Martin sat in front of media members--your favorite intern included--and talked about his 2009 Brickyard 400 pole
So excuse me if I sat in the front row, wide eyed, and staring intently at the short man in the red firesuit. He’s my childhood hero, and a day earlier I finally had an opportunity to meet him.
For 16 years before that date I had followed Martin’s career, and as I became older I learned more and more about him.
Twenty months earlier, on October 11th, 2007, Mark Martin gave best advice I had ever heard to that point—and to this point—in my life. “Impatience is a real hard thing to deal with and to work with. Impatience is waste of time. It’s a diversion,” he told NASCAR.com. “If you’re impatient, you’re worrying about things you can’t control.”
Today, three plus years later, Mark Martin dropped more wisdom during NASCAR’s media day for the Daytona 500.
“Gosh I got to be the luckiest guy in the world to have got to do all this stuff that I’ve gotten to do,” he said. “I’ve stumbled around and gotten a few trophies along the way and just to be able to have the chance to work with the people. It’s just been my life. I don’t regret what I haven’t accomplished, I just can’t believe what I have.”
Larry McReynolds replied, “A few trophies? More like a hundred!”
It’s the reason we love Mark Martin. He’s finished second in the points standings five times. He’s been inches away from raising the Harley J. Earl trophy, given to the Daytona 500 champion, and has finished second in the Brickyard 400 twice.
And he doesn’t regret one moment of it.
Sometimes it’s better to sit back and enjoy the process, rather than being upset about not being the best. Mark Martin lives by this ideal. It’s another reason why it’s so easy to wear the No. 5 shirts I own. It’s a source of pride. Mark Martin is a true champion—on the track and off.
But, the 52-year-old still wants to win.
“You can’t be having fun getting your brains beat in, so you have to feel like number one that you’re giving it everything you’ve got,” Martin said. “And number two, if you’re not getting the results you’re looking for, you can’t let that get you down and be a negative for the program.”
Martin hopes the new No. 5 team will lead him to a Daytona 500 victory in ten days
He doesn’t let that close call in the 2007 Daytona 500 bother him either. Even if it still bothers his fans (yours truly included).
“I didn’t let 2007 get under my skin. We were so close, but I see that on TV all the time and I think, ‘Gosh if the caution had come out when it might have could have come out, we would have won it,’ and you know my life wouldn’t be any different,” he said during the NASCAR.com telecast this morning.
Every time Mark Martin gets out of his car he has a smile on his face. Every time he gets out of his car he’s excited to have had a chance to race. Racing is his life—he’s said it a million times before.
“I love this sport,” he said. “I love racing.”
And his fans wouldn’t have it any other way. Yahoo! Analyst Jay Busbee also agreed. “Feeling a little glum and blue? Get Mark Martin on your side, pronto, and all will be right with your world. Or at least he'll tell you it is,” Busbee wrote earlier today.
All of Mark Martin’s fans are certainly glad their world is painted with Mark Martin. I wouldn’t have it any other way. And I can’t wait to get more Mark Martin life advice as this year rolls along.
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