{"id":1018,"date":"2011-07-19T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-19T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=1018"},"modified":"2011-07-20T20:14:14","modified_gmt":"2011-07-21T00:14:14","slug":"nascar-legend-mark-martin-talks-about-respect-composure-and-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/07\/nascar-legend-mark-martin-talks-about-respect-composure-and-faith.html","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR legend Mark Martin talks about respect, composure and faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Mark Martin (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images for NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Click “Like” to share this with your friends<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark Martin is leaving full-time racing at the end of this year. He hasn\u2019t said yet whether he\u2019ll maintain a part-time schedule or perhaps make some occasional appearances in high profile events. Regardless, it\u2019s hard to imagine the iconic figure not gracing the NASCAR garage on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n

Martin, age 52, has won 40 Cup races, 49 Nationwide (formerly Busch) Series races and seven Truck Series races. The only thing eluding Martin\u2019s illustrious career is a Cup championship. Still, there are no regrets for the legendary iron man as he finally steps away from the sport that has been ingrained in his very existence.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a conversation I had with Martin where he talks about his recent years at Hendrick, that elusive Cup title and the role faith plays in his life:<\/p>\n

Bonham: What ultimately led you to take Rick Hendrick\u2019s offer to race in the #5 car back in 2008?<\/p>\n

Martin: When the opportunity came along to join Hendrick Motor Sports, I was very reluctant at first because it required a full schedule again. I actually turned down the offer twice before I finally realized what it meant to me. I realized it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and that I\u2019d never have a chance again to experience something that great and I realized what an incredible honor it was to be at this stage in my career and have a team like really want me and pursue me to come and join up with them. Given all that a consideration and realizing I would probably regret for the rest of my life turning that down, I decided that I was up for a full schedule again. I\u2019ve known for Rick for over 20 years as a competitor and we\u2019ve admired one another from a distance. That was key. I really wasn\u2019t looking to do another full schedule again, but the Hendrick opportunity and Rick\u2019s persistence were two of the major keys to making it happen.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What expectations do you generally bring into each racing season?<\/p>\n

Martin: I try not to have expectations because they can tend to tear you apart. I expect to work as hard as I can possibly work and I expect to give every ounce of a hundred percent.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Why do you think you have such great respect from the other drivers?<\/p>\n

Martin: It makes me feel like that\u2019s sort of reaping what you sow. It makes me feel good about the decisions that I\u2019ve made and the code that I\u2019ve lived by and raced by. It\u2019s something that I\u2019m proud of.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Tell me a little bit about your faith journey.<\/p>\n

Martin: As you know, you use it or lose it. Through all the years of my career, when I\u2019ve had to work on my own race cars and drive up and down the road in the haulers, that was sort of a time period when you\u2019re sort of losing it because you weren\u2019t able to use it. I always have to thanks Max Helton and everyone from (Motor Racing Outreach) who had not only enabled me to grow and to practice and surround myself with other people that had a hunger for that as well, but also had a tremendous influence on my son Matt. It\u2019s an incredible organization that has meant so much to me and my family.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What is the weekly impact that MRO has on your life?<\/p>\n

Martin: Our schedule never ends. It\u2019s year round. There\u2019s very little time off. That itself extracts an emotional price\u2014just that schedule along with your varying needs from time to time. It\u2019s just been a really important part of my life for the last 20 years and something I can\u2019t imagine what it would\u2019ve been like without. It\u2019s sort of like the anchor or the real foundation for you to build your life around.<\/p>\n

Bonham: You\u2019re known for being pretty good at keeping your composure during heated moments on the track. Why is that?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mark Martin in the #5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet (Photo courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Martin: Your character is slowly built and quickly eroded. You\u2019re definitely influenced whatever you are immersed in and whatever you\u2019re around and what you\u2019re a part of. I\u2019m far from perfect but I have managed to earn a good deal of respect by trying to implement the kinds of things you learn about. I try. I\u2019m not always successful. But I try to treat the people the way I want to be treated. I really try to keep that in mind, but it doesn\u2019t always work. Your faith shapes the kind of person that you are. I think what you study and what you believe in has an influence in the way you live.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How do you use your platform as a prominent Christian in NASCAR?<\/p>\n

Martin: I don\u2019t think that I\u2019m the smartest guy around, so I\u2019m better off to keep my mouth shut as much as I can rather than opening my mouth and proving to people that I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about. I\u2019m more of a leader by example than I am a preacher.<\/p>\n

