Mark Martin, driver of the No. 6 Valvoline/Cummins Taurus,
took part in a Q&A session with motorsports media recently in
which topics of garage access for fans, signing autographs
and going out in public were discussed. We hope you enjoy
this peak into the thoughts of one of NASCAR’s premier
competitors.Following is a transcript of that interview.
Race Warrior:
Do you understand Tony Stewart, the way the pressure has gotten to him after a year and a half?
Mark:
"I understand what's he's going through. I think everybody in the garage understands what he's going through. I went through the same.transition. It was overwhelming for me in 1990. I almost drowned. We ran for the championship with (Dale) Earnhardt and it was big. And it was very intense and it was a dramatic experience for my family and I to go through, and since then nothings quite been the same."
RW:
One of the things he talked about was the garage is too crowded. Do you concur with that, or is he off-base there?
Mark:
"For years and years and years, I raced and after the race I stood out by the race car while the team loaded everything up and signed autographs. And they let the whole grandstands come down -- anybody that wanted to, come down into the pits -- and I signed autographs for everybody that wanted one. You can't do that anymore. That's when I raced at Springfield, Missouri and places like that -- in ASA and stuff like that, back then. That's when maybe 3,000 people would be there that night. Now we have 3,000 people in the garage. Times have changed, racing has changed and we can't service everybody that wants what they want. And, so, that's frustrating for the fans and that's frustrating for the drivers because no matter what we do, we can't do enough. That frustrates us, and that frustrates them, too, because they probably remember when, and they say that things are changing, and they are. And it's not that we don't want to, it's that you can't. When you've got 30 seconds and you look at 100 people standing there, what do you do? Do you do one? Do you do 10? Or do you just do none? I mean, you don't have a good choice left in situations like that. I don't know what to do. Sometimes I just do the kids. Sometimes I can't even do that. Sometimes I do the kids and the parents swear at me. You can't win. It's physically impossible for us to do the exact right thing."
RW:
Should there be some sort of system where fans have to go to a certain area and you guys know that you’re going to go for 10 minutes or whatever? Would that even work?
Mark:
"Well, we would do that, that's been discussed -- but, there again, that's not going to satisfy everyone. We're going to do our thing and then after we're done, we're going to feel finished, but we're not going to be because, you know, no matter what that's not going to satisfy 200,000 people. So, I don't know. The sport has been built on accessibility, and that's part of what's gotten us here today, and the heritage that we have with the sport. We watched our heroes do everything they can do and that is ingrained in every one of us that have been here. As the new generation comes into this thing, coupled with the boom, explosion of the popularity there will be a change because, let's face it, these guys didn't stand and watch Richard Petty -- they didn't see how Richard Petty handled it, just for example, I did. And I'm not taking anybody's side. You know, I respect Richard Petty to the hilt. Also, there were fewer people to supply, although he did a better job than anybody that I've ever seen in the sport of taking care of fans because more people wanted his than wanted mine. I can't take anybody's side on the thing. All I want to do is keep my head down and keep trying to win races, and not get into all that, because it's not my business because I don't have the answer. If I had the answer, I'd say, 'Hey, you guys be quiet. Here's what you need to do.' But I don't have the answer, so I'm not going to say anything because I really don't have a suggestion. Because I know that if you take autographs out of the garage, all you do is create a worse feeding frenzy the minute you step through that fence. It's going to be 10 times worse then. Then I don't know how to get to pit road to qualify, to driver's introduction, to our cars. You know, I don't. So if you take that out of the equation in the garage, you're just going to make it worse everywhere else. So, I don't know what to do, we do the best that we can to manage it and we recognize the fact that -- you know you hear sell-outs, you know, so-and-so's a sellout, this guy sold out -- well, to be a Winston Cup driver you sell your privacy forever. It's gone. That's it. It will not ever, ever be the same again."
RW:
It’s no different from any other professional sport
Mark:
"Probably not. And, I don't play basketball, so I don't know, but I can tell you about racing and I can tell you about Winston Cup, and if you sign for the best in the best, then you're life will never be the same. And, I sold mine. And it's gone. I accept it. I don't like it, but, hey, I've been around for a long time, it's no surprise to me. I didn't wake up this morning and realize it was, it's been slipping away since 1989."
RW:
Tony said he talked to some of the veterans about it, and he talked to you about the Winston. What kind of conversation did you have, and were you able to give him advice? Was it the kind of talk that you think he gained something from your conversation?
