Marty Houston

Marty Houston (born January 7, 1968, in Hickory, North Carolina) is an American former NASCAR driver. His younger brother, Andy and father Tommy Houston have driven in NASCAR as well.

Racing career

Craftsman Truck Series Houston made his debut seven races into the 1999 Craftsman Truck Series season, replacing Lonnie Rush in the famed No. 75 Spears Motorsports Chevy. His first race was at Pikes Peak, where he easily made it into the race with a 13th place starting effort, but his engine blew up and finished 29th midway into the race. Houston could only manage one top-ten in 1999, a sixth at Nazareth, although he did have ten top-20s in nineteen starts.

Despite the struggles in 1999, Houston was invited back for 2000, and Houston made the most of it. Houston came out of the gates leading two laps at the season opener at Daytona and was running in the top-ten when he got caught up in "The Big One." Yet, Houston finished tenth the next race, which proved to be one of ten times in 2000 he would finish in the top-ten. The best was his eventual career best fourth at Kentucky, where he also earned his best career start of third. (He also started third at Phoenix) Perhaps most impressively was his average finish of 14.4. His worst position in 2000 was a pair of 25th-place runs, and finished 12th in points. Houston was noticed by Armando Fitz and got a new ride in the Busch Series for 2001, leaving the No. 75.

Houston did eventually make one more start in 2003, but that was clouded in controversy. Driving a fifth Ultra Motorsports Dodge in the season ending Ford 200, Houston started 18th and was running on the lead lap when he got loose in Turn 4 on Lap 100. He came down and slammed Brendan Gaughan, who was leading the points standings going into the race and who could've been overtaken by Houston's teammate Ted Musgrave for the championship. The wreck cost Gaughan the series championship and many Gaughan fans felt that Houston had intentionally wrecked Gaughan, though the team emphatically denied it. Gaughan himself was not happy about the wreck, specifically criticizing the fact that Houston was in the race and that Ultra Motorsports had fielded so many trucks in the race.

Busch Series Houston, while driving for Spears Motorsports in 2000, agreed to drive the No. 82 Channellock Chevy in the late stages of the season for Felix Sabates. Houston made his series debut at Rockingham, qualifying in 36th and finished 28th. He had a 32nd at Phoenix, and a 14th-place finish at Homestead.

Sabates sold his team to Armando Fitz in early 2001. He started off with an eventual career-best finish of 13th at Daytona. From there, Houston's season went downhill. In 16 starts, the rookie Houston did not finish five times. In addition, Houston only had four top-20 finishes. Houston had been steadily improving though, as 2001 hit mid-season, but Fitz was not satisfied and Houston was released from the team in favor of Ron Hornaday.

Post-racing career In 2002, Houston had been working on the No. 2 Ultra Motorsports Dodge for three years as tire changer. After the team closed in 2005, Houston went to work as a tire changer for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports on Kraig Kinser's crew.

Motorsports career results NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. Busch Series NASCAR Busch Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Pts Ref 2000 SABCO Racing 82 Chevy DAY CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEX NSV TAL CAL RCH NHA CLT DOV SBO MYB GLN MLW NZH PPR GTY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR28 MEM PHO32 HOM14 75th 267 2001 Fitz Motorsports 11 Chevy DAY13 CAR42 LVS36 ATL33 DAR20 BRI14 TEX25 NSH23 TAL37 CAL32 RCH38 NHA30 NZH25 CLT32 DOV17 KEN21 MLW GLN CHI GTY PPR IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM PHO CAR HOM 37th 1294

Craftsman Truck Series NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 1999 Spears Motorsports 75 Chevy HOM PHO EVG MMR MAR MEM PPR29 I7026 BRI23 TEX26 PIR12 GLN21 MLW23 NSV13 NZH6 MCH21 NHA21 IRP20 GTY32 HPT20 RCH20 LVS13 LVL20 TEX17 CAL20 23rd 1958 2000 DAY18 HOM10 PHO21 MMR22 MAR19 PIR9 GTY25 MEM17 PPR10 EVG25 TEX7 KEN4 GLN17 MLW6 NHA10 NZH19 MCH8 IRP13 NSV18 CIC20 RCH14 DOV7 TEX19 CAL8 12th 2942 2003 Ultra Motorsports 10 Dodge DAY DAR MMR MAR CLT DOV TEX MEM MLW KAN KEN GTW MCH IRP NSH BRI RCH NHA CAL LVS SBO TEX MAR PHO HOM30 121st 73

Winston West Series NASCAR Winston West Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts Ref 2000 Spears Motorsports 75 Chevy PHO MMR9 LVS CAL LAG IRW POR EVG IRW RMR MMR IRW 51st 138

Goody's Dash Series NASCAR Goody's Dash Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Pts Ref 1997 N/A 3 Toyota DAY HOM KIN MYB LAN CAR TRI FLO HCY BRI GRE SNM CLT MYB LAN SUM STA HCY USA CON HOM 96th 19 1998 N/A 11 Ford DAY HCY CAR CLT TRI LAN BRI SUM GRE ROU SNM MYB CON HCY LAN STA LOU VOL USA HOM 79th 109