Everyone's excited that Mark Martin won Saturday nite's NASCAR CUP race at Phoenix as a 50 year-old. My personal opinion is that Mark was exceptional all thru his driving career. I also believe that many other 50 year-old NASCAR drivers could have won recently. The problem has been the NASCAR team owner and sponsor fascination with 'kid drivers' for NASCAR's younger fans. You could use up all your fingers and toes counting the 'kid drivers' from the last 10 years that haven't been successful and are lost in a racing netherworld.
Many older drivers were jettisoned from top quality teams over the past 10 years so teams could bring on a new younger driver that fits TV's main demographic, those young 18-49 aged folks. Evidently, TV thinks these folks can't relate to old farts winning races. Put some of those older drivers in a top notch team, even today, and I suspect they'll run up front every day just as Mark Martin does; and, yes, maybe even win a race as they won't make those dumb 'kid mistakes' that an 18-year old like Joey Logano does.
Mark Martin initially decided to retire for several reasons, most personal. But, he also figured NASCAR CUP Racing was turning into a 'kid driver' playground for teams and sponsors and that his career was probably short-lived, so why not roll out while it was good and his reputation was still intact; he could afford it.
Mark played around doing part time driving seasons until his personal situation changed. His performances indicated he still had 'what it takes' and that he still had the 'want to' to enjoy driving a NASCAR CUP Car more than be retired. Rick Hendrick did the rest when he convinced Mark to go full-time in the '5' car. My take on it is that Mark Martin is an excellent model for older drivers...keep yourself in shape, have some fun and win some races. Don't let the TV demographics scare you out of a top-class ride!!!
Ponder it,
JD
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