owner Jack Roush on Monday and knew his prayers had been
answered."My biggest prayer for 2002 was I wouldn't have to bury any of my friends and family," Mark said Tuesday. "I am just so grateful that my prayers are coming true so far."
Roush remained in serious condition at University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital on Tuesday with injuries suffered when the small aircraft he was piloting crashed into a lake near Troy, Ala., on Friday afternoon.
Roush has a closed-head injury and a number of broken bones. He was to have a surgical procedure done Tuesday on wounds to his left leg. Doctors operated on that leg on Sunday to insert a steel rod in his broken thigh bone and put plates and pins on bones in his ankle.
Mark, who has been driving for Roush in Winston Cup since 1988, knows Roush has a long road toward recovery ahead of him. But after his visit on Monday, Mark said he has no doubts that Roush will complete that journey.
"Jack is going to be back 100 percent," Mark said. "We had a very, very good visit. He wrote on his notepad that we had been through a lot together. I said, 'Yeah, and we're going to go through a lot more, too."
For Mark, news that another person so close to him had been in an aircraft accident had to hit particularly hard. In August of 1998, Mark's father, Julian, was killed when the plane he was flying crashed in Nevada. Julian Martin's wife and daughter, Mark's step-mother and step-sister, also were killed in that crash.
Mark said Roush's situation looked grim Friday evening after Roush was flown by helicopter from a hospital in Troy to the Birmingham. Roush was in a coma, but Mark and other friends and family later learned that coma had been induced because of Roush's anxiety and pain.
"As he started coming off of his medications, it became apparent he was sharp as a tack already," Mark said. "Broken bones will mend, but that (damage to Roush's brain) was our biggest fear."
Mark said Roush joked in one of the notes he wrote Monday that "a little brain damage could be good."
"You have to know him to know that's 100 percent Jack," Mark said."
Roush asked Mark about Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway and about how the four Roush Racing cars stood in the points after that event. All four teams remained in the top 11 in the Winston Cup standings, a remarkable turnaround from a year ago when Roush's operation struggled on the track.
Mark said Tuesday that the challenges ahead of Roush in his recovery are the kind of battles his friend has been tackling all his life.
"He has had to work incredibly hard against giant odds to become successful," Mark said. "He identified with people who want it really bad and who are willing to work really hard and deserve an opportunity.
"He likes to give people a chance to realize their dreams. He is indescribably loyal to people who have the right heart and desire and work ethic. ...He likes the underdogs who are willing to work hard and fight hard like he has had to."