Mark:
"I think we didn't get to talk as much as maybe he would've liked to. I had another commitment. We talked 15 minutes or so. I share his pain. I share his pain, but I don't have an answer for either him or for the situation, because it's a very, very popular sport, it's been built on the foundation of accessibility and that Tony Stewart is not going to be able to change and I'm not going to be able to change it. I have a limited amount of time left to do this where he has a lot of time. He's got plenty of years. My time is less, is more limited. And, I view the thing as 'it is how it is.' It's been how it has been for me for 10 years and I got about half of that left in front of me to do this and I still want to continue to chase my dream and put the notches on the belt, win those races, contend for those championships, do some great things for my sponsors and make some fans happy, and I hope that I break as few hearts as I can along the way. I do what I can, but I can't give everybody everything that they want, and I know that and that does bother me. Sometimes I go to bed at night, I'm sick. Sometimes I go to bed mad. Sometimes I go to bed broken-hearted because I think it wouldn't have taken that much more out of my time to have done that and that would have touched their lives forever. So, I'm well aware of that fact. And that torments me in both directions -- from being sad that I didn't or being glad that I was able to or being mad because I was put in an awkward situation. I go through the whole spectrum of things. I appreciate the fans. I realize that I could've been -- if I wanted to race the dirt tracks in Arkansas that I could still be doing that and, you know, I wouldn't have sold my privacy, I wouldn't have sold my life. But, I can tell you this much. I think if Tony Stewart thinks it's tough now, wait until he has a child. Wait until he tries to take a child to that amusement park. You think he got mad because he and his girlfriend couldn't, you know, do anything without being -- when those people are getting in-between him and his daughter or him and his son, you know, and you make a conscious -- I make a conscious decision when I leave for that amusement park with my son. Do I want to do this? And either I decide, yeah, I'm going to do it or nah, it's not worth it and maybe somebody else can take him or whatever. But, you know, you have to make that decision. I think it'll get tougher on him rather than easier -- especially after what he has said. His comments are going to make things harder for him, not easier for him, and that's why you don't get those kind of comments from other drivers because they know that, really, there's nothing good that can be gained from what has been said this week. I see no way that anything good can be gained."
RW:
Did it bother you that he was critical that other drivers don’t step up and speak out?
Mark:
"I've got several things that bother me right now. One thing is that the notion that the media says there's no characters in Winston Cup racing left. They're probably harder to get to, but there are dramatically different personalities in this sport that aren't publicized and stories aren't done. There are definitely characters in this sport. There are not many, you know, drug addicts, and wife beaters and stuff like that in the sport, but there's a lot of versatility in the personalities in this sport. And I think that the reason that the drivers haven't said some of things that Tony said was because they know they can't change them, they know it won't make things better, it can only make things harder on them, and not a complete and total understanding of what the deal is like I've explained to you. I know I sold my (privacy) -- I sold it down the river, you know, to do this. I didn't know it when I did it, but I knew after I did it -- I looked back and said, 'Oh, wow, I gave that up to do this. There's no going back. This sport was built on accessibility and that's never going to change. The only thing is, we're not going to be able to -- when I go do an autograph session now, instead of 500 people showing up, 3,000 show up. You can't do 10 autographs per person anymore. You know, you can't go through the line 10 times. My line, I used to see the same people -- they'd just go round and round and round and come back through and come back through. But they can only get through one time if they're lucky now. I can't help that.I sign as long as I can, as fast as I can, you know. So those are things that are facts, realities."
RW:
Did you have any regrets once you discovered it was like this?
Mark:
"No. No, I've done more and accomplished more than I ever dreamed. It's made for a great opportunity for my son, you know, and great things for my family. It's taken every ounce of me for 25 years, and I'll continue to give that until I'm finished, and when I'm finished I'll get on the couch and watch 'em on Sunday."
RW:
The sons that come along are going to be much more prepared for this than a guy like Tony who come in from the outside, right?
Mark:
"My son already signs autographs, you know? I think that the race drivers of the future will be 10-, 15-year driving spans and not 25- or 35- because they'll burned out. They'll get tired of it, tired of the schedule."
RW:
What kind of advice have you given Matt (your son) when that kind of situation approaches?
Mark:
"I tell him all the time, 'You've got to be nice to the fans. You've got to realize that the fans are what makes this sport go round.' I work on him regularly."
RW:
How have you managed to stay a clean racer through it all. After the Winston, everybody was mad at everybody, and somehow through this you have maintained that clean race reputation. What is it that you do consciously and how have you been able to keep that up for so long?
Mark:
"I make mistakes, and so I forgive others for mistakes that they make. And I try to do the right thing. I just don't do to someone what I wouldn't want done to me, and I make the choices that I make on the race track based on how I would like to be treated on the race track."
RW:
Tony was talking about making a split second decision between one thing and another. Is it that quick, that you have a split second decision that would make you a bad racer or a good racer when it comes to cleanliness?
Mark:
"I think that if you have someone who habitually makes that split-second wrong decision that he's not as clean -- his pattern shows. I make mistakes. I've made mistakes. I've caused wrecks, I've been in wrecks, and you know, I've caused wrecks, but I don't every week because, typically, when I make those split-second decisions, they're for the better rather than the worst -- although I have made some bad ones."
