When veteran racer Justin Marks first launched a conceptual motorsports operation called ‘Trackhouse’ during the summer of 2020, it was really easy to dismiss it as too unorthodox and overly ambitious for what the NASCAR Cup Series was to that point.
After all, new team owners have come and gone in recent years and very few of them stood the test of time. Fewer still enjoyed any kind of success, immediate or otherwise, and Marks had neither an ownership charter nor a comparable infrastructure to the established NASCAR heavyweights.
All it had that first season was a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing and Daniel Suárez as its first driver approaching the promise of a complete reset with the NextGen car in 2022.
As it turns out, connections are everything as Suárez is what eventually connected Marks to pop culture icon Armando ‘Pitbull’ Pérez through a mutual friend in Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Domit. They hit it off and Trackhouse is one of the most rapidly expanding brands in both motorsports and entertainment.
The team has won six Cup Series races, has recently expanded into international competition with a MotoGP entry with additional plans to expand into IndyCar as well. Marks is a co-owner of the CARS Late Model Tour alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton.
Trackhouse Entertainment is the department in which Marks bridges the gaps between sports, pop culture and hospitality and it all truly took off the moment Perez bought into both the vision and the team itself.
This is NASCAR where all the money in the world helps but it needs to be paired with vision and spirit. Speaking to the assembled media prior to the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Perez said it was an underdog spirit that attracted him.
That spirit was embodied by Suárez, its next hire in Ross Chastain, and everyone who told them their concept wasn’t viable.
“Underdogs, one thing we love is a challenge,” Pérez said. “We love when people tell us, ‘no, don’t, won’t, never will happen’ or that you’re ‘crazy, stupid or it’s impossible.’
“Those are words that fuel us. When you take those words and you flip them, can’t becomes can and impossible becomes possible. … So when you bring that mentality to a whole sport (that) is hungry to feed the world and teach different communities and different cultures, then you are in the ultimate world do good and be well.”
That’s what Trackhouse was always about.
Suárez represented the diversity of NASCAR’s next generation of competitors and fans. The team launched with a philosophy around charity and education. Chastain, an eighth-generation watermelon farmer who spent a decade racing for underfunded teams, represented underdogs.
“We’ll forever be underdogs,” Pérez said. “That was a beautiful thing in the beginning. That’s why we fight the way we fight and continue to build the way we build and continue to inspire and motivate others out there.”
Pérez very famously grew to prosperity from poverty.
He is the son of Cuban immigrants, who grew up with nothing, and never graduated high school. So when Pérez talks about underdogs, that’s coming from Armando Christian Pérez and not Pitbull.
“Coming from my community, our culture, and most of the world, to be honest with you, the world loves underdogs,” Perez said. “It’s a blessing to be where we are at but this is just the beginning so it’s an honor to represent Trackhouse, NASCAR and what we do to the whole world.”
For Pérez, that representation has most recently come in the form of a new EP (extended play, which is like a diet album) called Trackhouse, that embodies the spirit of his race team.
Trackhouse is now a two-charter team, with mutually beneficial partnerships with rival teams, and a growing portfolio of corporate sponsorships bought into the holistic vision. From that standpoint, Pérez says the sky is the limit.
He says Trackhouse has made history and will continue to, all the while staying true to the underdog spirit.
“I don’t say this to blow smoke up anybody but Trackhouse is the most phenomenal organization,” he said. “This is the truth. Partners, solid, punctual, accountable, reliable and everything you look for in a team. That’s why I feel so strong about where we are at.
“I’ve learned from our team, how they move, how they study and deal with each other.
“That’s what a partnership is about. How we make each other better. I don’t ever want to be in a room with a bunch of know-it-alls. Like they say, if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room, and I want to be in the room that allows for improvement.”
That’s what this is about for Pérez, relishing in the growth that has transpired while aspiring towards the growth to come.
“I’m a fan of first, with music and with NASCAR,” Pérez said. “I love to learn. I love to grown. And that’s what makes this exciting and to be around it all.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.