Marnell rebuilds

Thursday, April 5, 2001 | 10:37 a.m.

Through his Las Vegas-based masonry business, George Marnell has been intimately involved in building most of the mega-resorts that have sprouted along The Strip during the past two decades.

Since last fall, the 50-year-old Las Vegas resident has undertaken perhaps his most ambitious project to date -- but it has nothing to do with concrete blocks and mortar.

Marnell, who has been competing in the National Hot Rod Association's Pro Stock category since 1993, is attempting to build his racing operation into one that can deliver his first victory in a national event.

Marnell, who will be competing in this weekend's SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, made the decision last fall to rededicate himself to his racing program.

"I took a real hard look at our program toward the end of last year and I said, 'Either I have to go do something else or I have to step up the program,' and I decided we are going to step up the program," Marnell said.

"We hired Greg Anderson as crew chief, we changed engine programs, we have a brand-new car and lots of good parts and I think it's showing."

It appears as if Marnell's operation finally is on a solid foundation. After struggling for much of last year, Marnell has qualified in the top 16 and advanced to the Sunday final eliminations in each of the past three events.

"I am real happy with the way the season is going so far," he said. "We started off a little bit behind in Pomona; we had an engine problem early on and didn't really discover it until the last qualifying session. We got the motor switched out and then we got rained out on our last session so we were (18th), so we barley missed the show.

"Since then, we've hooked with Reher-Morrison on an engine program and they are doing a great job of supplying us with the horsepower and we're getting this new Pontiac Grand Am dialed in."

Marnell, who was the 10th-fastest qualifier two weeks ago in Houston, would like nothing more than to have a good showing this weekend in his hometown. Last year, Marnell failed to advance to the Sunday show in the inaugural NHRA national event in Las Vegas.

"I was real disappointed after last year to be perfectly honest with you," Marnell said. "It was a tough deal for me because I really wanted to race in front of my hometown folks and show people what we do and how we do it and show that we're competitive with the world's best drag racers -- which I feel we are.

"I don't think there is a guy out there that we can't beat on any given day; we just have to do a better job in order to win races and that's what we have been working toward.

"In Pro Stock, the cars are so close that anything can happen on race days and as long as we're in the show, I think that we have as good a shot at winning this thing as anybody else."