Father Time still chasing Mark Martin
If 50 is the new 30, then maybe Mark Martin should hold off on sending in that AARP membership application. After all, he's still got 3,400-pound stock cars to wrestle.
Mark Martin Guides NASCAR's New Generation
CONCORD, N.C. -- Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. … Mark Martin isn't scared to pit his talent against any of his new Hendrick Motorsports teammates. He's not scared to take on anybody in the Sprint Cup Series, period.
It's the race against Father Time that scares the 50-year-old.
He knows there'll come a time, whether it's in six months or six years, when the tools that have made him one of the top drivers in the series for more than two decades will fail him. Maybe it'll be his eyesight. Maybe it'll be his reflexes.
He knows there'll come a time when not even his insane workout routine will keep the ills of aging from affecting his performance.
He thought he was closing in on that time after the 2006 season when he left Roush Fenway Racing, his home of 19 seasons, to run a part-time schedule at MB2 Motorsports. He thought the void of competing at the highest level could be filled by helping his teenage son, Matt, work his way to NASCAR's top series.
Then Matt walked away from racing to become a normal kid, and Martin had to look for other ways to fulfill his life. Nothing did.
So he began thinking more about the car he was driving -- then the No. 8 for Dale Earnhardt Inc. after a merger with Ginn. He realized that nothing could replace the thrill of competing at high speeds, that the pressures of a full-time schedule that made him miserable weren't nearly as bad as not having pressures at all.
He started having fun again.
That and a full-court press by owner Rick Hendrick led Martin to where he is today, in the No. 5 at HMS making one last run at the title that's eluded him.
"If Matt would have continued what he was doing and wanted to make a career out of it and be a NASCAR driver, I don't think I would be doing this right now," Martin said with a smile that says he's happier than ever. "I would be consumed with trying to help him do that.
"It's been a lot of twists and turns in my life. It's been a journey I had to discover about myself."
Martin calls last season with crew chief Tony Gibson at DEI "the best year of my life." He says that despite having extended his winless streak to a career-long 90 races.
He says that knowing that despite a 24-race schedule he was as competitive as ever, recording four top-5 finishes, 11 top-10s and coming close to winning three or four times.
He says that because the one thing that hadn't diminished with age was the burning passion that made him who he is -- even when he wasn't totally happy.
He believes this year will be even better.
"I want this as bad as I did the day I got fired in 1983 or the day I went broke in 1982 or the day I got my first win in 1989," said Martin, who drove in his first Cup race in 1981.
Hendrick saw that passion two years ago, the first time Martin stepped into the No. 5 for a practice run at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte. He recalled how the car went from around 28th on the speed charts to the top.
He saw that again when Martin drove his Nationwide Series car to a second-place finish in the 2007 spring race at Darlington.
"He might be 50, but he's got the body and mental attitude of a 35-year-old," Hendrick said. "There's guys in their 30s not in the shape he's in and not as dedicated and committed to the sport as he is.
"With his drive and desire, he wants to do it in the worst kind of way. I can't tell you how excited I am about that."
AP Photo/John BazemoreMark Martin remains one of the most popular drivers in the NASCAR garage.Start of the journey
"I was 39 years old when I started making my plans for the future. I realize at this time that was way too early. I thought that, at the age that I am right now, I wouldn't be able to compete with these young guys the way I have in the past."Martin spoke these words at Talladega Superspeedway in the fall of 2006 when he announced plans to step away from a full-time schedule. He was 47, but the journey of twists and turns actually did begin eight years earlier, when the fun started fading from his spirit.
"In '99 or 2000 … he was going to quit," Roush Fenway president Geoff Smith said. "He was all done. He was going to get in the car and drive his heart out, but it was going to be over. It was too hard.
"Mark is like a lot of us in that as we get older and when you see the end coming, you don't really want the end to come."
You just have to be happy. And I wasn't as happy as I should have been given all the circumstances. I had a great job, a great career. ... But I just needed a break to catch my breath and sort of figure out what was important to me.
-- Mark Martin
Martin tried to call it quits again after 2005 season, but Roush convinced him to stay for one more season and make another run at the championship that he'd finished runner-up to four times.
After finishing sixth in points, he was done -- at least at Roush.
"You have to be happy," Martin said. "You just have to be happy. And I wasn't as happy as I should have been given all the circumstances. I had a great job, a great career. I loved Jack Roush like a brother.
"But I just needed a break to catch my breath and sort of figure out what was important to me."
