Story by: Corey Latham ~ [email protected]

Gastonia, NC(January 27, 2011) — Scott Turlington is a veteran of the UARA Late Model series, as his three full years in the series have labeled him as a “veteran” driver.

That may not sound like very long, but when the drivers get younger and younger each year, some not even old enough for a regular drivers license, having experience at various tracks can mean the difference between victory and fifth. Turlington has had good runs with each of his years surpassing the one before, but victory lane on the ultra–competitive tour has eluded him for the time being. With the addition of David Mercer as crew chief for this season, that will likely change…….possibly many times.

Turlington has been one of the mainstays of the tour and undoubtedly the driver who travels the most to participate in the majority of races. The team is based out of Richmond, Virginia and with every race in either North or South Carolina, Tennessee or the western part of Virginia, they have racked up some travel miles over the past three years. With most of the teams, chassis men and shock people located around the Mooresville area, it just made sense for Turlington to ship his cars down South and join forces with Mercer for this season.

With the new partnership with Mercer, Turlington is extremely happy about the 2011 season.

“We actually only got this whole thing finalized last week,” said Turlington. “We started using David last season as he consults with different drivers on setups and it was instant success. I loved the way the car felt and we seemed to get along great, which is a big thing for me.”

Turlington said that he wasn’t even sure if he’d get to race a lot this season, but was glad this deal came together and everything worked out.

“We got to the end of last season and we weren’t exactly sure what we were going to do for 2011, but we got our finances together and decided that David would be the perfect fit if we could get him. He said he was available and it all worked out pretty good. I’m excited about it.”

Scott will continue to utilize his Marlowe Racing Chassis’ with Mercer turning the wrenches and keeping up the cars from Gastonia, NC and admitted it was time to start winning races.

“We are still running a Marlowe chassis and we have another one we are getting together that should be done about three races into the season. The competition will be tough as ever, those young kids that come in along with the veterans are no slouch, but I think that me having experience at all these tracks now should benefit me greatly. People come in with the equipment to do the job, but to get the setup and lines right are a whole different story. We started this whole deal three years ago running mid-pack, then started qualifying better, running better, and this past season consistently finished in the top five, now with the experience in David as crew chief and the equipment we have, it’s time to start winning some races this year.”

Mercer has become a mastermind on setups for the Late Model Stock Cars the past few years, with his cars getting 104 victories and 111 poles, a wad of those coming from his brother, Andy Mercer’s dominance at Hickory Motor Speedway the last three seasons with David turning the wrenches. This is a new deal for Mercer, but he looks forward to the challenge.

“I did some consulting for Scott(Turlington) last year and they called me over the off season and we got things worked out,” said Mercer. “We’re all excited about this deal. I still have other guys I’m doing stuff for and I’ll still be available for them, but it won’t affect anything over on the deal with Scott. It’ll be just like last year, I did the same thing and was the full-time crew chief for Andy. I seem to like wearing many hats, I just appreciate the opportunity to have Scott running full time out of our shop.”

Mercer is sure that what Turlington felt in the few races that they were able to work together in last year is going to help them work better together this season.

“I think a lot of what Scott felt in those few races we did last year is going to bide well this year, he liked what he felt in the car immediately. A lot of my ideology will work for him, I think in what he is looking for in the car. I hope to be the one who can give him his first Late Model Stock win. With me being able to be hands-on each week and to be honest, being teammates with Andy will help a bunch. We have an open book policy with the cars and transfer on info back and forth should help tremendously.”

In recent years we have seen the fruits of Mercer’s labor with many drivers standing in victory lane holding a trophy. Also in recent years we’ve watched Turlington go from being just another face in the crowd to one who can compete for top five finishes. He looks to continue that trend in 2011, the team will accept nothing less this year than victory and with Mercer by his side, Turlington will likely hold a few trophies of his own.