While area fast food restaraunts have put good-luck messages on their marquees, and other local businesses have painted their windows, ML Motorsports took its support of the Warsaw Community High School boys basketball team to the national stage - and at heart-pounding speeds.
For the Feb. 27 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the March 20 race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Warsaw-based NASCAR Nationwide Series team displayed a black vinyl decal on the decklid of the No. 70 Chevy driven by Shelby Howard that read "Go Warsaw Win State.""It was our way of showing support for the Tigers, and a way to bring national exposure to a basketball town like Warsaw and a basketball state like Indiana," said ML Motorsports crew member Jeremy Marsh, a 1993 WCHS grad and former Tiger Basketball player himself. "The community has really embraced this team and we want the players and coaches and everyone involved with the team to know that we're behind them."
The Class 4A No. 6 Tigers (23-2) will play third-ranked Indianapolis North Central (24-3) for the state championship Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis at approximately 8:30 p.m.
As a junior, Marsh played on the Al Rhodes-coached 1992 team that advanced to the state finals in the one-class tournament format. When Marsh was a senior, the Tigers were 12-9 in the regular season, but put it all together in the state tournament and made a magical run to the semistate championship game.
The lessons of hard work and teamwork are ones he still uses today while working for the ML Motorsports race team.
"Everybody has a role, and everybody has to do their thing," said Marsh, who wore jersey No. 41 and was nicknamed "The Rifelman" for his ability to come off the bench and hit three-pointers. "The race team is just like the basketball team, we have to work hard and work as a team."
Marsh said he sees those qualities in this year's Doug Ogle-coach WCHS basketball team.
"With Nic (Moore), they have a great player, but everyone else has bought into their role and they really play very well together as a team," said Marsh. "This is a fun team to watch."
Marsh, who is a season ticket holder and attends the games with his wife Erin and children Nick, Blake and Emma, said he will have the same decals on the windows of his van this weekend as he and his family go to the state championship game and cheer on the Tigers.
"When I was younger, my grandpa Lester Davis took us to the state finals whether Warsaw was playing or not," said Marsh. "My family was really into it. To be able to go down to Indy Saturday and cheer for the Tigers in the state championship game is pretty special. I hope they win it."
