Pulling for Mark!

  • Thread starter GREAT AMERICAN RACE FAN
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GREAT AMERICAN RACE FAN

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Many times this year, I found myself at the edge of my seat cheering and yelling at my T.V. for Mark Martin. His resergence on the Cup side has provided some excitement. Old school showing the new school the ways of the track. I haven't always pulled for Mark, for he was a villin to me back in the day, like many of the others who have since retired in the last 5 years.

I was a Earnhardt Sr. and Darrell Waltrip fan back in the day. The days were in the mid eighties when I began paying attention to Winston Cup racing, and the #3 Wrangler and then Goodwrench Chevy, and Budwieser #11 and 17 Tide cars could do no wrong. My guys battled the likes of Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, Alan Kulwicki, Mark Martin and later on Dale Jarrett. Most of these drivers drove Fords, and I could not stand the Ford teams.

As the years worn on and these drivers had gotten older, the wins became fewer and fewer for most of them. That coupled with the changing faces of NASCAR, and now I was suddenly pulling for the guys I used to boo and cheer against every week. Bill Elliott left his Own team and returned back to the # 9 for Ray Evernham, and got pretty hot back in '02 winning the Brickyard after dominating at Pocono. Rusty Wallace before he stepped out of the #2 Miller Lite Dodge, finish in the top ten in points his final year. Even Dale Jarrett caught my respect in the latter years of his career, winning in the '05 Talledega race. Now it's Mark Martin who is gonna ride off into the Sunset with a new fan. Mark is by far having the best season of any of the other guys at this point in their careers. I really hope he keeps it up, makes the chase and finishes strong enough to clinch the elusive cup. What a story that would be.
 
As much as I want Stewart to win this year, I would be overjoyed to see Mark win it. He truely does deserve at least one championship before he retires for good.
 
Anyone think that if Mark wins the Chase this year he calls it a career? When he announced he was coming back in 2010, he was floundering near the back of the Top 12 afterall.
 
Floundering?

Spike said:
Anyone think that if Mark wins the Chase this year he calls it a career? When he announced he was coming back in 2010, he was floundering near the back of the Top 12 afterall.
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Mark is still in the back of the top 12. He is only one bad race from being no. 14 or 15 and out of the top 12.
Betsy:rolleyes:
 
Spike said:
Anyone think that if Mark wins the Chase this year he calls it a career? When he announced he was coming back in 2010, he was floundering near the back of the Top 12 afterall.
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I think he will call it a career if he does win. There is no better way to retire than going out as a champion.
 
hE made people mad when he came back (I was one....then he started driving a chevy) so if he does go out this year as champ people will still get mad because he said he would come back full time in 2010.

Wonder if he would of been this happy if he left the 6 and Ford sooner? I've never seen mark this happy.
 
I've always been a Mark Martin fan, since I was 4, so I do have a biased opinion, but I'm glad Mark's back and kicking ass. And quite honestly, he's earned the right to retire or unretire whenever he wants to.

If Mark Martin finally wins the championship, I think the line of crewmen waiting to congratulate Mark will be longer than win Big E won the 500.
 
I'm pulling for Mark, too. No one deserves to win the Championship more than he does.

As much as I like Harvick, I wish it had been Mark that had won the 2007 Daytona 500.
 
Lap3Forever said:
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Wonder if he would of been this happy if he left the 6 and Ford sooner? I've never seen mark this happy.
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My guess is Mark probably figures he wasted most of his career in a Ford when he shoulda been driving a chevy :D

I can't see how a little of everyone isn't pulling for Mark in this. I mean he is a true class act, always has been, and deserves the success he is having right now.
 
Gordon_Fan24 said:
My guess is Mark probably figures he wasted most of his career in a Ford when he shoulda been driving a chevy :D

I can't see how a little of everyone isn't pulling for Mark in this. I mean he is a true class act, always has been, and deserves the success he is having right now.
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Mark should have left Roush years ago. Look at Kennseth and Biffle. They are better drivers than what they are getting at Roush. I think Roush tries to spread his resourses too thin. If he don't want to spend the money he needs to have less cars to spend on. MAYBE?
 
Gordon_Fan24 said:
I mean he is a true class act, always has been.
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I don't know about that. He certainly wasn't a class act when he was an alcoholic in the mid 1980's. But I think part of the appeal of Mark Martin is how he was able to turn that around, and become the person he is today.

I think alcoholisim is something a lot of people can relate to, and seeing someone like Martin overcome it gives people hope.
 
foehammer111 said:
I don't know about that. He certainly wasn't a class act when he was an alcoholic in the mid 1980's. But I think part of the appeal of Mark Martin is how he was able to turn that around, and become the person he is today.

I think alcoholisim is something a lot of people can relate to, and seeing someone like Martin overcome it gives people hope.
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I was just thinking the same thing. His overcoming his demons is a big reason why I root for the guy, that and the class he has displayed since.
 
Benevolent One said:
I was just thinking the same thing. His overcoming his demons is a big reason why I root for the guy, that and the class he has displayed since.
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That, and he's argueably better now than he's ever been in his career. And at 50 no less! Plus he's in the best shape of his life.

It's really hard not to root for a guy like that.
 
Back in the day

We followed him and Rusty aroound the country racing ASA.. He and Rusty dominated the series that year...I forget which year it was but it was a pleasure to see.
Betsy;)
 
foehammer111 said:
I don't know about that. He certainly wasn't a class act when he was an alcoholic in the mid 1980's. But I think part of the appeal of Mark Martin is how he was able to turn that around, and become the person he is today.

I think alcoholisim is something a lot of people can relate to, and seeing someone like Martin overcome it gives people hope.
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If I was working for Jack I would be an alcoholic too.
 
Mark Martin was one of those that usually gets a warm reception durin driver intros. Very few boos, many cheers, not everybody making noise. But he got the loudest roar from the crowd at Bristol. His cheers were a lot more than Kyle Busch's boos.
 
tkj24 said:
Mark should have left Roush years ago. Look at Kennseth and Biffle. They are better drivers than what they are getting at Roush. I think Roush tries to spread his resourses too thin. If he don't want to spend the money he needs to have less cars to spend on. MAYBE?
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wendy's interview was on the pre-race show but...

Wendy Venturini "Let’s do some word association with some of these drivers, some of these people’s names, Jimmie Johnson, what comes to mind?"

Junior Johnson "Great race driver, you know, he proved that tying our record with three championships in a row and I wouldn’t be surprised if he don’t win four."

Wendy Venturini "What about Tony Stewart?"

Junior Johnson "Great race driver just needs good mechanical people with him all the time."

Wendy Venturini "Mark Martin."

Junior Johnson "I was going to hire Mark one time. I told him bring me his contract so I could see what he was doing and Jack Roush worked Mark, so Mark couldn’t get away if he wanted to so I backed away from him."
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http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/venturini-real-deal-with-junior-johnson//P1/
 
I know that Mark is a sentimental favorite, just as Harry Gant was. But I'm not one of his fans. Many years ago, when he first came up with Roush, he impressed me with his vim and vitality. That's when he was in the Stroh's car. But soon he settled down to the reputation that he has today in that he was pretty much a gentleman driver. If I were a fan of his, I would have pulled out my hair at the end of the Bristol race. Sorry, I want a guy to do what he can to win. I know you'll call me a monster and say that all I want is to see wrecking, but that's not so. Look at how many champions that have bumped and passed someone else who was leading at Bristol and went on to win themselves. Mark will forever be known as the best driver to never win a Cup championship and maybe the reason is that he just isn't aggressive enough.
 
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