What Was NASCAR Legend Mark Martin’s Famous ‘Arkansas Grip’?

Different race car drivers have different techniques but the way NASCAR legend Mark Martin held his steering wheel is as unconventional as it gets. Normally, your hands would be wide apart on the wheel, one on each side of it. When you turn, one of those hands would come off depending on which side the car is going. That was not the case for Martin. He used to hold his wheel at the top with both hands close together. Neither hand would come off the wheel at a turn and this was called the Arkansas Grip.

Back in his driving days, a race fan from Omaha asked if it gave him any advantage during racing. The answer was yes as it helped the veteran control his vehicle a lot better than others. It’s unsure if this technique would work on the Next-Gen car but it sure can be worth a shot.

So how does the grip work? Well while driving on the straights, you don’t need it. The fun part comes at the turns. As the car turns, both hands turn the wheel to whichever side it is turning. This helps the driver keep more control as neither hand is lifted off the wheel. So if the car gets loose, Martin had a higher chance of keeping it under control than a driver who had to lift one of their hands off the wheel.

“I run my cars where the back end is pretty loose and if it gets very loose, I want to be able to come all the way around without turning loose of the steering wheel and as soon as I catch the back end, be able to come right back,” he said in an interview from several years ago.

The 65-year-old is arguably the best race car driver to have never won the Cup Series. He has five runner-up finishes and 40 race wins. Martin was a force to be reckoned with in the Xfinity Series as well and he won 49 races in the competition. Only Kyle Busch has more race wins in the series and he is one of the greatest of all time.

Martin was successful even in the Truck Series. He took part in 25 races in the competition and won seven with 20 finishes inside the top 10. Such stats truly are unthinkable in this day and age.