[title subtitle=”words: Don Lower
Images: courtesy Mark Martin Museum”][/title]
Former NASCAR driver Mark Martin, the fifty-seven-year-old from Batesville, Arkansas, and father of five, enjoyed a phenomenal career that saw him compete at his sport’s highest level for more than three decades (1981-2013).
It all started when Mark persuaded his father, Julian, to build him a racecar in 1973. At the tender age of fifteen, on April 12, 1974, Mark drove that racecar in his first stock car race at a small dirt track in Locust Grove, Arkansas.
Mark finished his first season by winning the most significant race in his division, the Arkansas State Championship, which was held at the Benton Speed Bowl.
Seven years later, Mark made it to NASCAR series racing. The first few years there were many ups and downs, but he held his own and then some on NASCAR venues nationwide, while taking the checkered flag forty times. He navigated through incredibly high speeds reaching as high as 200mph in racecars powered by V8 engines, and amassed 453 Top 10 finishes.
Now, just a couple of years after running his final lap in NASCAR, Mark keeps busy in his hometown and motor-homing around the country with his wife, Arlene. “I’m helping keep up with things around the house,” Mark says of how he spends time at his home in Batesville, a city of about 10,000 residents that is located eighty miles northeast of Little Rock. “I do things like take the trash out and keep my cars clean. I stay really busy.”
When he first turned onto retirement road, for a little while he didn’t do much and really didn’t even know what life would be like after racing. “I haven’t been to a (NASCAR) race since,” he says. “I do go to some dirt track and late model races in Arkansas with my friend Lance Landers. His son is in racing.
“I do watch the races, but it doesn’t kill me to miss them. I keep up with it on Twitter. But, now I’m just doing a lot of family things, the kinds of things I wasn’t able to do for forty years.”
While he insists he doesn’t miss racing at all, Batesville’s native son says throughout his storied career there wasn’t anything more satisfying than seeing his car’s number at the top of the electronic scoreboard. “Fortunately for me, I was able to win a few races,” Mark says. “They are all hard to win, so they’re all special in their own way. I just don’t pick favorites.”
Mark’s first-ever NASCAR victory was in 1989 at the AC Delco 500 in Rockingham. His final victory was twenty years later in 2009 at the Sylvania 300 in New Hampshire. Both races are sure to be among those he describes as “special in their own way.”
Perhaps the best example of just how consistent Mark was during his entire NASCAR career is his five, second-place finishes in the overall final season standings (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2009).
Mark is humbled at being fortunate enough to live a dream. And the famous racecar driver with his roots still deeply embedded in north central Arkansas says he was fortunate to work with a lot of smart and good people, with sponsors who allowed him to compete on that level. “I gave it everything I had, I kept blinders on and worked tirelessly. When I decided to retire, I was ready to quit racing.”
One of Mark’s long-time peers, Jeff Gordon, officially retired from NASCAR racing at the end of 2015. Mark had nothing but high praise for Jeff, saying he changed NASCAR racing forever. Mark adds, “He was tremendous for the sport and had amazing success all the way through.”
Another former fellow NASCAR driver, Kyle Busch, overcame a devastating leg injury last year to win the overall championship in 2015. “After what happened to him and then to see him fight to come back is an amazing story,” says Mark.
When it comes to putting on his prognosticator’s cap and speculating who might be the next Gordon or six-time champion Jimmy Johnson of NASCAR, Mark politely declines. Instead he indicates that it’s hard to say because the sport is full of so much tremendous talent, adding that everybody is capable of achieving great success from a driver’s standpoint and suggests it’s fickle who has success and doesn’t from one year to the next. Mark says, “I’m a guy who doesn’t talk in philosophy. I’d just really have to say success at that level is hard to predict and judge.
“Somehow or another it’s hard to outwork the other guy, so you have to outthink them.” Mark managed to outthink and outwork many of his fierce competitors time and time again, over the course of a truly remarkable run, when he claimed four championships on the American Speed Association tour, zoomed to victory in five International Race of Champions events and recorded sixteen Top 10 finishes in the overall final season standings from 1988-2006.
All the incredible memories of a lifetime aside, he insists he couldn’t be any happier than he is right now.
In retirement, Mark is grateful he can share his many accomplishments in racing with fans across the country. He is able to bring it all to life right in his hometown and invites everyone to make Batesville a destination for the Mark Martin Museum, which offers free admission.
His state-of-the-art museum, which is open Monday through Friday from eight to six and Saturday from nine to five, features several of his past cars, including the No. 6 Viagra Coca-Cola 600 race winning car, 1990 Folgers Thunderbird, No. 60 Winn Dixie Busch vehicle that he drove to victory in his record fifth IROC title and 1989 Stroh’s Thunderbird.
A variety of memorabilia is also on display, including several of Mark’s race helmets and fire suits, along with personal photo albums, as well as thousands of pictures and newspaper articles that showcase his climb to NASCAR legendary status.
Mark is extremely proud of the museum. He’s also proud of all that he and his racing team were able to accomplish.