Bonham: So you don\u2019t think you\u2019ll be speaking at chapel service anytime soon?<\/p>\n

Martin: (Laughs) I would rather not. I just don\u2019t feel like I have enough authority to do so. Preaching is a calling and mine is to lead by example. Obviously you can look at things however you choose to and I\u2019m not proud of some people in sports, but I don\u2019t really look at it as my calling to be out there setting an example. I just try to treat people the way the I want to be treated\u2014with respect and some dignity.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How does that philosophy translate into the way you\u2019ve raised your son Matt?<\/p>\n

Martin: I\u2019m not comfortable telling my kids how they should be or how they should think or how they should act or anything else. I\u2019m not comfortable with that. He\u2019s not blind. He can see. Kids pick up and absorb a lot more than you think they do. I try to do what I think is right, and I try to lead by example. Miss Jackie (Pegram of MRO) took care of him for so long. For many years they would come to races and he would go to Bible clubs. They used to have a pretty good number of kids at that time. There\u2019s not as many now. A lot of young drivers in the sport don\u2019t have kids right now. But\u00a0 you reap what you sow. Faith has an influence on who you are.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Does it bother you that the Cup championship has alluded you despite a stellar career?<\/p>\n

Martin: It\u2019s not on my radar screen. That slipped off my screen a few years ago and that\u2019s not something I think about much.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What are your thoughts on former Roush-Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth?<\/p>\n

Martin: I think he\u2019s one of the best drivers in NASCAR. He\u2019s incredibly smart and has great integrity. He\u2019s one of my very favorites.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What about the young guy who took your place in the #6 car, David Ragan?<\/p>\n

Martin: He shows incredible promise and makes me very proud to see him in that car. He\u2019s really a fine young man.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What has the Petty family meant to stock car racing?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mark Martin during practice at Talladega Superspeedway (Photo courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Martin: Richard\u2019s The King. That pretty much sums that up. But Kyle in my opinion is the man of the century. He really is a great man. I\u2019ve known him closer than I know Richard since the early \u201880s and he\u2019s just an incredible individual and human being. Richard should be so proud to have a son like that.<\/p>\n

Bonham: I assume a lot of that admiration has to do with his Victory Junction Gang Camp. How have you personally supported that facility?<\/p>\n

Martin: I do whatever we can from visits to appearances to fundraisers\u2014whatever we can do to help out. It\u2019s an incredible undertaking and they\u2019ve been victors in that. It\u2019s phenomenal to sit around and think, \u201cYeah, I\u2019d like to do that one day.\u201d (But to) put something like that together, that\u2019s taken a lot of hard work and dedication by a lot of people. Like I said, Kyle Petty is, in my opinion, man of the century.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Are you still passionate about the sport?<\/p>\n

Martin: I feel different but the passion is very much the same. In the beginning it was, \u201cI hope I can do this.\u201d And now it\u2019s, \u201cI\u2019ve got to get it done now, before it\u2019s too late.\u201d It\u2019s the same thing. I go to the track hoping I can do it, but for two completely different reasons. I don\u2019t have much time left, so it makes me appreciate the opportunity much more than I did 20 years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends Mark Martin is leaving full-time racing at the end of this year. He hasn\u2019t said yet whether he\u2019ll maintain a part-time schedule or perhaps make some occasional appearances in high profile events. Regardless, it\u2019s hard to imagine the iconic figure not gracing the NASCAR garage on a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,382,388,5],"tags":[405,487,488,220,217,140,199,198,10,25,204,486,241,24,221],"class_list":["post-1018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-athletes","category-qa","category-racing","category-sports-features","tag-david-ragan","tag-hendrick-motor-sports","tag-jackie-pegram","tag-kyle-petty","tag-mark-martin","tag-matt-kenseth","tag-max-helton","tag-motor-racing-outreach","tag-nascar","tag-nationwide-series","tag-richard-petty","tag-rick-hendrick","tag-roush-fenway-racing","tag-sprint-cup","tag-victory-junction-gang-camp"],"yoast_head":"\nNASCAR legend Mark Martin talks about respect, composure and faith - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/07\/nascar-legend-mark-martin-talks-about-respect-composure-and-faith.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NASCAR legend Mark Martin talks about respect, composure and faith - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share this with your friends Mark Martin is leaving full-time racing at the end of this year. 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Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1026,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions\/1026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}