It’s also yet another reason why I want to get into this world of reporting sports. Anytime I come across a very good article I save it, read it, attempt to analyze it, and I try to become a better writer because of it.
Jeff Gluck got to sit down with Mark Martin about a month ago, and pick the 51-year-old’s brain. Here are some of my thoughts.
Want to know why I love Mark Martin? Amongst other things, the words he speaks ring so true in my own life. In October of 2007 he provided one of many quotes I claim to live by. “Impatience is a real hard thing to deal with and to work with,” he said. “Impatience is waste of time. It's a diversion. If you're impatient, you're worrying about things you can't control.”
Last year while I sat wide eyed in the media room at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway only feet from the man I’d waited twenty years to meet in person, he dropped this gem of wisdom, almost furthering his comments above. He said, “All I can do is use my strengths. That’s all I can do. I can’t do anything about my weaknesses.”
Mark Martin became the oldest polesitter in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history last year
In this article, he told Jeff Gluck, “There are not many people in the world who get to do exactly what they want – and succeed at it.” I feel I can relate to what Mark said, but I doubt I’m as happy as he is right now. After all, he really is succeeding at what he does.
In a time when most drivers his age are driving around in the back of the field, struggling to stay afloat in the Cup Series, Martin is one of the drivers on NASCAR’s “superteam” at Hendrick Motorsports. But almost every one of his fans can recall the time when Martin was Hendrick’s biggest rival.
What feels like it was “back in the day” for some fans of the short statured, yet big hearted man, was a time that Martin would rather forget. “No one probably realizes how dissatisfied with my life I was for several years there and raced for 25th place a lot more than I wanted to,” he told Gluck. “And that was torture. You know, it's torture to be out there on the racetrack and just get your brains beat in. Especially when you're used to doing well. I always did well. I never had to go through that.”
Mark Martin had trouble in his final few years at Roush Racing driving the No. 6 car
So Martin said he was going to scale back from full-time driving at Roush Racing in 2005. Or so he thought. Roush begged Martin to return from one more year because the only owner Martin had ever driven for didn’t have a driver to put in the No. 6 car.
So Martin came back for one final year in the car that had made him recognizable to NASCAR Cup Series fans. One last year in the No. 6 Ford. One last time full-time. Until one of NASCAR’s most successful owners approached him and asked if Martin would return to full-time racing for his team.
And the 51-year-old has loved it, but he couldn’t give more than three years to Hendrick, and last week the team announced that starting in 2012 Kasey Kahne would take over the reins of the car Martin currently pilots.
Each and every week Martin gets out of the No. 5 car and thanks his team, his crew chief, Alan Gustafson, and everyone associated with putting him in position to win. It rubs some fans the wrong way. People think there’s just no way Martin can be that happy every week.
Mark Martin talks with Jeff Gluck in March (Getty Images)
When Gluck inquired about this, Martin got animated. “I do say the same things,” he told Gluck. “Cause it's the damn truth. Cause that's what's on my mind. When I climb out of the race car and I have just received one of the greatest privileges of a lifetime – to drive a frickin' rocketship and work with the brightest people in the business – what do you think I'm going to say?”
Somehow I still find it hard to hear Mark Martin saying that, but his passion and energy doesn’t surprise me. In a book written about him in 2004 he said, “I’ve always been competitive. Anything I’ve ever done, I’ve gone at it 100 percent. I don’t know any other way.”
When my brother told me this weekend that my girls basketball team doesn’t like the way I coach, it offended me. I want to be the best. I want to succeed, exactly like Mark told Jeff Gluck. I want to be the best ever, and even though only winning one game out of 13 doesn’t make me seem successful, I’m giving it 100 percent to make my team better.
The way Kerry Coombs coached at Colerain High School back in the early parts of the decade (and before) really rubbed a lot of fans (myself included) the wrong way. Now being on his team, being a part of something special with him, I know why he rubbed me the wrong way…He had more energy and passion and he didn’t hold anything back.
UC assistant coach Kerry Coombs brings energy and passion to everything he does (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)
Mark Martin is the same way. “You haven't ever interviewed me yet when they brought my car in on the hook and I said, ‘Boy, that was fun! I am sure enjoying this!’” Martin continued telling Gluck. “You don't get that from me. You get the truth. And that's what's on my mind. I'm not going to apologize for that because I identify”
He comes from Arkansas. He’s described as a simple guy, and feels that way too. “Look, I don't appeal to everyone. I'm a real simple person and you get what you get. I also am pretty complex, as you can see. Most people don't know that,” he said.
But his impact on the sport, as well as his impact on his fans is felt day in and day out. One fan wrote a letter to Martin, and Gluck was kind enough to share it at the end of his piece. It stated,
“You always give thanks to the people who support you and always speak honestly from your heart, and that is how I try to live my life. You make everyone around you proud to be a part of your life whether being directly involved with you or just being a fan. You give so much more to your fans than just your racing. You and your family have in all actuality become part of our family, and I think you again for what you give us just by being a decent human being.”
When I was a senior at Elder High School, performing a task as the volleyball team statistician, our team’s head coach made some kind remarks about me at a team function. “You’ve taught us to give it 100 percent and to be proud of our work no matter what you’re doing, whether it’s volleyball related or mopping the floor, or doing homework, or being a friend,” he said. His sentiment, although unrelated to the comments by this fan, strike me as having the same idea behind them.
In high school I learned no matter what, give it everything (EHSports.com photo)
Br proud of your work, give it your all, and in the end, just be yourself.
“That,” he said, “is what I have to say about the haters,” referring to the letter. It’s tough to be a “hater” of Mark Martin, especially after reading that article. (linked here: http://www.sbnation.com/2010/4/18/1428471/mark-martin-nascar-2010-car-bio)
It’ll be even tougher to hate Mark Martin if he ever lifts the Sprint Cup trophy over his head, something he still says he won’t think about. Last year he wrote a diary for Yahoo! Sports, and stated, “As far as winning a championship, there won’t be anyone who tries harder or thinks more about scoring the points. But I won’t be doing any daydreaming about what it would be like to hoist the trophy. That doesn’t exist in my head and won’t until it’s over with. That’s how I deal with it. I keep my focus on getting every ounce out of myself, my car and my team, and being a great leader and a good person. If I do all of that when it’s said and done, whether I hoist the trophy or not, I will have been a success.”
Think any “haters” can argue with that? I certainly couldn’t. This article gave me just a few more reasons to love Mark Martin, who, before the 2010 season started proclaimed himself “Mr. Realistic,” and I’m sure there will be more as the season progresses. Until I can find another great article to conjure up the same feelings, this will have to do.
Enjoy your day, and thanks for reading
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