{"id":14575,"date":"2018-02-08T23:10:51","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T05:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=14575"},"modified":"2018-02-12T14:18:21","modified_gmt":"2018-02-12T20:18:21","slug":"mountain-climber-justin-marks-prepared-to-summit-high-banks-of-daytona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/08\/mountain-climber-justin-marks-prepared-to-summit-high-banks-of-daytona\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain climber Justin Marks prepared to summit high banks of Daytona"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Justin Marks<\/strong> is preparing to make his Daytona 500 debut on Feb. 18 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX) and as far as first-timers go, there may be no driver more prepared for this great step in his career.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Justin Marks. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

It is one of many great steps \u2013 figuratively and literally \u2013 Marks has made\u2026and will make. This year, he\u2019ll take the green flag for the Daytona 500. Next year, he hopes to plant a flag near the summit of Mount Everest.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old may well be NASCAR\u2019s version of \u201cThe Most Interesting Man in the World.\u201d<\/p>\n

Typically, people find race car drivers bold and adventurous. In this case, the race car drivers find Marks the one who is bold and adventurous.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s insane to me,\u2019\u2019 NASCAR driver Kyle Larson said of his good friend Marks’ pursuit of the world\u2019s tallest mountain. \u201cWe fly airplanes at 35,000 feet in the air and that Everest peak is what, 29,000 feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really fascinating and neat to know someone who\u2019s going to attempt to climb Mount Everest one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe when you get more involved in the mountain climbing you don\u2019t think it\u2019s as crazy as it is.  But from the outside looking in\u2026I mean there\u2019s no roll cage up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Justin Marks, driver of the #51 HARRY’S Chevrolet, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Only a month ago, Marks was climbing Aconcagua in the Andes Mountains \u2013 reaching 21,900 feet, just a few hundred feet short of a stormy summit, unsafe to venture in those conditions. And that experience was literally days before arriving in Daytona Beach to race an Acura in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been kind of crazy,\u2019\u2019 Marks conceded with a slight laugh. \u201cI was preseason testing at the Roar [Before the 24] the first week of January. I drove the first session on Friday, the first time I\u2019d been in that IMSA car, then got out of the race car and went straight to my rental car and drove to the Orlando Airport. Then I flew 18 hours to Mendoza, Argentina, then drove three hours up into Provincial Park and took a helicopter to base camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I was in base camp like 24 hours after driving the [Acura] NSX at Daytona. So been kinda crazy.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

And the frenetic pace only continues for Marks, who will drive the No. 51 Chevrolet Camaro for Rick Ware Racing in conjunction with Premium Motorsports in the Daytona 500. The team \u2013 which is also fielding a car for Danica Patrick \u2013 has a guaranteed starting spot as Rick Ware Racing has leased a charter.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it\u2019s a dream, a bucket list thing,\u2019\u2019 Marks said. \u201cI\u2019ve been racing for 20 years and I\u2019m kinda like at the point where I want to do these amazing races that are the flagship events in the sport I love.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to make a race a few years ago and missed it. I\u2019ve tried to get back ever since and it\u2019s the Daytona 500. It\u2019s the biggest event in our sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember I went there as a kid, I watched on TV, I remember ditching school in eighth grade to go watch the Gatorade Duels. So being a part of it is a huge deal. I\u2019m in a good car with a good group of people and we\u2019ll be well prepared for the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m just going to do the best job that I can but also just try to soak up as much of the experience as possible because I\u2019m doing it because I love our sport and it\u2019s a tremendous event in our sport, a bucket list item for me.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

It will be Marks fourth career start in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and second superspeedway green flag. Marks owns a NASCAR Xfinity Series trophy, won on a rainy Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course driving for Chip Ganassi in 2016.<\/p>\n

And while Marks said he still hopes to compete in several NASCAR events in 2018, he will be competing full-time in IMSA driving the No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 for Michael Shank Racing. For the driver who currently calls northern California home, it will be the first full season of racing since 2010 when he competed in the ARCA Series, winning at Palm Beach, Fla. and earning a pole position and 13 top-10 finishes in 20 races.<\/p>\n

