Roush Driver Diary: Mark Martin
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Roush RacingHello all,
Well it's really hard to believe that it's almost Christmas time again and it won't be long at all until we are back in Daytona testing. I know that I always say this, but the off season really seems to get shorter each year. By the time the season ends and we go to New York and then it's Christmas and by the first week of January we are testing again. Personally I can't wait to get back on the track and start moving towards next year, particularly coming off of a season that wasn't our best by far.
Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays and I love spending time with my family at Christmas time. I always try to get as much time in with them as possible and at the same time it is really good to relax. We'll do a little racing with Matt at the first of the year and then the season pretty much starts on the 6th of January when we go to test in Daytona. From there on we are pretty much testing every week in January and before you know it we'll be back at the track for speedweeks.
I'm really looking forward to returning to the Busch Series in the Pennzoil car and I can't wait to get the No. 6 Viagra Ford back out on the track as well. The guys are putting all they have into the effort and I really feel good about the progress we are making. I'm not kidding when I say that I'm truly excited about the direction that we are going as a race team and I think we'll be in good shape at speedweeks and going into next season. I can't wait.
In the mean time, my focus remains on having relaxing holidays and I would hope the same for you guys. You have have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and we'll see what we can do to give you guys more to cheer for in 2004. I also want to again thank each and every one of the fans out there who continue to support us and remain faithful even in the difficult times. Hopefully next year we'll make it all worth your while. I look forward to getting back out on the track and winning races, and that is what we aim to do next season.
Thanks again for the support,
Mark
Mark Martin: The greatest non-champ?
By Rick Minter
Cox News Service
December 15, 2003Two widely held assumptions in the NASCAR world may have fallen by the wayside in the 2003 season.
For years, it was taken for granted by most that the late Fireball Roberts was the greatest driver never to win a championship, and that when car owner Jack Roush finally won a Winston Cup title it would be with Mark Martin, the driver of his No. 6 Ford.
Now another Roush driver, Matt Kenseth, has claimed the team's first championship. And Martin, in the twilight of his career, might end up taking Roberts' place as the best non-champion in NASCAR history. He has finished second or third in the standings eight times, including a runner-up run last year. Martin finished the 2003 season in the 17th spot, far out of contention, and looking at as few as two seasons left to secure his first crown.
Rusty Wallace, the 1989 champion, said he's proud to see Roush finally getting a championship, but he'd rather it had been with Martin.
"I like all those Roush guys, but I hate for Mark to get to the end of his career and still hasn't won a championship," Wallace said. "He's been so close so many times. Matt's got a ton of time left. [Jeff] Burton's got lots of time left. But Mark's probably only going to do it one or two more years."
Wallace said that even if Martin's 33 career Winston Cup wins and series record 45 Busch Series victories put him in the same league as the legendary Fireball Roberts, who won 33 Cup races in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1964, he considers it a disappointing distinction.
"I hope he doesn't get hung with that title," Wallace said. "I hope he wins [a championship]. He's a great individual and a fabulous driver."
Martin, 44, just shrugs when the subject of his championship struggles comes up.
"I've done about everything I can do about it," he said. "I don't know what else to do."
But Martin said being the best non-champion isn't a bad label at all.
"It means you've done awfully good," he said. "It just means that you didn't do everything there is to be done. I'm very proud of the things that I have accomplished, and I'm not devastated by the things I haven't accomplished."
Martin burst onto the NASCAR scene in 1981 as a 22-year-old ASA racer from Arkansas who came South with a couple of young crewmen to show the Winston Cup world a thing or two.
His debut as a driver/owner was remarkable. He qualified fifth for his first race, at North Wilkesboro, won the pole at Nashville, Tenn., in his third start, grabbed another pole at Richmond and finished third at Martinsville -- all in just five races.
But he struggled so much in the next two years that he went back to the Midwestern short tracks of the ASA.
"I only knew how to make cars go fast," he said. "I didn't know how to make 3,700-pound cars stay on their tires for 500 miles. That took years of experience to get."
Martin won the ASA championship in 1986 and eventually returned to full-time NASCAR competition in 1988, when Roush formed his Winston Cup team.
To see that organization, which he has been a part of since the start, win its first championship is extremely satisfying for Martin. But he won't take any of the credit, even though he hand-picked Kenseth and is a part-owner of his car.
"I've been right a lot in my years, been wrong a lot, too," he said. "But don't get me wrong, I was right about Matt Kenseth."
Even though he's still highly competitive on the track, Martin doesn't seem distressed that his driving career is coming to a close. He'll likely run the full schedule another season or two, then possibly follow that with a limited number of races.
"It has been my life 24/7 since 1974," he said. "I'm looking forward to a day when there's something else in my life besides these race cars."
The first thing on his retirement to-do list is building some friendships.
"I don't have any friends, because I don't have any time for friends other than my crew chief and the guys I work with," he said. "There are a lot of things in life that I passed on and gave up to be as successful as I've been with my limited amount of talent."
