Mark Martin: The man, a role model and life teacher

I’ve often stated that I really can’t remember why I when I started watching NASCAR I began to root for Mark Martin. Now, looking back, I see that I made the right choice, not only as a fan of the sport, but I made the right choice as a fan of the man himself.

After he got out of his winning car at Chicago he said, “That was fun. That’s what life’s all about right there.” He followed that comment up with this jewel at Indy on Saturday. “I can promise you one thing: no matter what, there is nobody in NASCAR having more fun than me,” he said, laughing. “I’m sure about that. Ultimately, that’s really what it's about.”

Mark Martin climbed from his car after running the fastest lap in qualifying on Saturday (AP)

In October of 2007, his first part-time season, he was asked about Aric Almirola, the driver with whom he shared the #01 Army car. “I appreciate the patience that he has,” Mark said, continuing with, “Impatience is a real hard thing to deal with and to work with. Impatience is waste of time. It’s a diversion. If you’re impatient, you’re worrying about things you can’t control.”

And to that point in my life, it was the best advice I had ever gotten. Don’t worry about things outside of your control. Mark winning the Brickyard a few days ago? Outside of my control. My car’s engine and transmissions woes on Friday morning, outside of my control. The rain that moved Saturday’s qualifying back? Way outside my control, but remembering Mark’s comments, I took it in stride and made the most of my situations.

Qualifying started four hours late on Saturday due to weather

Mark Martin was always known for being a pessimist. He’s noted that his expectations and perfectionist attitudes made him that way. On Saturday, after claiming his fourth pole of the 2009 season he said, “My expectations were what eventually just ground me into the ground and took the fun out of racing for me. So to be able to be rejuvenated after a couple years of catching my breath, then to have some crazy surge of success that we're experiencing, is beyond my dreams.”

Martin gives his wisdom to the media after qualifying

“I happen to have the same fire and desire that I had 30 years ago. Not everyone, you know, has that. Maybe three years ago I didn't have as much either,” he said. “I had a chance to look at it and say, What I want in life, what do I want out of life, and can I still do this. I think that's a very important question that I asked myself.” There are 50 year old people in America today that ask themselves that question, that look back at their life, at their career, and wonder if they’ve made the right decisions. You could tell from Mark’s genuineness that he’s where he wants to be.

And he’s having fun. I said yesterday that his theme song should have been Hoobstank’s “So Close, Yet So Far,” and in all actuality it could also be Green Day’s, “Good Riddance” (or, as some know it, “I Hope You’ve Had the Time of Your Life”) .

He commented, “At least we are having fun and we’re having success. It’s always fun to beat the odds. I believe that we are beating the odds.”

Mark Martin smiles before getting in his car to run laps at Indy on Friday afternoon

The numerous nuggets of wisdom he provided never ceased to amaze me in that short twenty minutes he spent talking to the media after his pole run on Saturday. His best line—one that struck me as soon as he said it, and inspired me to write this piece—might be THE new quote to live by. It might replace his earlier comment about impatience. “When I look back on [living in Indiana], I can't relive those days. The only ones I can live are the ones going forward,” he said.

‘Damn. That’s a hell of a comment,’ I thought to myself. And the thing is, it’s common sense, it’s a quote that anyone could say and it might not hit me as hard. But, when Mark Martin said it, it struck me as the best advice I had heard in a long, long time.

I’ve always respected Mark Martin for being a tough, clean racecar driver. He’s been called the gentleman of the garage area. He’s also a noted fitness freak. The man is stronger than most, if not all, drivers in the garage area. “So what I do is I focus on my strengths. I’m trying to make the very most out of my career. And physical fitness, health and fitness is a part of that,” he said in a serious tone. “My quality of life from here going forward is very dependent on that. That’s something that I just don't think you can afford to let go.”

