Marvin Smith

Marvin Smith was a racecar driver who Drove 360 Sprints from 1987 through 2006 at Cottage Grove Speedway. Besides winning 3 Track Championships, he finished 2nd 5 Times and 3rd twice. He won one Limited Sprint championship racing in this class the last few years of his career. During the 2013 season after a long battle with cancer Marvin passed away surrounded by family.

Following in the footsteps of his father Lowell, who was also a flagger at Cottage Grove Speedway for a period of time, Marvin started his career sharing a car with his brother Dale. Starting in the Stock Car ranks Marvin eventually would get involved with the Sprint Cars in the 1980’s and travel across the Western United States, including running with the Northern Sprint Tour, to some of the biggest races in the country.

Marvin also had the role of car owner on a couple of occasions. He would get involved in Kage Kart racing by purchasing his daughter Kim an entry. In later years Marvin would have his brother Dale drive his Sprint Car. In 2013 he, along with his brother Dale, were inducted into the Cottage Grove Speedway Wall of Fame.

Throughout his career Smith would win a total of sixty-nine features which is second on the all-time win list of the modern era. On July 7th, 2006 he would pull off a rare feat by not only winning the Limited Sprint feature but also the 360 Sprint main event. The final time Marvin would race would be at the Cottage Grove Speedway on July 7th, 2012 for the Scott Bangle Memorial in tribute to his long-time crewman who passed away that year.

During his racing tenure he would have his loyal pit crew standing by him and giving him the best car they could prepare so Marvin could win. In return Marvin never forgot to mention his pit crew members one by one either in victory lane interviews or postseason banquet speeches.