Soccer Playing, Dirt Kicking Warrior

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Wednesday, 29 July 2009 12:39 Cameron McNamara

I visited Thunderbird Raceway for the first on July 18th and got to watch a great night of racing. In addition to normal full race card of UMP sanctioned racing, there was the added special event of Mud Trucks and Auto X.

During the UMP Warriors feature race, I noticed a small green & yellow Ford pulling out onto the track. It was really small compared to the other cars, and the driver looked even smaller. Following the feature, I went into the pits to learn more about this car and its driver.

Shortly after climbing out of his No. 8 after finishing 11th, I got to talk with the driver, Troy Marciniak Jr. He is only 12 years old and barely tops out over four and a half feet tall.

Troy said "I just started racing last week." Troy finished 10th last week in his first night out. He went on to say "I drive a Ford Aspire." The car was built by his father, Troy Marcinaik, who drives the No. 8 UMP Modified at Thunderbird. They had to custom modify the seat mount so he could reach the wheel and the pedals at the same time.

Marciniak Jr was quick to thank those who helped him race "I'd like to thank my dad and my grandfather, my mom and and my grandma", Troy is quite proud of his Dad, even including him at the top of his list of competitors he most admires.

In addition to racing, Troy Jr. is a big fan of soccer and listed it among his favorite non-racing activities.

In the feature race, the No. 8 started near the back and spun out on lap 3 after driving a little too deep into turns 3 and 4. After that, the rookie driver seemed to take a more cautious approach towards the rest of the race. He finished the race (which some of the other UMP Warriors couldn't say) and got some more valuable seat time.

Troy said "I had a good day and took home a working car" and that's the whole point really isn't it !

This driver profile was written by Cameron McNamara, 14 years of age and is his first article published in the MARC Times Racing News & Michigan Racing Scene. Cameron is the son of publisher Patrick McNamara. Cam will be spending more time this summer at the track, meeting young drivers and doing young driver profiles.