“All I can do is use my strengths. That’s all I can do. I can’t do anything about my weaknesses,” he said. That falls into the category of worrying about things outside of your control I mentioned earlier. He’s given up on chasing the ever elusive Cup title, and why? “I'll answer the questions and everything else, but I'm not going to lay in bed at night and think about what it will be like to lift that trophy,” he told reporters after winning at Michigan. He added, “You know, I’m not gonna deal with expectations that cut my legs out from under me again ever in my career. I’m gonna go out and drive the racecar as hard as I can drive every time I get in it.”

Martin got out of his car at Chicago and showed some emotion by raising his arm in the air (Getty Images)

Effort is the key to success, or so the saying goes. Mark has continually pushed that he wants to make the Chase for the sole purpose of seeing his team mentioned with the elite teams in NASCAR. “I feel like my race team deserved to be a part of that elite group but if we come up short it won’t be from lack of effort,” he told the media on Friday at Indianapolis.

Team is a big part of Mark’s comments. He realizes he can’t win races by himself. When he ran the quickest lap of Friday’s final practice at Indianapolis he knew he had a great car, but it meant more to him to see his team’s collective happiness. “You should have seen the light in all my guys' faces. I mean it, that's the most, the very most fun of the whole thing that we're doing here, is to see their faces. It's just really, really cool,” he said.

Martin's pit crew is one of the best on pit road (Getty Images)

“I love those guys. I'm a pretty tough unit. I've had a lot of disappointments,” he continued. Everything from finishing second in the Daytona 500 in 2007 to having a title basically pulled from him for an illegal part in 1990. However, he mentioned that at the track is where his ‘family’ is. “My people at the racetrack are my family and have been my family for a long time,” he commented.

His team might be more than family to him. He’s got one son, Matt, who is now 17. “But I feel toward them (his team) like you do toward your children. I don't want them to have to suffer through disappointment. So I put a lot of pressure on myself to get a good lap today so that I wouldn't let them down,” he added.

He’s even put some pressure on himself to succeed this year. After a dismal Michigan qualifying run he commented that he should have been fired. “I'm serious. If I can't do better than that in the stuff they're giving me, they're going to need to get somebody else,” he said. He won the Lifelock 400 the next day. At Chicago, after dominating the race and leading a race high 195 laps he got into the media room and stated, “I’m racing for my job.”

He then glanced at Rick Hendrick, his car owner, who countered back, “Alan and I said—and Mark you probably don’t want to hear this—we said we can win a championship with Mark Martin this year. We were confident we could win races.”

“If we were fortunate enough, God willing, to win a championship with Mark, I said it at Darlington, I’ll say it again, to me there’s nothing more professionally I could accomplish than that,” his crew chief, Alan Gustafson said. “That’s probably the biggest thing that I could do.”

Alan Gustafson (left) talks to Greg Erwin on Saturday morning at Indianapolis

He just wanted to be “in the fray” on Sunday afternoon, and he almost won the second biggest race of the season. For all the disappointment he has endured, all the times he’s come in second place and all the episodes of hurt he has endured, he’s got a new positive outlook on life.

“You can say what you want, but I've had some days this year. That's not the way to approach me. It's been my day this year, all year. I'd love to have won the race. But I'm very grateful to have had a chance at it,” he said, slightly grinning.

He thanked his team numerous times on the radio—both before and after the race—and wanted to make sure they knew how proud he was of their hard work.

He reflected on his second place finish by stating, “I got beat. I didn't get her done. But I gave it my heart. So did my race team. I'm grateful for it.”

For all Mark Martin fans this season has been like a dream come true. And even though Mark has downplayed the running for a title, some of his fans want nothing more than to see him lift the Sprint Cup in November at Homestead.

He keeps everything in perspective with one last pearl of wisdom. “I’ve been incredibly blessed with a great family, great friends, a great career,” he explained. “And now with a great team, we’ve had our share of success. It’s great.”

And it’s great to be a fan of Mark Martin. Mark Martin the man, not Mark Martin the driver.