Rama, Raney Racing Engines, Bruce Rueter, R&D Finishing, Jerry Welton. Special thanks go to Stinger Chassis for setting up the new car and especially to Jim and Petie Ruth for providing a strong engine. Joe Casillas from Tribal Motorsports and Clovis Collision has provided the funds to keep the team going.

Dwayne lived in Corona and worked for Prudential Overall Supply since 1988. Promoted and transferred to Fresno in 1998, he now is involved in Corporate Sales for the company. Joining Dwayne in Fresno is his fiancé, Alisa Sipes, daughter of longtime Tucson racer, Rick Sipes. Dwayne has two children, Christian, 12 and Alyson, 7 and enjoys his time away from racing and work to play a good round of golf, family activities and traveling. Marcum’s racing goals are to become a respected competitor and possibly go back to the Midwest and race in Sprints and Midgets.

Marcum identifies his racing heroes as Jimmy Sills, Rick Goudy, Bobby Olivero and Sleepy Tripp. His favorite tracks are Calistoga, Tucson Raceway Park, Show Low and Bakersfield.

Over the years, Dwayne says that working with Bob Marcus, Jeff Wahl and Sleepy Tripp along with the help he has received from Glenn and Steve Howard and his younger brother, Jason Yount have been beneficial to his improvement. He gives a special acknowledgement to fiancé, Alisa, who is his biggest supporter and sharpest critic and his Dad, Charles, for keeping him motivated to race over the years.

Stop by after the races at the #25 pits and get to know another of our fine weekly competitors.