Enter the showroom at Mark Martin Ford and the quote on the wall echoes where the veteran driver is in his life: "It's been a long road home”
And it has. As desperate as Martin was to leave this small agricultural community 30 years ago to pursue his dream of becoming a NASCAR driver, at 48 he's happy to be back.
The gratitude Martin shows to his fans along the tour is immense, but here in his hometown 90 miles north of Little Rock, the Batesville native is reaching out to all the people that have supported him along the way. That's why he was determined "to bring this stuff home" to his museum so family, friends and fans can share in his success.
For the third year — almost as long as Martin has enjoyed his "Salute to You" or whatever his farewell tour is being called these days — he's shown his appreciation to the fans with an autograph session that evolved into an open house at his dealership/museum two years ago.
"I'm a product of Batesville," Martin said. "I'm really comfortable here. I know a lot of these people personally. I'm enjoying this. It's demanding, but I'm having fun."
People began lining up on Thursday to receive armbands for this year's two-day autograph signing that featured Tony Stewart and Kenny Wallace in addition to Martin. And Stewart isn't the first NASCAR champion to offer his services. Dale Jarrett, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch have made the trip to Batesville.
For Wallace, who started watching Martin race against his brother Rusty in the 1970s, it was an honor to be asked.
"I would do anything for Mark," Wallace said. "He genuinely cares about the people who are here and that's a breath of fresh air."
Martin, who currently drives the No. 01 Army Chevrolet for Ginn Racing, personally assured that "every fan got what they came for" and that included his autograph or Stewart's or Wallace's. While Martin knows a lot of people "underestimate his draw" he knew bringing in a driver like Smoke would turn the dealership into a madhouse.
"There were about 1,250 people in line for 500 armbands, so we took the different colored armbands that we had for Kenny and I personally went out at the end of the 500 and said this guarantees you that you can go up to the front of the line tomorrow," Martin said. "I'm sorry we might not be able to get you Tony's autograph but this is the best I can do."
Martin refused to let "anyone leave here empty handed." He and his staff focused and organized the fans, and with a little help from a man with a monkey, Smoke went the distance and then some.
"Tony got them all through," Martin said with amazement. "We got a thousand people through, plus Tony was exactly what I expected. If Tony wasn't in a bad mood he was going to go above and beyond anyone's expectations. He's a true man. Then, when we got done there was a man that had a monkey and I couldn't get him to go home. For almost a half hour he stayed and played with the monkey. The monkey loved him. He loved the monkey. Everyone was waiting for him to go and he wouldn't go."
The museum is hard to leave. Martin offers a personal tour and stops at the hand-written journal he kept from his racing exploits in 1975. There are copies of the original scrapbooks his mother kept until 1982 to chronicle the wins with clips and photographs from the Batesville Daily Guard and across the Midwest. There's his very first car from 1974 along with pictures of his original crew.
"If you ever worked on one of my race cars you can see your face here," Martin says.
SPEEED
Friday, 4/13 on SPEED
1 p.m. ET: NASCAR Live
1:30 p.m. ET: Cup practice
2 p.m. ET: NASCAR Live
4:30 p.m. ET: NASCAR Live
5 p.m. ET: Cup qualifying
7 p.m. ET: Trackside
Saturday, 4/14 on SPEED
11 a.m. ET: NASCAR Live
11:30 a.m. ET: Cup practice
12:30 p.m. ET: NASCAR Live
1 p.m. ET: Cup final practice
7 p.m. ET: NASCAR Performance
7:30 p.m. ET: Tradin' Paint
Sunday, 4/15 on SPEED/FOX
11:30 a.m. ET: NASCAR RaceDay on SPEED
1:30 p.m. ET: Texas Cup race on FOX
7 p.m. ET: The SPEED Report
8 p.m. ET: NASCAR Victory Lane
9 p.m. ET: Wind Tunnel |
