Mark Martin deserves the Hall of Fame Jacket

I was a little kid from a little town outside of Mark Martin's wife Arlene's family hometown of High Springs, Florida from

Mark Martin and his wife Arlene now share time together

Springs, Florida and my dad worked for Winn Dixie and amazingly one of the people that he got to train as a supervisor was Arlene's brother.  That is how I began my journey as a Mark Martin fan, I knew of Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott, Cale Yarborough and of course the King Richard Petty, but I wanted to go for someone different in this sport, someone that wasn't well known in the sport and Mark's brother in law told my dad about him. 

I am glad I took that chance on this amazing person that worked himself up through the toughest times, even overcoming alcoholism to become one of this sports biggest icon drivers it has ever had and most frankly ever will.  During the 90s, I can remember this little man coming through with Jack Roush in the No. 6 Fords, sponsored by Strohs Light, Folgers, Valvoline, Pfizer and AAA and he was called Mr. Intensity by many for his focus and deep determination.

Martin's career resulted in 40 Cup Series victories, 49 NASCAR Xfinity Series wins, and 7 truck wins.  Martin won five iconic IROC Series championships, three of which came in consecutive years 1996-1998 against some of the worlds greatest drivers.  While he did not get a Cup Series championship in his career, there are still some prestigious linings in Martin's career that helped get him into the Hall this year.  Mark Martin did something not even Dale Earnhardt did, he went 12 consecutive years finishing in the top-10 in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings.

I wrote an article last week about how Carl Edwards fans were acting with his decision.  Drivers make their own decisions when to go, I thought in 2006 when Martin left Roush Fenway Racing his days were done.  He decided to come back and even came close to beating Jimmie Johnson in 2009 for the championship, but once again came up a little bit short.  It was the fifth time he had finished second to someone for a championship in his career (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2009.)

I go back to what I said about Edwards, drivers sometimes feel comfortable with their accomplishments in their careers.  Mark Martin had a career that started as a young kid, he had to come back a second time and make it into the sport again with a new organization.  I always go back to when Jack Roush first hired him and what the car owner says made his decision on hiring the Arkansas native to be his driver.

"When I sat down and talked with Mark, we talked for two-and-a-half hours and I gauged their interests and motivations," Jack Roush said during an interview with Claire B Lang a few years ago when Trevor Bayne was announced the driver of the 6 car.  "I drove away and we had not discussed how much money Mark would get paid.  He was more interested in who was going to work on the car, how many times we could test and if I could really afford to buy all the tires he would need and how long would I stay.

Mark Martin and Jack Roush shared a long-term relationship

"So they we interviewing me as I was interviewing them and we kind of made a handshakedeal and walked away and we had not made a commitment for Mark to get paid.  Of Course we got back together on that later and Mark helped develop the relationships we had sponsors later," Roush said.

Martin would go on to run Roush's cars over 600-plus events, and some of the most iconic paint schemes in the sport were in the red, white and blue Valvoline colors that Trevor Bayne has paid tribute to Martin with the last two seasons at Darlington.  I think of one word when I describe Mark Martin.  RESPECT.

He earned that from everyone around him in this sport.  If you grew up watching this sport in the 90s, you know exactly what I mean by that.  This was the guy that could beat you by being a smart driver, not by wrecking you.  He wouldn't race you hard the first five, the first 100, or even 200 laps, Mark Martin beat you the last miles of the race.  He was able to do it many times against Dale Earnhardt on the track.  I can remember their battle at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1990.  Also the Darlington Southern 500 in 1993 was another incredible battle that Martin and Earnhardt had in their careers, as Martin out dueled Earnhardt at the track.

I can remember Mark Martin during that 1998 season when his father passed away, he was heart

Martin's Winn Dixie Ford was a dominate force in the sport

broken when he lost at Michigan the weekend he lost his dad.  But he came back at Bristol Motor Speedway the week later and dominated the field and he thanked the fans.  He dominated the Busch Series at the time, not Xfinity Series with the iconic No. 60 Winn Dixie sponsored Fords, and had Martin ran the amount of races that Kyle Busch did through the years, who knows the win total he would have amassed compared to Kyle Busch right now.  Martin only ran 10-14 races per season because of his sponsor being located in the Southeast United States. 

So this Saturday when Mark Martin and the other four are inducted into the Hall of Fame, he'll finally garner that title he deserved.  No it's not the championship everyone thought he deserved, it will be Hall of Fame driver Mark Martin.  Well done Mark!