Rick Minter writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Unassuming Martin deserves a championship
By Jeff Owens, CBS.SportsLine.com Sports Writer
December 3, 2003When the bright lights of New York City shine on NASCAR at the Waldorf-Astoria on Friday night, it will be new star Matt Kenseth who is honored as the final Winston Cup champion.
His team owner, Jack Roush, will also be recognized after finally winning NASCAR's biggest prize, capping a long, hard, often tumultuous rise to the top. Rookie of the year Jamie McMurray will be honored, as will the other drivers who cracked NASCAR's top 10.
There is one driver, though, who might just get overlooked. If he does, it will be of his own, humble choosing.
He is a driver who deserves as much praise and recognition as the champion and his championship team.
Mark Martin generally shies away from the spotlight. Even when he wins, he deflects the praise and attention away from himself, redirecting it toward his team. Always his team.
But Martin had as much to do with Kenseth being crowned champion as anyone at Roush Racing. He will deny it, and he won't accept any credit tossed his way.
Still, Mark Martin deserves to share the head table and the stage with Kenseth and Roush.
It was Martin who helped discover Kenseth, Martin who recommended the former ASA star try his hand at NASCAR. Then, it was Martin who recommended Roush try to sign Kenseth, because he saw in him the same talent and desire that had propelled him to NASCAR's top series.
When Roush saw the same potential in Kenseth, he immediately signed him to a contract that would take him to Winston Cup. When he did, he designated Martin as the owner of Kenseth's team, the No. 17 team that will be honored as champions.
Along the way, Martin has tutored and helped Kenseth, teaching him what it takes to win in Winston Cup. Kenseth learned those lessons well, rising to the top in just his fourth season.
Thanks in part to Martin, Kenseth won a championship that, in 16 seasons with Roush, has eluded his mentor.
Eight times in those 16 years, Martin has finished either second or third in points, making a strong challenge for the title. Each time, he came up short.
In 1990, he lost the title by just 26 points to Dale Earnhardt. But he lost it on a technicality, getting penalized 46 points because of an illegal carburetor, a charge Martin and Roush vehemently denied and fought.
In 1994, he finished second again as Earnhardt won a record seventh title.
In 1998, Martin had his greatest season, winning seven races, only to watch Jeff Gordon win 13 and run away with the championship.
Then, last year, he lost by just 38 points to Tony Stewart. Again, a late-season penalty was a factor in the final margin, though it didn't cost him the title.
If life were fair, it would be Mark Martin, and not Matt Kenseth, standing on the stage Friday night, accepting the trophy and all the accolades of a Winston Cup champion.
Even many of his peers acknowledge Martin deserves to win a Winston Cup title.
"I wish it had been Mark Martin," 1989 champion Rusty Wallace said. "I like all those guys, but I hate to see Mark getting to the end of his career still having not won a championship. He's been so close so many times.
"Matt's got a ton of time left, but Mark's probably only going to do it one or two more years, so I wish it had been him."
Martin, though, is not bitter about his near misses. And he is certainly not jealous or resentful toward Kenseth, the driver he groomed for stardom.
He is uncomfortable sharing any of the glory with Kenseth. Martin is a class act, as graceful off the track as on.
"Matt Kenseth and (crew chief) Robbie Reiser have earned this," Martin said. "And even though I cared an awful lot, and even though I tried to help as much as I could, my contribution to this doesn't add up to anything in my opinion.
"So, I don't know how I feel (about being listed as the owner). I feel a little uncomfortable with it. I'm really happy for Jack Roush. I'm really happy for Matt and Robbie, and I'm real proud of them, and I'm real proud to say I was right about Matt Kenseth."
No, Martin is not bitter. Always grateful, he is simply proud of what he has done -- 33 career victories -- and does not fret about the rest.
"I'm not bitter about the things I haven't accomplished in my life or in my career," he says. "I'm very proud of the things that I have. There's no bittersweet here. What I've done and what I've accomplished, I'm proud of.
"What Matt has done and what he's accomplished, I'm very proud of as well, but I'm not more proud of Matt today than I was a year ago, because the actions make the man, the trophy doesn't."
It certainly doesn't in Martin's case. He's a champion and a class act anyway.
But maybe one day he will get to stand alone on the stage in New York, celebrating the championship he so richly deserves.
2003 Mark Martin Articles - January
2003 Mark Martin Articles - February
2003 Mark Martin Articles - March
2003 Mark Martin Articles - April
2003 Mark Martin Articles - May
2003 Mark Martin Articles - June & July
2003 Mark Martin Articles - August
2003 Mark Martin Articles - September
2003 Mark Martin Articles - October
2003 Mark Martin Articles - November
Mark Martin 2002 Season Articles - Page 3.
Mark Martin 2002 Season Articles - Page 2.
Mark Martin 2002 Season Articles - Page 1.
