Kelly's 'Thunder' well worth a look

Bobby Allison didn’t want the ride.

    When highly-successful road racing team owner Jack Roush decided to start a NASCAR Winston Cup Series venture in the late 1980s, his first choice as driver was Allison.

    However, Allison, a highly popular veteran who was destined to win 84 races and a championship en route to numerous halls of fame, declined the offer.

    Allison was with the well-established Stavola Brothers operation, and he didn’t want to join a start-up team.

    But Bobby suggested the name of a young driver to Roush:

    Mark Martin.

    How Martin came to Roush’s team, a move that was to make him one of the most beloved drivers among fans in NASCAR history, isn’t widely known.

   The story is revealed in a marvelous new book, “Manmade Thunder” (By Godwin Kelly. Dakini Publishing. 315 pages. $49).

   Kelly has been the motorsports beat writer for the Daytona Beach News-Journal for 27 years.  All the NASCAR knowledge and the contacts he’s made during these almost three decades of reporting comes to the forefront in this book.

   The chapter on Martin is an example.

   Here, with Kelly’s permission, is an excerpt:

   “The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (as the circuit is now known) is all-consuming, exemplified by the first two stops on the coast-to-coast tour.  Since 1982 the series has launched at Daytona International Speedway with the Speed Weeks program — it’s a grueling, two-week ordeal that builds to a Daytona 500 crescendo.  It is a nail-biting, nerve-wracking, anxiety-building sequence of stock car events that can turn men into emotional mush.  There’s single-car qualifying, then two 150-mile qualifying races called the Gatorade duel, and if you make the cut, you get a grid position for the 500…

   “After the 500 in Daytona Beach, Fla., it’s on to the other side of the country, to Fontana, California, where the second race of the season now is positioned on the Sprint Cup schedule.  Five days after spending nearly two weeks in Daytona, the teams and drivers report to Auto Club Speedway for another 500-mile event.  Drivers don’t just sit around the house and watch television between races.  There are commercials to shoot, sponsor events to attend, media obligations to fulfill, and other assorted duties that come with the title of Sprint Cup race driver.  These  fellows in the colorful driver suits are pushed, pulled, summoned, tugged and sometimes dragged to a variety of duties that have absolutely nothing to do with race cars, racetracks or racing.  It is a non-stop grind…

   “Mark Martin made that commitment to racing.  He got on one knee and proposed to the sport as a teenager, then took his vows at the altar of speed as a young man with wild ambitions, but low expectations.  His was a struggle.  He had to prove his worth, validate his credentials, before realizing his dream of becoming a full-time NASCAR driver.  Car owner Jack Roush, who was new to the stock-car racing sport himself,  liked Martin’s work ethic and resiliency.  They joined forces in 1988 and stayed together through thick and thin, joy and despair, until the conclusion of the 2006 season.  Roush talked about the longevity of the partnership, rare in NASCAR Country.
 
 “’I’ve got one brother, and Mark and I are as close personally as my brother and I,’” Kelly says Roush told him in 2006.  “’The fact that we’ve been able to stay in this business 18 years, and Mark has been willing to drive my car and negotiate for continuation of that relationship is my proudest accomplishment…’”

   Kelly then relates how Bobby Allison played such a pivotal role in getting Roush and Martin together.

   Continues Roush in the book:

   “’Of the guys (drivers) I talked to, Mark was the one who was most interested in knowing how often I would test, who would work on and around the car, and how many tires I would buy.  We sat down and in about four hours we talked about the program and how it would work, about my goals and objectives, but never talked about money.  We shook hands.’”

   “And from that moment to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, 2006, Martin gave Roush his all, every day, 100 percent, nothing left on the table.  After almost two decades of making every Sprint Cup race, Martin was mentally exhausted from the wear and tear of the circuit.  He wanted out—not outright retirement, but to race on his terms.  He didn’t want to be chained to the schedule.  He left Roush and over the 2007-2008 seasons drove for two teams, starting with car owner Bobby Ginn, who sold his operation to Dale Earnhardt Inc. midway through the ’07 campaign.  As fate would have it, Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the team started by his father to drive for Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, so DEI put Martin in the celebrated No. 8 Chevrolet.  “’Those two seasons had major twists and turns,’ Martin said.  “’I’ve always been a straight and narrow guy.  I stayed the course, man.’

   “With his contract running out at DEI, Martin got an exceptional and unexpected offer from car owner Rick Hendrick, who said, ‘Come drive my No. 5 car’ for the 2009 Sprint Cup season.  There would be no part-time schedule.  Martin would have to work all 36 weekends.  He jumped at the opportunity.  “’Me taking two years of a limited schedule has given me a chance to completely recharge my battery and completely have a different mindset on what’s important to me and what I really want to do,’ he said.”

   Kelly noted that Martin, now 50, has posted hall of fame numbers: 39 Sprint Cup victories, including four this season for Hendrick.  He has been the runner-up in points races for the championship four times.  Martin is 12th in the points standings toward making the chase for the Sprint Cup title going into the Sharpie 500 Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. Only the top 12 qualify.

 At the Nationwide Series level (formerly the Busch Series) Martin has scored more victories than any driver in history, 48.

   Kelly had to run, or write, relatively as fast as pole winners to get the big book finished by the deadline given him by the publishing company, which is based in London.

   “I signed to do the deal on Dec. 11 (2008).  The editors wanted it by Father’s Day (June 21),” said Godwin.  “Problem was, that span included Christmas, New Year’s and Speed Weeks at Daytona.  Plus, I had to keep up with my regular duties at the News-Journal.

   “I got a break when NASCAR canceled the usual two weeks of testing at Daytona International Speedway.

   “I banished my wife and two teenage kids from the room where I was writing the book.

   “I got another break by NASCAR having it’s Fan Fest in Daytona, an event that brings the top drivers and other leading figures to to town.

   “This enabled me to talk to about 70 people.

   “One of the best interviews I had was with Kelly Earnhardt, daughter of Dale Sr. and sister of Dale Jr.  She is extremely intelligent and was very forthright.

   “I wrote for three to five hours almost every day once I’d completed the research and got started.  It was a tough deal at times, but I got it done on schedule.”

   “Manmade Thunder” is a BIG book.  It weighs around four pounds.  Its pages are filled with some of the best racing photos I’ve ever seen.

   Sure, it’s pricey at $49, but the pictures, coupled with Godwin Kelly’s prose, make it worth every penny, especially if you collect books on motorsports and/or might be looking early for a Christmas gift for a NASCAR fan.

   Presently, the book is for sale online only.