Friday, February 19, 2016

On the Mark (with Mark Martin)

The first time I tried to talk to Mark Martin, he didn't want to talk. I'd walk around the car one way, and he'd go the other. Then he hurried across the garage area into his trailer.
MARK MARTIN WITH THE 55 CAR

The second time I tried to talk to Martin was Daytona in the summer of 1990. I approached him in the garage area, and he sat on a stack of tires and we talked at least 20 minutes. It was obvious Ford had held a media seminar for its drivers, because Mark was a different person. I noticed a similar change in other drivers.

I have many good memories talking to Mark, but one of my favorites came at Charlotte. He told me to come to his trailer at 2:30. At 2, I was walking past his trailer, and I felt a strong hand on my shoulder. "Come on in," he said. And we talked until he had to go out on the track.

After that first misfire, Mark was one of the easiest drivers for me to talk to, at the track and by phone.


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