The tale of the Truex family begins on the shorelines of Jersey. Martin Truex Sr., born in 1958, had grown to step his legs in two fields: that of fishing and racing. Along with his brother, Martin Sr. built a seafood business in the 1980s that today stands tall in the name of Sea Watch International. On the track at the same time [1989-1998], he was known as the local hero who raced in the Busch North Series.
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Despite Martin Sr.’s deep-found love for racing, he had to give it up to facilitate the career of Martin Jr. who’d found his wavelength to match with speed as a youngster in go-karts. Using the family’s dwindling wealth and the resources of Sea Watch, Martin Sr. built the youngster’s racing career into the Busch Series and then further into NASCAR, where Martin Truex Jr. was put under the watchful eyes of Dale Earnhardt Inc.
July 9, 1994: Martin Truex Sr. won one Busch North race in his career, but his win at New Hampshire was a big one: on live TV and the highest-paying event of the year. pic.twitter.com/FABpf0FfKl
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) July 9, 2023
Following Martin Jr.’s legacy growing steadily through the years, his brother Ryan Truex followed in his footsteps and got into racing as well. 31-year-old Ryan drives part-time in the Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing today and has also won the ARCA Menards Series East championship twice.
But the tryst with racing does not end with these three drivers for the family.
The late Leroy “Barney” Truex, is the brother of Martin Sr. and the co-founder of Sea Watch International, a seafood harvesting and processing business. Though he was acclaimed much in this profession, Barney’s true passion lay behind the wheel of race cars. The 1980s saw him race in NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour and on tracks at the Wall Stadium, Pocono, Martinsville, and New Egypt. Martin Jr.’s cousins, Curtis Truex Jr. and Tyler Truex, are drivers in late-model racing.
The Truex brothers joined an elite list of NASCAR family records in 2023
In May 2023, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan both won their respective races in the Cup Series and the Xfinity Series at the Dover International Motor Speedway on the same weekend. By doing so, they joined a select few like the Busch brothers, Kurt and Kyle, in sweeping a race weekend.
Patting his brother’s back after his win in the Wurth 400, the 2017 Cup Series champion said, “It’s just special, you know. This is a special place. Good day for my family and to see Ryan win Saturday he’s worked so hard for so long to get good opportunities and it’s awesome.” He added, “Pretty cool to do that and get added to that list of brothers that have swept the weekend.”
Martin Sr. will no doubt be beaming with pride over how far his sacrifices have come in creating a legacy for the family name.
