Instagrams Mark Martin Archive is about more than just reliving NASCARs past

June 16, 2024

On March 20, an Instagram account called markmartinarchive popped up and posted a single picture: An image of Mark Martin’s No. 6 Strohs Light car racing at Watkins Glen in 1989.

In the months since, the account has posted more than 200 vintage photographs from Martin’s career — and amassed 11,000 followers in the process. The renewed interest in Martin has even led to new merchandise with a retro feel, with ’90s-style T-shirts being sold through the account.

Who is behind the archive? It’s Mark’s 30-year-old son, Matt, once an aspiring driver who soured on racing but has grown to appreciate his father’s accomplishments in recent years.

“I hadn’t really planned any of this out,” Matt said. “It just grew organically.”

Despite racing cars as a kid, Matt never had a true love for motorsports and wasn’t wowed by his father’s accomplishments. Mark’s career was cool, sure. It’s just that Matt viewed him as a dad, not a Hall of Fame racing legend. NASCAR was just his dad’s job.

But during the pandemic, with extra time on their hands, Matt realized his father’s story of perseverance and hard times on the road to NASCAR could hold universal appeal. So he convinced his dad to begin writing a book with racing author Bones Bourcier, in hopes of documenting how Mark went from going broke and failing in his first attempt at NASCAR to eventually making it in the Cup Series years later.

“I believe it’s important for us as human beings to have figures who inspire us to be the best versions of ourselves and to follow our passions,” Matt said. “It’s especially vital in this day and age where there just seems to be so much negativity and we seem to be immersed in a culture of doom and gloom.

“He’s one of these people that inspire. He never gave up on his dream of becoming a race car driver, he had to overcome a lot of heartache and a lot of adversity, no matter how dark and how hard that journey became.”

The Instagram page was a byproduct of the book plans; Matt figured he should start a page to lay the groundwork with an online presence for whenever it was eventually released. To his surprise, the archive was an immediate hit with fans — and with Mark, too.

“He wasn’t overly interested in my career until he really pushed me into this book,” Mark said. “Now we talk every day about racing and he’s got so many questions. It’s been an incredible bonding experience, and it’s just a really sweet segment of time we’re living in. I’ve enjoyed having him so involved.”

The archive has helped spark more memories of Mark’s NASCAR days, which might surprise people who are aware of his savant-like recollection for many aspects of racing. Off the top of his head, Mark can tell you the exact measurements of the springs he had at Rockingham in 1989 or what setup was in the car when he won at Phoenix in 1993.

But as Mark progressed further into NASCAR and had people doing the work he had been doing himself, the memories aren’t as vivid as during his late model days. Reliving the ’90s has been a similarly rewarding experience for Matt, because many of the pictures bring him back to being a kid at the racetrack who was tagging along with his family on the weekends.

“I’m not really into motorsports,” Matt said. “You would think I would be because of who my dad is. But what I’m really into is human stories. And I’ve always felt like my dad has a really good one.”

Matt, of course, at one time did seem to be quite interested in racing. The famed sportswriter Robert Lipsyte profiled Matt — then a third-grader — in a 2001 story for The New York Times. Matt was nicknamed the “Little Intimidator” at the time because of how aggressively he raced.

It seemed Matt was destined to follow in his dad’s footsteps into NASCAR, and his young career drew attention from both media and fans. But by his early teen years, Matt suddenly quit racing.

Looking back now, Matt says he never had any intentions of being a NASCAR driver; he was just a kid driving for fun and didn’t think of anything beyond that.

And he found it off-putting that everyone seemed to be placing expectations on his future before he had made any sort of decision about it himself.

“When you’re 11 years old and you’re at the Quarter Midget track and you’re throwing the football with your friends and some crazy dude runs up on you and is like, ‘Oh, you’re gonna be just like your dad. You’re gonna do this and you’re gonna do that’ — as a little kid, I didn’t know how to process that,” Matt said. “It just bothered me.”

As Matt got older, he also realized how other people’s projections were going to affect him. If he raced, they’d always compare Matt to his dad’s career. Maybe if Matt were truly into it, it would have been worth it to keep going. But witnessing the sacrifices and dedication it took to be a professional driver up close, Matt realized he didn’t share his father’s passion for racing.

So by 2008, Matt stopped driving.

“When it’s not something you really care about and you’re not that into, it’s like, ‘Why are you going to put yourself through all that?’” Matt said.

Matt went off to college instead and, sparked by an interest in the Civil War Era, found himself becoming more of a history buff. He grew a collection of rare books (and continues to sell them online) and did a deep dive into his family’s genealogy.

Eventually, Matt’s love of history intersected with a newfound curiosity about Mark’s accomplishments and legacy.

“When you have a significant figure in your family, especially when it’s your own dad, that doesn’t need to be overlooked,” Matt said.

The Martins have been much busier than just the book and archive lately. NASCAR approached Mark about starting a podcast with Jeff Burton and racing personality Mamba Smith (called “Mark, Mamba and the Mayor”). Now, Mark is heading to the Las Vegas playoff race in two weeks for appearances and hopes to be involved in NASCAR’s celebration of its 75th anniversary next season.

“It’s odd because I can tell you I’m retired, but my phone blows up all day and I go wide open every day,” Mark said. “I certainly don’t have time for a job.”

That’s a departure from before the pandemic, when Mark felt he didn’t have a reason to be at the track and was more out of sight. He threw himself into the retired life, designing and maintaining upscale motorcoaches and splitting time between the California desert and Montana.

It’s different now, and Mark credits the renewed thirst for 1990s nostalgia as part of the reason people want to keep hearing his stories.

“That was the Golden Era, and that can be said and appreciated without diminishing today,” Mark said. “But as far as I’m concerned, the on-track product now, is the best it’s ever been in history. We haven’t seen one bad race this year — ‘bad’ meaning boring. The racing is fantastic.”

Mark doesn’t particularly care about reliving his accomplishments. Never has. What he’s most proud of is being able to keep history alive and bring it to modern fans.

For example: A longtime fan named Landon Best found Roush Racing’s JR-51 chassis, a car Mark used to win the inaugural Las Vegas race in 1998 and also drove to victories at Texas, Fontana and Michigan. The car, which was underneath a lean-to shed in Rockingham, N.C., has been fully restored and will be at Mark’s appearances in Vegas.

“Think how many drivers today have never seen a car that won Cup races in the ’90s up close,” Mark said. “’It’s cool to share that car with the fans.”

The Martins dream of releasing their book in 2023 to coincide with NASCAR’s 75th celebration, but are hesitant to put a timeline on it. They haven’t been through the publishing process before and don’t know how long it will take.

But whenever the book is released, Matt feels it will be worth the wait.

“You know how my dad is: He doesn’t just talk about himself,” Matt said. “He will if you ask him, but he doesn’t just volunteer information. So I think this will have some stuff even the diehard fans don’t know about.”

(Top photo of Mark Martin and son, Matt, in Richmond in 2006: Doug Benc / Getty Images)

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