Mark Martin was born in Batesville, Arkansas and has been racing since he was 15 on dirt tracks. At his third start he won the race and in his first year won the state championship. In 1977, Martin started racing in the ASA series, some of the drivers he faced would go on to great Nascar careers, like Bobby Allison, Dick Trickle, and Rusty Wallace. He was the Rookie of the Year in 1977 and won three consecutive championships from 1978-1980.
1981 saw Martin's first starts at the Winston Cup level, however 1982 was his first season. Martin had a great year with eight top-10 finishes, however he never was paid by his sponsor. Mark had to auction everything in his shop in order to raise funds. After a year trying to race Winston, without a full time sponsor and going from owner to owner filling in, Mark decided to return to ASA.
This return to ASA would be very successful for Martin. He would be paired with Jimmy Fenning as crew chief and won another championship. In 1987, Martin decided to one more shot at Nascar and joined the Bush Grand National under Bruce Lawmaster. He won at Dover and got the attention of Jack Roush who was looking to start a team. Martin and Roush have been racing since and have earned just about everyting except the Winston Cup title, including 32 victories and finished second in the points three times. Mark Martin maybe the best
racer to have never won a championship.
Information for this node was taken from www.roushracing.com and www.nascar.com