Racing for Marks has been a diverse and very personal pursuit \u2013 as you may expect from someone who has shown us all how great the rewards are when you dare to dream big.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s had very successful businesses that way and his racing endeavors have been successful as well,\u2019\u2019 his friend Larson explained. \u201cHe\u2019s kind of had some things he dreams about and wants to do. And does them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter he won the Xfinity race at Mid-Ohio we were talking and he was like, \u2018I\u2019ve always dreamed of climbing Mount Everest some day and I\u2019m going to go train for it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really cool someone can be involved in that many different things and then go out and do it. He\u2019s definitely a role model to a lot of people.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Marks concedes that he\u2019s always been a \u201cthink big\u201d type of person. The first triathlon he entered was an Ironman. The first running race he competed in wasn\u2019t a local 10K, it was an ultra-marathon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think for me, I\u2019ve never been very good at doing anything in mediocrity at all,\u2019\u2019 Marks said. \u201cAnything I\u2019ve ever wanted to do or had any desire to do, I always envision doing it as aggressively as possible, pushing it as far as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, of course, Mount Everest is a logical goal for Marks. He has been training, in a sense, for years and upped the focus and physical challenge in the last year as he begins a true push to summit the world\u2019s tallest mountain.<\/p>\n

The mindset necessary to accomplish this is interesting, compelling and crucial. It is what separates those of us who might dream of climbing Everest and those, like Marks, who actually plan to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a unique challenge, such a mental challenge,\u2019\u2019 Marks said. \u201cIt\u2019s a mental challenge going through these long training runs and training for months and months before you even go to the mountain then challenging when you\u2019re on the mountain. Not only is it challenging to climb and the physical work, but it\u2019s hard just being there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to go through the daily routine of life – cooking food, packing, moving camp and inventorying, of rationing clean clothes and trying to keep everything dry, just everything else besides the climbing – that\u2019s all hard work too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible challenge keeping your stuff organized, keeping yourself motivated mentally and then compartmentalizing any kind of uncomfortableness or fear you have. It\u2019s unlike anything I\u2019ve ever done.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Marks says the preparation for racing \u2013 even in IMSA\u2019s grueling endurance races such as the Rolex 24 or 12 Hours of Sebring \u2013 benefits from his Everest training.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy training program has basically been 100 percent focused on climbing knowing that, as a caveat, the fitness I build will help me in a race car,\u2019\u2019 Marks said. \u201cFor example, last year, I went down to Ecuador to climb volcanoes. I was training for that for about four months and my training was peaking at the time I drove the 12 Hours of Sebring. I felt better in the race car in that race than I almost have ever felt in my life. So I knew the training I was doing for mountains carried over to the car.\u201d<\/p>\n

So last month Marks was heading toward a mountain summit. In the next week, he will push toward a racing goal \u2013 competing in NASCAR\u2019s biggest event, the Daytona 500. Mount Everest, he\u2019s coming your way next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people are into it, a lot are living kind of vicariously through it because it\u2019s adventure,\u2019\u2019 Marks acknowledged of the interest in his climbing. <\/p>\n

“I think everybody kind of has it in them, everybody has a desire to do something, especially in the racing community which is such a unique life for all of us anyway.<\/p>\n

“A lot of people \u2018get it.\u2019 They\u2019re enthralled by it because they\u2019re all kind of adventurous people. But a lot more people follow it than I thought would, so that\u2019s made it important to me to share as much as I can on social media as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m lucky because I have a tremendously understanding wife that lets me go and do this stuff, which is a big part of it. Everybody thinks it\u2019s really cool.”<\/p>\n

It is a strong lesson in what seizing the day can mean \u2013 and that\u2019s an idea that any of us can appreciate and learn from.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will tell you, setting these big, audacious goals and then training for them and pushing yourself outside your comfort zone like that, it really changes your perspective on a lot of things in life,\u2019\u2019 Marks said. \u201cI mean, when you go through an experience like that [climbing a mountain], it makes a lot more in life appear attainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at things and say, \u2018that\u2019s a dream\u2019 or \u2018that\u2019s a goal\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019d love to do that some day.\u2019 For me, personally, going through the process of mountain climbing, I look at all those things not as dreams, goals or \u201csome days\u201d but just as something I can go work for.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just work – making the decision rather than dreaming about it or hanging a picture on the wall. It\u2019s just a matter of thinking about it methodically, of saying I want to go do that so I\u2019ll figure out what the process is.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou stop thinking about it, and just do it. \u2018\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Justin Marks is preparing to make his Daytona 500 debut on Feb. 18 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX) and as far as first-timers go, there may be no driver more prepared for this great step in his career. It is one of many great steps \u2013 figuratively […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[318,16],"class_list":["post-14575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-justin-marks","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Marks-2018MENCS-CarShot.jpg?fit=4098%2C2803&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3N5","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14578,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14575\/revisions\/14578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}