Prelude to a legend—Marcis in the Rod Osterlund 2 car (1978)
Join me throughout this year as I take a look at when some of the sport’s biggest stars drove some unusual cars! (Presented in no particular order).
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| Marcis in Osterlund's car (racing Lennie Pond) |
Why? After a part-time 1977 season with several different teams, Dave Marcis moved to the nearly-new Osterlund Racing team of Californian Rod Osterlund for 1978 (NOTE—Marcis ran a single race for Osterlund in 1977).
How successful were they? Despite running their first full season, Osterlund provided equipment good enough for Marcis to finish fifth in points. The only real blotch on the season was the lack of a race win.
What was the aftermath? While Marcis returned to running his own equipment to progressively worse results, Osterlund would hire a young hot-shoe named Dale Earnhardt, winning the 1980 Cup championship in the process.
Ranking on the Strange-O-Meter? 4 Goodyear hats out of 10—in retrospect the hiring of a seasoned veteran like Marcis was a genius move on Osterlund’s part.
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