He couldn't care less. He doesn't watch football -- or any
other sport. Racing is his entire life, and yet the fact that
he has never won the Super Bowl of NASCAR, the Daytona 500,
bothers him less than the questions about why he has never
won it.Of course, you have to ask. What would it mean to Mark, 42, if he did win it, in this, the 20th anniversary of his debut in the Winston Cup Series.
"A big check and a big trophy," said Mark, who now drives under the sponsorship of Pfizer/Viagra.
It seems like a rather cold response when in fact it is probably a good defense to use for Mark, who has chosen to downplay the significance of the race rather than dwell on his inability to win it.
"It would mean that you could write in your paper: 'Daytona 500 champion Mark Martin says,"' Mark said. "I don't mean to be smart, but I have been really fortunate in my career to have won some races. If I was only going to win one, I would certainly want it to be the Daytona 500, but I didn't get to choose which races I won. I try at every race. That's all I ask for."
His trying got him a fifth-place finish last year. He even climbed to second with 20 laps to go but when Dale Jarrett decided not to draft with Mark and to form his own draft instead, Mark had to settle with his best performance at the 500 since he finished fourth in 1996. He turned in his best race the year before that, finishing third.
Close calls and lost chances factor little in Mark's take on his career. He looks at the whole and savors every part.
"I don't really think I'm at peace with it, but it sure doesn't eat at me that I haven't done something," Mark said. "I'm not owed anything. It's not mine. I'm not a child whose toy you took away. This is not my race."
Few races were his last year. Mark's wins dwindled to one from seven just two years ago, and his top-five finishes also fell for the third straight year, to 13. His final position in the points standings was eighth, very respectable, but the first time he wasn't in the top five since 1992.
Still, he looks younger than his 42 years, and if anyone can improve rather than decline with age, it's the health-loving Mark. He is proud that his devotion to fitness inspired others to follow the same course, and his fellow drivers haven't forgotten to take notice.
"I just like the fact that Mark totally focused in on his racing probably 10 or 12 years ago," Michael Waltrip said. "He just forgot all the other things that were going on his life and said, 'All right, I'm going to be a racecar driver, and I'm going to work hard at it."'
Mark also worked hard at something off the normal track when he got the New Smyrna Quarter Midget Racetrack started in New Smyrna Beach, Fla. It opened last week, and Mark didn't sound as if he was exaggerating when he called the first night there -- which included his son Matthew's races -- one of the greatest of his life.
"I can't describe what that meant to those kids," Mark said. "I really enjoyed it. I couldn't sleep that night I was so excited. For a lot of the kids who raced out there, that night was bigger than the Daytona 500 is for any of the adults."
That is a perspective Mark has made clear. He'd love to win the 500. Just don't expect him to shed a tear if he never does, not that he doesn't think he can.
"I feel really good about my race team and the cars and the engines," he said. "Everything that we have right now looks better and feels better than anything we've had before."
