|
No rehab for adrenaline
By Justin Lofton ~ Staff writer
http://www.adaeveningnews.com/homepage/local_story_122113250.html
With more than 400 feature wins and 27 years of successful stock
car racing under his belt, it’s easy to see why Eddie Martin can make a
living giving seminars about building chassis to fellow stock car races
around the nation. With very few racers even reaching a fraction of his
success, however, it’s just a small measure of amazing that Martin is
still going strong.
“We’ll win about 14 or 16 through a year,”
Martin said. This interpretation of “amazing,” may have less to do with
chance and more to do with dedication, although Martin was born into
the racing life in more than one way.
“My dad started racing in
‘64 and I was born in '66,” Martin said. “I was kind of born right into
it.” Martin took to racing more than his siblings and spent a lot of
his time tinkering in the shop. Martin is also a born competitor.
“I
think some people are just wired and geared for it. I think that’s what
makes good football players and good athletes,” Martin said. That isn’t
to say that Martin hasn’t put in his time to get where he is. As
Niccolo Machiaveli pointed out, the tools we have to work with are both
fortune and virtue. Martin has learned patience and perseverance
throughout his many successful years in the sport and he certainly
knows a few tricks that most don’t.
“We haven’t had a win in a
while—which I say, ‘A while,’ you know, we haven’t had a win in maybe a
month or so. Racing is highs and lows, but the years I’ve done this, I
understand that and I don’t panic,” Martin said. “I just know that if
you stay at it and keep working hard at it, it comes around.”
These inconsistencies are enough to shake the faith of a lot of good racers, but the years have tempered Martin’s resolve.
“You
might go through a month of a real good streak and then for whatever
reason, you start maybe having some parts failures and other problems,”
Martin said. With what he hopes ends up being around ten more years of
good racing still ahead of him, Martin looks to the future with hope
and determination.
Balancing racing with his family life—he has
a wife and three children—is another challenge that Martin meets with
determination.
“Alot of road life is hard on family life,”
Martin said. “It’s hard to do but if you structure everything right,
it’s not a home-wrecking deal.”
Sunday at the Oklahoma Sports
Park (West of Ada), Martin’s Big Chief Racing Chassis held a chassis
building seminar. He’s also interested in setting up a race at the
Oklahoma Sports Park.
“We’re talking about maybe trying to put something together here (the Oklahoma Sports Park) in the Fall,” Martin said.
Martin looks forward to his future in racing—his adrenaline fix.
“Man, you can go to rehab for alcohol and drugs but there’s no rehab for adrenaline,” Martin said.
Oklahoma Sports Park Photos
https://www.facebook.com/TKCRaceNightPhotos
|