Matt's career was important at the time. Martin spent all of his free time at the shop working on his son's late-model cars and going to the local tracks where he drove before becoming a star.
He was happy again.
But Martin also realized the passion that drove him to succeed wasn't there in Matt. When his son called it quits, he wasn't surprised.
"I had already been concerned for quite a while that he didn't have the passion it took to be at this level and win," Martin said. "After I took time to get my arms around it I was actually relieved. I redirected things. That's part of those twists and turns."
Martin still has the race shop in Daytona Beach, Fla. It's bigger than ever with a late-model and truck program. He has four full-time employees.
"But I rarely stop by the shop anymore, where I went there all the time with Matt," Martin said. "I was emotionally engaged in that particular one. The program now I support, but it's not my passion."
Driving is his passion once again. It's evident in everything, from his smile to his workout routine.
"I'm an obsessive compulsive, and that's all I've had time to really focus on," Martin said of his physical training. "My race team, Alan [Gustafson, crew chief] has that. I've been spending, rough numbers, eight to nine hours a week in the gym."
Physically, Martin has done all he can to prepare for the grind of a full season. He knows more about nutrition than he did a year ago, which is saying a lot.
"I feel better than I have in years," he said. "I can only do what I can do. What I have to work with I'm working it as hard as I can."
Nobody saw it coming
"I blame myself. That's my sadness. I know Mark better than anybody else, and I should have been paying more attention than I was to what was going on in his head."A stunned Roush spoke these words on the day Martin told him he was leaving.
He knew Martin wasn't happy, but not to the point he would go drive part time somewhere else. He figured Martin had at least five more good seasons left in him.
He's seen nothing the past two seasons to make him think otherwise.
"He's come to the realization and decided he would like, in spite of all the trials and tribulations, he would like to make another championship run," said Roush, who admits one of his great disappointments is not winning a title with Martin. "I'm determined to frustrate him in that [pursuit] with my five guys, but I certainly support and appreciate his effort and certainly wish him good luck."
Most in the garage believe Martin will make the Chase and challenge for the championship, and with good reason. He made the playoff each of its first three seasons before stepping back, finishing fourth, fourth and ninth.
"He's the real deal," Hendrick said. "I would have loved to have had him when he was 30 years old, because we'd have a lot of championships right now, more than we've got [eight]."
Martin was so strong on the track when he backed away that few noticed he'd stopped having fun.
"Mark's probably the guy I look up to the most in the garage," said former Roush teammate Carl Edwards, considered by many the favorite this season. "If Mark had ever lost his fire, then that means he's going to be really tough if he's got it back."
Brian Vickers, who drove the fourth car at HMS before leaving for Red Bull Racing in 2007, expects Martin to make the 5 team a championship contender when nobody else could.
"If I was an owner and had to pick one guy to come in and win races, run for a championship and most importantly solve a problem on a race team, I don't think you could pick a better guy," he said.
Gibson agreed. He tried to talk Martin into a full season at DEI.
"Mark Martin can get it done," he said. "They're going to win races and they're going to make the Chase, and he will be a threat to win the championship."
History says otherwise. Only 10 drivers have won a race past the age of 50, none since Morgan Shepherd at Atlanta in 1993.
Since Dale Jarrett won the title at 42 in 1999, no driver over the age of 36 has.
Hendrick believes Martin could be the exception. So do his other drivers, who each supported the decision to have Martin replace Casey Mears.
And while they didn't realize how much Martin had soured on the sport, they can't help but feed off of his enthusiasm now.
"He's still one of the most talented guys out there," Gordon said. "That's pretty cool to be like that at 50."
Martin won't talk about winning championships. Not now, at least. But he makes it clear his goal is to be in the Chase, and once he does that, anything can happen.
He also makes it clear that he's never been happier. The relationship he's developed with Hendrick is as deep as, maybe deeper than, the one he had with Roush.
You'd swear the two have been friends forever watching them joke, whether it's about Hendrick's diet or Martin's age.
"I can't tell you how extraordinary of a person Rick Hendrick is and how much I want to be near him," Martin said. "He is so much fun. I didn't put any emphasis on having fun back in the day, but it's very important to me now, being happy and having fun."
Going out on top, getting out before Father Time forces him to, is equally important. He doesn't want to be like other stars, riding out their careers in the back of the pack.
"I'm not in the business to embarrass myself," Martin said. "It doesn't mean it can't happen, but I won't hold on. … I can't be a hero and say I could knock them dead and step aside, 'cause I can't guarantee it will work out that way."
David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.
