Mark Martin

Mark Martin has won just about everything there is to win in NASCAR—except the Winston Cup championship. Since he joined Roush Racing in 1989, he has never finished a season outside the Top 10. He’s finished second three times, third four times and had four years when he was fourth, fifth or six in final points. His 2001 season got off to a rough start with the same type of problems that plagued him in 2000: crashes and mechanical failures. But Martin has been racing long enough to realize that bad luck can turn good, and that there’s no sense in worrying about things you can’t control.

SCR: You finished eighth in Winston Cup points last year. Some drivers would sell their grandmother to be in the Top 10, but that was the lowest you have finished since 1989. What happened?

Martin: We had four DNFs (did not finishes) last year. That was the difference. In this day, with the series like it is, you can’t have that. We’ve suffered from engine problems. We had three failures.

SCR: What did you work on in the off-season to avoid those problems again?

Martin: There isn’t much that’s in my control. Wrecks are luck. You are in the right place at the right time and you get involved in them. You can’t control that. When you break parts that haven’t broken before, that’s from taking risks. That isn’t bad luck.

SCR: At 42 you aren’t the oldest driver in Winston Cup by a long way. Still, many of the hot shoes coming up are young enough to be your kids. Do you worry about so many youngsters moving to Winston Cup so early without the seasoning that drivers from your era have?

Martin: Not really. Racing is a lot different today than what it was when I began in Winston Cup. Then the series was built on guys like Richard Petty and David Pearson. They didn’t want a 22-year-old superstar. Now they do. The sponsors especially want the young drivers, the next young talent.

SCR: Whom do you see today that reminds you of Mark Martin 20 years ago?

Martin: Probably Matt Kenseth. I think he’s the closest.

SCR: You struggled for the first few years in NASCAR, but these youngsters have come in and some are successful right away. What’s the difference? Are they that much better?

Martin: When I got involved, it was hard for a young guy to get rides with good equipment. Then, the sport’s headliners were all in their 40s. It took that long to get to the point where you knew how to set up a car and could be competitive every week. You needed years of experience to win consistently. Back then, the driver was the engineer. Now, the young kids come in with a lot of courage and talent. They don’t need to know a lot about setting up a car because they have the computers and engineers to do that. They don’t need to know what we needed to know. We began building our own cars; we knew what made them work. A lot of the new guys didn’t do it that way, but today that doesn’t hurt them. They are probably more skillful and brave in their 20s, but even though they don’t have the experience, it doesn’t matter as much. It is one reason we see so much parity in the series.

SCR: Jack Roush has an enormous racing empire. You’ve been with him longer than anyone. You must have had offers.

Martin: It’s been 13 years. I wasn’t very successful until then. Jack and I get along well. He’s always given me winning teams, and there’s been stability.

SCR: With the addition of the new, young drivers to Roush Racing, have you taken on the role of driving coach/mentor for guys like Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch? Does it use up a lot of your time on a race weekend?

Martin: I’m the senior driver on the team, but it isn’t part of my job to help Greg and Kurt. Given that, it is their responsibility to ask me for help if they need it. And they do. I enjoy working with them. They are both great guys and very talented drivers. They are a lot of fun to have around.

SCR: You have some motorsports investments now, including a track in Florida. Are you building a portfolio that will allow you to retire? Have you given any thought to that?

Martin: I’ve got a five-year contract that goes through 2005. I haven’t thought much about anything beyond that.

SCR: You are recognized as one of the most fit men in motorsports. How does your role as the super-fit driver work with your new sponsorship this year from Pfizer and Viagra?

Martin: I’ve always been interested in physical fitness, but I never gave much thought to men’s health until this sponsor came along. For me, men’s health was never an issue because I exercise to keep fit and I eat well.

SCR: The early season ads focus on your car breaking through the barriers of erectile dysfunction (ED). Will you be in later ads? Are you comfortable talking about it?

Martin: There’s none planned right now, but I don’t know about what may happen in the future.

SCR: There’s more to being a healthy male than just sex. Will you be

expanding your role with your sponsor to include more men’s health issues?

Martin: I’m excited about the Viagra sponsorship. It is a prescription drug that you can only get by seeing a doctor. That’s what this whole thing is about. Getting men to see their doctors. ED can be caused by a lot of different things, like diabetes or a blood pressure problem. Some of the things that cause ED are simple and can be solved by men going to see their doctor. That’s what we want men to do.

SCR: Because of the tight competition in Winston Cup, are you concerned that someday you might retire as the best driver never to have won a championship? Would it be a huge disappointment if that happened?

Martin: No, it would be an honor. The words “the best Winston Cup driver” would mean a lot to me—even if I never win a championship. If people think that, it would still mean a lot. For one thing, it means that I’m not riding around in the back, collecting my points and paychecks. Last year, I was a little disappointed at how the season ended. There’s no doubt about that. But I’ve never expected success. Instead, I accept it and embrace it when it happens. During a race, I can control the effort I put into it; I can’t control the final result.