Mark Martin Interview: Most People Aren’t Going To Remember Me

SB Nation’s driver interview series continues this week with veteran Mark Martin of Hendrick Motorsports. Martin, perhaps the most respected driver in the garage, sat down with us at Texas.

SBN: Who is the most underrated driver in NASCAR?

MM: Oh...uh, probably (AJ) Allmendinger.

SBN: Really? Why’s that?

MM: Listen – you’re asking me questions that I haven’t put science into. I want to answer your question, but I’m not prepared to be Mr. Analyst. I don’t analyze those things. I answered your question, but I haven’t looked at it so deep. That’s what comes to my mind. I’m just not good at that. I don’t live in that world.

SBN: I know what you mean. Somebody tried to reverse these questions on me last year, and I had trouble coming up with answers on the spot, too.

MM: Exactly. You know?

SBN: What’s a race you didn’t win that still bothers you?

MM: ‘97, I think it was, at Indy – the year Ricky Rudd won the Brickyard. We had had such poor luck with fuel mileage (early in his career). We’d run out of gas so many times. Jack (Roush) said we could make it, and the caution came out and he said “stay out.”

But we decided to pit – because we were racing for points – and Ricky stayed out and won the race. If we would have had enough gas, I feel that we gave that one away.

SBN: But you’ll never know.

MM: I’ll never know. But all I know is I ran out of gas probably 20, 25 times in 10 years. That’s all I know. I didn’t have a good track record at that point (with fuel mileage).

SBN: If you could pick any three teammates aside from your current teammates, who would you pick?

MM (quietly): Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr.

SBN: You wouldn’t pick any different ones?

MM: This is by far the best combination I’ve ever experienced.

SBN: What driver did you want to model yourself after when you were growing up?

MM: I had heroes every step of the way – from dirt tracks on up. From Wayne Brooks to Larry Phillips to Bobby Allison to Darrell Waltrip. But I didn’t dream of emulating them; they were my heroes.

SBN: Can you recall a memorable post-race escape from the racetrack that you could share?

MM: I don’t think so. We did have a multi-car accident leaving a test one day, going back to the hotel.

SBN: Was this a racing accident?

MM: It didn’t start out that way.

SBN: Who is someone famous you’d like to meet who you haven’t met yet?

MM: There’s a bunch. I’d like to meet Dr. Dre. I’d like to meet John Mellencamp.

SBN: Musicians, mostly?

MM: Yeah...I think it would be fun to hang out with Steve Harvey, too. There’s a couple guys who have senses of humor that would be really fun to hang with. Steve Harvey is certainly one of them.

SBN: Last year, we saw two types of seasons: Jamie McMurray won some huge races but didn’t make the Chase; Jeff Gordon made the Chase but didn’t win any races. If you had to pick one type of season, which would you rather have?

MM: Jamie McMurray’s. I’m a little beyond really worrying about points, myself. I’m more about performance than being consistently pretty good. I points race because that’s what our team and our sponsor are geared to do.

SBN: Where does your motivation to win come from? Of course you want to win, but what drives you?

MM: I would want to win for my team. I’ve won plenty. I don’t need that to complete me. What would be overwhelming to me would be to see the excitement and enthusiasm in these guys’ faces – and all of our supporters. That’s what it’s more about.

I thought you would have probably noticed that from the Vegas Nationwide win. It was more about (crew chief) Trent Owens and those guys than it was about me. They were so excited, you know? It wasn’t my first win, so I wasn’t quite as excited. It was exciting, but it wasn’t quite as exciting as it was for those guys.

It was Trent’s second win as a crew chief, but still...he hasn’t had a pile of ‘em. (Wins) are very electrifying; early on, especially.

SBN: How different is your personality from inside and outside the car?

MM: I don’t know. You’d have to ask other people. I can’t answer that question. But I’ve always said that each driver has a “driving personality.” When you race with them, you come to know what to expect.

Sometimes it’s a little difficult when somebody starts running good that you’ve never raced with before. You don’t know how they’re going to react to certain situations.

SBN: If you could switch places with another athlete in a different sport, who would you switch with?

MM: The thought has never crossed my mind. Never. It’s never crossed my mind.

SBN: Let’s say you could take a year completely away from NASCAR and then come back, knowing you had a job. Would you want to do that?

MM: I almost did that. I kind of did that for two years; I did my version of that. I certainly wouldn’t want to do it now, because it’s too late to be doing that. But I did it when I needed to do it. And it revitalized my passion for the sport. So it was good for me.

SBN: When you eventually hang up your driving shoes someday, what would you want your retirement story to say?

MM: Most people aren’t going to remember me, you know? There will be some people that I touched their lives in a positive way and there will be only be a few of those – a small portion – who will remember that. And I think everybody will move on.

There’s not any big dramatic, ‘I want to be remembered like blahbity blahbity.’ I mean, the guys I remember are Pearson and Yarborough. Well, there were a lot more of ‘em out there (on the track) than that. And there were a lot more great ones. But for some reason, those two guys stand out in my mind. They must have touched me and influenced me and made some kind of impression in my mind that was stronger than others.

I admired them an awful lot. I also admired Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip – and many others, too. But the two I really thought were cool were those two. So that just tells you.

I think that’s a little overdone, that ‘How do you want to be remembered?’ It’s a little overdone.

SBN: If you’re going to win the championship at Homestead, would you rather have it clinched before the final race begins or win it on the last turn of the last lap?

MM: I’d rather have it clinched. That’d be a lot of pressure to take it down to the last corner of the last lap. It’d be a lot of heavy weight on you.

SBN: Thanks for your time.

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The interview ends, and I start to walk out of Martin’s No. 5 hauler. I pause for a moment at the back of the hauler to chat with his public relations representative, and all of the sudden, Martin comes back out.

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MM: I thought about your retirement story question and I have another answer for you.

SBN: OK, go for it.

MM: They will remember me the way they want to remember me; not the way I want ‘em to. That’s what I think. They’ll remember me they want to remember me – if they do.

SBN: But my question was how do you want them to remember you?

MM: I know, but I’m not going to answer that! (laughs heartily) Get the arrogant guys to answer that one.

SBN: Well, I already try that every week.