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The oldest active driver in NASCAR racing is 49-year-old Batesville native Mark Martin. Born on Jan. 9, 1959, Mark is a baby boomer, one of 76 million individuals in the United States born between 1946 and 1964.

In a recent interview with Mark and his wife, Arlene, at the Mark Martin Museum in Mark’s automobile dealership near Batesville, we talked about the couple’s life now.

In the early 1970s, by the time Mark was 11 or 12 years old, he must have heard the phrase “the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat” repeatedly on ABC sports programs of that time. Mark’s small build kept him out of the competitive sports of basketball and football. He wasn’t a jock in a town where high school sports were everything. He talks about that time of his life and his tone is realistic, not self-pitying.

Mark’s dad, Julian Martin, took his only son to dirt race- tracks around the area. In 1974, by age 15, Mark was hooked. He won his first stock car race in his third start and the Arkansas State Championship in his first year of racing in 1974. He moved up to the V-8 division in 1976 and began racing on asphalt later that year.

According to MarkMartinMuseum.com, by 1977 Mark was competing in the ASA series against drivers such as Rusty Wallace, Bobby Allison and Dick Trickle. He earned the title of ASA Rookie of the Year in 1977 and went on to win three consecutive championships from 1978-80.

Mark ran five NASCAR Cup races in 1981, which began laying the groundwork for his first full season in 1982. He had an impressive rookie year with eight top 10 finishes, although he never received payment from his sponsor. Unable to fund the team himself, Mark auctioned off everything in his shop in April 1983. He ran a limited Cup schedule for different owners that year before returning to the ASA series in 1984.

It was around this time that he met his wife, Arlene. She was introduced to Mark through her friend Glinda Martin, Mark’s sister, in Batesville. Glinda said she thought Arlene and Mark would be a good match. Over dinner at Mark’s dad’s house, Arlene began to think her friend was right.

“At the time, NASCAR wasn’t that well-known,” Arlene said. Plus, she was six years older and had four daughters from her first marriage.

“People told me I was making a mistake,” Mark said. Apparently, he didn’t take any advice and married Arlene in 1984. They have a son, Matt, a teenager, who dabbled in racing for a few years. His dad says, “It wasn’t Matt’s passion.” Mark is a firm believer in following your passion. After their marriage, the couple moved to Wisconsin to race in the Midwest American Speed Association Circuit, where Mark claimed another championship in 1986.

Mark decided to take one more shot at NASCAR racing in 1987 when he drove a full-season Busch Grand National schedule for Bruce Lawmaster. It was Mark’s victory at Dover that year that sparked the attention of Jack Roush. Roush was preparing to begin his own Cup team in 1988 and selected Mark to be his driver.

Mark and Roush went on to achieve everything just short of a NASCAR Cup title, earning 35 Nextel Cup victories and finishing second in the point standings four times (1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002) while consistently running at the front of the pack with one of the most successful race cars in NASCAR history.

Mark describes himself as “semi-retired.” He drives the 08 Army car. “It does feel like I have one foot in and one foot out,” he said during our conversation at Batesville. He just isn’t ready for full retirement and thinks he may have five more years in the game.

Staying Healthy

Mark and Arlene Martin epitomize health. You can tell they exercise just by looking at them. Mark strength trains four days a week with heavy weights and also does cardio training. His reason for training isn’t vanity, although he looks great; exercise helps him stay alive.

“I may drive 400 miles in a car with an inside temperature of 130 degrees over a period of four hours, with other cars just inches apart,” he said. “It can be fairly brutal.”

“It’s uncommon to see a 50-year-old doing this,” he said.

He believes his ability to race against much younger competitors is about 50 percent physical fitness and 50 percent desire. “It affords me the luxury to avoid crashes.”

His eyes are typical of a man his age, with 20/20 distance vision. But his close-up vision is not so great. After 35 years of racing he has found that his hearing is somewhat average in that it has degraded a bit. He can’t hear some tones.

Arlene works out five days a week using weights on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, along with walking. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she walks and sometimes does other forms of exercise.

Living in Daytona Beach, Fla., the Martins find it’s easier there to eat a healthy diet. Mark calls it an evolution.

“When I was a kid I ate three cheeseburgers and french fries every day. As a young adult I ate two cheeseburgers and french fries every day,” he said. “Now I consider myself a healthy eater. Some see it as fresh veggies, fruit, whole grains, lean meats and fish. Grease and butter just don’t exist for me. I do eat healthy, better than two years ago, and hope to be better still in two more years.”

Arlene said she has eaten healthier for a number of years. “Recently I have followed a more vegetarian style of diet,” she said. “I eat very little meat now. Our son is a vegan, so when I cook I incorporate his diet into ours.”

Financial Affairs

Mark Martin admits that he has made a good living and can continue doing so as long as he is able. He has paid attention to superstar athletes who have given their lives to their careers but find it difficult to retire.

How will he know when to quit? “When I’m not competitive, or because I want to quit or don’t have the passion or can’t do as well as the younger guys,” he said.

What will he do when he does retire from racing? Mark gave it some thought before answering. Then he looked up and said, “I might fly jets.” Surprised, we asked, “Do you know how to fly jets?” He said he flies a Cessna J3 and it might be kind of fun to fly people where they want to go—and get paid for getting them there. In essence, he’d like to work at playing.

Mark got an eye-opening experience in 1998 when his father (also a pilot), his stepmother and a sister died in a plane crash returning from watching a race. “My father always tried to organize his financial affairs to take care of his family,” Mark said. “But at age 62, he just didn’t consider they would all go together.”

After that experience, Mark and Arlene tidied up their wills.

“We have a very good friend who has done my accounting since 1990,” Mark said. “I also use him for financial advice. I’m pretty diversified with my financial affairs. Don’t take a very aggressive approach. I don’t need my money to grow; I just don’t want it to shrink.”

People in the public eye are often asked to make donations. “We give to several organizations, but we are most partial to Motor Racing Outreach, Victory Junction (an organization Kyle Petty set up) and Make-A-Wish,” Arlene said. Mark added that he would rather give more to fewer organizations so the money has more impact rather than giving less to many organizations.

Looking Forward to Fun

Over the past couple of years, Mark and Arlene have begun to realize things can end at any time. Rather than be depressed by that thought, they have begun to live every day a little more in the moment.

“I put off life for 35 years,” Mark said. “Now I want to experience that.”

Race car drivers don’t really get much time off work. Mark said he usually is able to have about two weeks off in a typical year. When he’s not working, he likes to travel with Arlene. But sometimes he’d just as soon stay home. It’s tough to go out to dinner because of the fan component of NASCAR. That’s something Mark says is a wonderful thing about NASCAR, but still, at times, not being recognized is a good thing, too.

He prefers Las Vegas as a destination. “I don’t gamble or drink,” he said, “but I entertain myself and I don’t have to meet a schedule.”

Arlene says she could not see Mark as a total “man of leisure.” “He will most likely always be involved in something that interests him,” she said. “What that interest might be will depend on what he has going at any particular time in his life.”

She would love to do more traveling when he retires from racing. “I would enjoy going anywhere in the world. I have enjoyed spending time in the Charleston/Savannah/Hilton Head area. I also enjoy spending a few days in New York City once in awhile. I like the Colorado mountains and San Francisco.”

Is it possible for the “nicest man in NASCAR” find even greater happiness after retirement from racing? “It’s possible for it to be even happier,” Mark said. “I expect there will be greater highs and greater lows, like heartbreak. All that said, it has put me in a position to not make a schedule.

“I want to do what I want to do.”