On January 9th, 2003, Winston Cup veteran and Batesville, Arkansas, native Mark Martin will be celebrating his 44th birthday.  It is time to look back at how Mark has gotten to where he is today and at the monumental success he has achieved as a racecar driver in the 29 years Mark Martin has been making racing his career.

Mark Martin began stock car racing at the age of 15.  He raced on local dirt tracks in Arkansas.  In only his third start, Mark won his first race and went on to win the Arkansas State Championship that year.  The next year in 1975, Mark won both the Sportsman Division track championships at Locust Grove Speedway and at Benton Speedway.  In 1976, he moved up to the V-8 division and began racing on asphalt.

In 1977, Mark began traveling outside of Arkansas to race.  He wound up winning the Missouri Fairgrounds Championship, the World Series at New Smyrna Beach Raceway in Florida, and the short track title in Rockford, Illinois.  On top of all that, he won the Rookie of the Year title in ASA (American Speed Association).  In ASA, he was competing against names like Rusty Wallace, Bobby Allison, and Dick Trickle.

At just 19 years of age, Mark won the 1978 ASA championship.  He went on to defended that championship in 1979 and 1980.  After winning the three consecutive championships, it was time for Mark to move up into Winston Cup.  In 1981, he ran five Winston Cup races, and, in only his third start, he won his first NASCAR Winston Cup pole at the Nashville International Raceway on July 11.  He did go on to win another pole and scored two top 10's and one top 5.

In 1982, Mark ran the full Winston Cup schedule, driving for himself.  In his rookie season, Mark had an impressive year earning eight top 10's and two top 5's in thirty starts.  He was able to finish fourteenth in the final point standings.  

Because Mark never received money from his sponsor in 1982, he would not be able to fund a Winston Cup team in 1983.  He auctioned off everything in his shop and just ran a limited Winston Cup schedule for different team owners that year with J.D. Stacy, D.K. Ulrich, and Morgan-McClure.  In twenty-five races, Mark was only able to score three top 10's and one top 5.

After that, he returned to the ASA series from 1984 through 1986.  In 1985, Mark was paired with crew chief Jimmy Fennig and went on to win his fourth ASA Championship in 1986. Ten years later, they would end up working together in Winston Cup.

In 1987, Mark Martin returned to NASCAR driving in the Busch Grand National Series.  He drove the complete 27-race season for Bruce Lawmaster.  Within that time, Mark won six poles, won three races, and scored thirteen top 10's and five top 5's.  Mark's success that season caught the attention of Jack Roush, who was getting ready to start up his own Winston Cup team.

In 1988, Mark Martin drove the full Winston Cup schedule with car owner Jack Roush and sponsor Stroh's Light.  He earned one pole, ten top 10's, and three top 5's.  He also finished fifteenth in the driver's point standings.  While competing in Winston Cup, Mark drove a limited schedule in the Busch Grand National Series for owner Bill Davis.  In the thirteen Busch starts, Mark won once and finished in the top 10 six times and in the top 5 twice.  

The year 1989 wound up being quite a busy year for Mark Martin.  Like 1988, Mark raced the full season in Winston Cup for Jack Roush driving the No. 6 Stroh's Light Thunderbird.  In the 29 races, Mark finished in the top 10 eighteen times and in the top 5 fourteen times.  He won his first Winston Cup race on October 22nd at North Carolina Motor Speedway and also won six poles that season.  He also finished third in points.  In addition to the 29 Winston Cup race season, Mark completed seventeen Busch races driving for Bill Davis, once again earning eight top 10's, six top 5's, one win, and one pole.  Appropriately, the National Motorsports Press Association selected Mark Martin as the 1989 Driver of the Year.

