Mark Martin is one of the greatest drivers that NASCAR has seen in its long history. He retired from mainstream racing in 2013 after winning five IROC championships, two Southern 500s, a Coca-Cola 600, and various other accolades. For someone like him, the life of a retiree can tend to get boring, which is why he has found other ways to keep himself engaged now at the age of 66.
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Building and designing motor coaches is one of Martin’s biggest passions. Talking to Kenny Wallace recently, he explained this interest by paralleling it to how drivers used to build their own race cars every year back in the day.
He continued, “After I retired, I didn’t really have any passion, and it took me a while to find some passion like I had about race cars. I don’t know.”
“There’s something about these coaches with the big wheels. You know, my dad started a trucking company the year I was born. So, I was around trucks for… I think if the wheels were small, I probably wouldn’t care about them so much, but there’s something that draws me to them.”
He recently even revealed a brief look at the latest coach that he has been working on: The Newell Coach. Martin explained how the Newell coaches are built from scratch. Only 26 of them are made in a year, and the former driver gets to play a crucial role in them.
“Their team starts with two frame rails in the floor and builds it from there. It’s custom from the very ground up. Like, you know, you can move anything a half inch anywhere. I mean, it’s more detailed than even building a house.”
“Everyone that I build after I use it for about a year and a half, I know ideas of what I want to do differently. And also in that year and a half or or two years, their technology, you know, they bring some things to the table. I bring some things to the table and then together we build something that is just magnificent. After two years, I start thinking about building a new one. And there’s a waiting there’s a line for my old coaches.”
The Newell Coach features a chrome-plated Performance Diesel engine with the No. 6 engraved on it. Notably, these coaches aren’t his only side project in retirement.
He was also in the headlines often this year for his criticism of the current playoff format. He was the one on the front lines of the battle and played a crucial role in getting NASCAR to prepare a format change.
It is outright incredible to see retired drivers keep the fire in their hearts burning through such projects.
