|
About Xtreme - The Whole Story
The Artist - Marvin K. Jurgens is a retired 20 year veteran of the
U.S. Navy and a jack of all trades. Besides being
an artist, drawing and painting since he was a little kid, he is also a photographer, a computer tech,
a web designer and a webmaster. As a web designer he has designed many sites. Check out all his many talents, older artworks and other things about him check out
Marv Central.
Here's Marv on his 8th birthday in 1962 when he got his first model,
which gives him a street cred of around 46 years experience
building models.
In the Beginning
I have loved racing since I was a little kid. All through the 60's my Dad sponsored and crewed for Leroy Watson, he was my Dad's best friend. We lived in Fremont, NE., which is
about 50 miles from Omaha. Dad also painted Lyle Roscha's car, another friend of his. They both raced at Sunset Speedway in Omaha, NE., so we spent many a Saturday night during
the summers there. Dad always took me in the pits with him after the races when he went to talk with his racin' buddies.
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Leroy Watson's car |
|
Dad with Lyle Roscha's car |
|
Sunset Speedway
Program |
My Ozarks racing experiences began around 1987 when my Sister and her family moved down here and I got out of the Navy for a couple years. She took me and Dad to I-44 Speedway
which was the only one she knew of at that time. We went there a couple times after that, I got married to my current wife and worked at Tracker Marine in Lebanon for a couple
years until they laid me off in '89. I then went back in the Navy and retired in '96. In 1997 Dallas County Speedway opened up and we all thought that was the coolest little
track and it was close by since we lived in Urbana at that time and I was working overnights at Wal-Mart in Lebanon. I finished my computer tech classes and graduated with
honors in '98 and so I thought it was time to use that. After several years of trying to improve my work and financial status by trying out several on the road computer installation
jobs, I found it wasn't working and also found that the job market was starting to suck for a person of my age. Wal-Mart wouldn't (and still won't) take me back because I quit,
went back and quit again, while trying to do the high dollar computer work.
I started to go to the races with my Uncle Milton at Wheatland Raceway and Dallas County Speedway in 2002 and I had this idea in the back of my mind to paint these racing
plaques. My Uncle and I thought it was a good idea and since we had become friends with Chuck and Lisa Dobson, who at that time were running Wheatland Raceway, I made up an
example plaque and showed it to Lisa one night when we were buying our admission tickets. She thought it was a great idea and she started all this off by ordering one for her
husband. She also told several friends resulting in more orders and it pretty much took off from there.
Not being much of salesman myself, my Uncle helped me with that quite a bit in the beginning, even though he thought I was too kind hearted for giving some things away for
charity, promotion, friends/family gifts and sponsorship. I needed to name this hobby/business and I also figured I needed a website. I had been interested in website work
since I retired from the Navy and during my off time while working at Wal-Mart I was teaching myself HTML (the webpage language code). It took 2 years to build
Power Surfers, a 200 page directory for, well, everything. So
any how, I named the business "Race Car Drivers on Wood" and build a website for it. That name didn't stick very long, the more I thought about it,
the more lame I thought it
was, so, by the next year I renamed it "Woodworx Racing Plaques". Did pretty well the first full year, made 75 plaques. My Uncle did the woodwork in the beginning cause he
wanted to be involved. He cut and routered the plaques and I paid him $3.00 a plaque, which is what I was paying else where, but meant I didn't have to drive to Springfield
every time I needed supplies. Old age is catching him now days, so I do it all now. The next year I started making clocks also. The best year I,ve had was 2004, made 122
plaques, if you look at my list of plaques (which is divided by year) you can
see how the economy has tanked.
2006 came along and I decided to be a hot shot and see if I could built a model replica of a local guys stock car. I had a Buick Regal which I had made into a kind of anonnomus
stock car, so I decided to make David Hendrix Monte Carlo cause he was hot that year and had a great lookin' car. So I tore down one of the NASCAR cars I had built that on my
shelf, stole the rollcage, seat and wheels out of it, built the car, painted it and it looked real good and real close to the real thing. Took it that week to I-44, David was
racin' somewhere else that week, but I carried it around the pits and had a crowd following me around or coming up to me to see if I could make their car. So, needless to say,
that took off quick and is still going pretty strong. It's kind of weird how the highest priced thing I make is the most desireable thing to most people. Anyway, with replica
sales taking off and since it's not only wood products any more, I figured a new business name wasin order. I saw something with Xtreme on it and I liked that, so the biz
became "Xtreme Racing Collectibles".
Most of you in the area know me and the Xtreme name these days, you know the quality of my work, in my collectibles and even my websites which most of you know. I always hear
good things from everyone about my stuff and even though there have a few problems, you know I will work until it's right. I'm glad you appreciate my one-of-a-kind collectibles
and I thank and appreciate all my customers and friends for all the work and fun. See you at the races!
This site designed and maintained by Cyber Candy Media ®.
Website and all artworks contained within Copyright © Marvin K. Jurgens - All Rights Reserved.
All referenced brand and product names are trademarks,
registered trademarks or service marks of their respective holders.
| |
|