For the 1990 season, Mark would be driving the No. 6 for Roush, but with a new sponsor.  With Folgers coming on board as the primary sponsor, it may have been marked as a turning point in the sponsorship end of NASCAR.   With Proctor and Gamble products, Folgers sponsoring Mark Martin and Tide sponsoring Darrell Waltrip started the movement of non-beer and non-automotive products coming on board as primary sponsors and would lead products to competition with each other on the racetrack.  Examples of that today are Lowe's and Home Depot, Budweiser, Coor's Light, and Miller Light, Pennzoil and Vavoline, Kellogg's and General Mills.  Expectations may have been high for Mark and his team after being so successful in 1989.  In 1990, they certainly didn't disappoint.  Mark posted twenty-three top 10's and 16 top 5's and won three races and three poles.  He was definitely a contender for the championship, but Dale Earnhardt just nudged him with a deficit of only 26 points, and Mark finished out second.  Some other achievements Mark had in 1990 were that he was selected as a member of McDonald's All-Star Race Team and was selected to the AARWBA (American Auto Racing Writer and Broadcasters Association).  In the twelve Busch races he ran for Bill Davis, the team scored one victory, had six top 5's and eight top 10's with one pole to their name.

Folgers remained as the primary sponsor in 1991.  That year Mark scored his fifth Winston Cup victory and added fourteen top 5's and seventeen top 10's to the history books.  He received the Busch Pole Award and $30, 000 after winning five poles throughout the season, which was more than any other driver.  He was again selected as a member of McDonald's All-Star Race Team.  Mark placed six in the final point standings.

When the 1992 season began, new colors were flying on the No. 6.  That would be the red, white, and blue colors of Valvoline, which was the new sponsor for Mark Martin.  Mark drove Valvoline into victory lane twice during the '92 season.  He also earned one pole, ten top 5's, and seventeen top 10's.  He finished sixth in the final points for the second year in a row.  He drove in the Busch Series for himself in 1992.  Making fourteen starts, Mark won one race, received two poles, and placed in the top 5 five times and in the top 10 nine times.

A new race was added to the Winston Cup schedule in 1993, making it a 30-race season.  After not being a title contender for two seasons, Mark Martin was back on track in 1993.  He scored five Winston Cup wins to make his career total twelve.  Four of his wins were won in a row, and Mark became the sixth modern era driver to win four consecutive Winston Cup races. He posted wins at Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, and Darlington during the streak.  Along with that, he earned twelve top 5's, nineteen top 10's, and five poles.  He finished third in the Winston Cup point standings.  In the Busch Series, Mark began driving cars provided by Jack Roush and with Winn-Dixie as the primary sponsor.  In the fourteen races he entered, Mark won half of them.  In August of '93, Mark was voted top professional athlete for the month by the S. Rae Hickik Pro Athlete of the Year board and also won the third quarter balloting for the 1993 Driver of the Year Award.

In 1994, Mark posted two wins, fifteen top 5's, twenty top 10's, and one pole.  For the second time in his Winston Cup career, Mark finished second to Dale Earnhardt in the points championship.  In the Busch Series, Mark ran a total of fifteen races.  Of those fifteen, three of them were wins, eight were top 5's, and eleven were top 10's.  He also started on the pole three times.  Mark also competed in the IROC (International Race of Champions) series.  He won one race and the championship.

1995 was another busy season for Mark Martin.  Not only did he compete full time in Winston Cup, but once again he ran fifteen Busch races along with competing in the IROC series again.  Driving Jack Roush's "Nobody's Fool" Mustang, Mark along with Paul Newman, and Tom Kendall, won the GTS1 Class of 24 Hours of Daytona.  In the 31-race season, Mark won four races at for different types of tracks.  His wins were at a restricted superspeedway, Talladega, at a road course, Watkins Glen, at a short track, North Wilksboro, and at an unrestricted superspeedway, Charlotte.  The win at Watkins Glen was this third consecutive win there.  Mark finished fourth in the Winston Cup standings with thirteen top 5's, 22 top 10's, and four poles to his name.  His Busch season was also successful.  He had three wins, one pole, nine top 5's, and eleven top 10's.  In IROC, he won one race and finished second to Dale Earnhardt in the series.

Mark went on to win his second IROC championship in 1996, after winning two of the four races.  Although Mark was winless in Winston Cup that year, he did win four poles and finished in the top 10 twenty-three times and in the top 5 fourteen times.  He also won six races in the Busch Series and one race in the Craftsman Truck Series.  He finished out the season fifth in the Winston Cup points.

By 1997, the Winston Cup season was up to 32 events.  Mark finished in the top 10 in 24 of those races, in the top 5 in 16 races, and won four races.  He received the Busch Pole Award and $50,000 for winning three poles.  He finished third in the Winston Cup standings, 29 points behind champion Jeff Gordon.  In Busch, Mark won six races, making his career total 32, breaking Jack Ingram's record of 31 wins.  In IROC, he defended the title once again winning two races.

In the 1998 race season, Mark was very successful.  In Winston Cup, Mark went to victory lane seven times, the most he has in one season.  Those wins were at Las Vegas, Texas, California, Michigan, Bristol, Dover, and Charlotte.  He sat on the pole three times, at Darlington, Dover, and Rockingham.  He also racked up 22 top 5's and 26 top 10's. He was the winner of the 1998 Gatorade Front Runner Award and was selected to the AARWBA All-American Team.  Along with those achievements, he won two Busch races, two IROC races, and won the IROC championship for the third consecutive year.

Mark continued to drive for Jack Roush in both Winston Cup and Busch in 1999 with sponsors Valvoline and Winn-Dixie.  He started out the Cup season with a win in the Bud Shootout.  He went on to win two point events in Winston Cup, six in Busch, and one in IROC.  In addition to his one Winston Cup win, Mark qualified on the pole once and finished in the top 5 nineteen times and in the top 10 twenty-six times.  He finished third in the standings for the fourth time in his career.

In 2000, Mark won the Martinsville race in April and racked up thirteen top 5's and twenty-six top 10's.  He finished back in eighth in the final point standings.  2000 was Mark's last season in the Busch Grand National series.  He finished in the top 10 in all thirteen races he ran, the top 5 in twelve races, sat on the pole four times, and won five times.

By 2001, the Winston Cup season was up to 36 races with only three off-weekends.  Pfizer's product, Viagra, came on board as the primary sponsor of the No. 6.  Mark battled his way through a disappointing season.  With only fifteen top 10's, three top 5's, and no wins; Mark's final points position was twelfth,  his worse points season since 1988.  

For the 2002 season, Jack Roush made a drastic team change, swapping the No. 97 and No. 6 teams.  Jimmy Fennig was moved to the No. 97 with Kurt Busch and Ben Leslie became Mark's crew chief.  Mark was able to bounce back from the 2001 season and become a title contender for 2002.  He won one race in 2002 at the Coca-Cola Racing Family 600, and went on to finish in the top 5 twelve times and in the top 10 twenty-two times.  For the fourth time in his Winston Cup career, Mark finished second in the standings, only 38 points behind Tony Stewart.

Off the track, Mark Martin spends his time weight training, flying, and coaching his son, Matt, as he races.  Mark's wife's name is Arlene and they live in Daytona Beach, Florida.  He has five children:  Amy, twins Heather and Rachel, Stacy, and Matthew Clyde.  Mark helped build a quarter midget track in the infield of New Smyrna Speedway in Florida and owns Mark Martin Performance, which is a company that sells quarter midget racing chassis, like his son Matt races.  Mark's inspiration as he raced was his father, Julian, who passed away in a plane crash in August of 1998.

Heading into his fifteenth full Winston Cup season, Mark has visited victory lane a total of 33 times and has won a total of $34,444,722.  Although rookies dominated a lot of headlines in 2002, they could not overcome veteran, Mark Martin.  Although, Mark has yet to win the Winston Cup title, it is safe to say that he is one of the most successful racecar drivers in the sport's history and is a class act on and off the track.  Stay tuned ladies and gentlemen to see if Mark and the team will pull off a Winston Cup Championship.

You can write Abby at ABBYCHASE@RACINGJUNKY.COM

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