“I had a career that I moved to Nebraska for,” he said. “During COVID, for whatever reason, I was let go so I didn’t have a career to speak of anymore. I-80 (Speedway) was closing. There wasn’t any series to run. It wasn’t something I ever wanted to do, but was something I could do. I really thought I was capable of winning the championship if all the cards lined up. I had support by my sponsors and car owners. I told them this is what I wanted to do and they said, ‘Let’s figure out a way to do it.’”
Martin drove for D.J. Bybee in 2017 and ’18 before the team dissolved. Martin then started his own team before Bybee joined as a co-owner a year later. The duo has consistently clicked off wins and now a national championship.
The strategy as of early December was to return to ASCS National Tour competition to defend the title.
“As of right now that’s our plan,” Martin said. “The schedule just came out and so we’re evaluating the schedules. I want to race as much as I can. I don’t have a job, so I have to be driving a race car to make a living. We’re going to focus on the National Tour and try to defend the championship. I’m not going to say halfway through the year we’re not going to look at it and say we don’t want to go all the way to Montana for one week. But who knows? We’ll set our goals to defend our championship.
“I think everybody hits the reset button. Yeah, you’re the defending champion, but it doesn’t mean much. I don’t carry any more weight on me. I think you do carry a little bit of pride with you knowing what you accomplished.”
The team has one 410 engine with the hope to acquire a second.
“We’ll have it here whenever we can find a date to fill the void with,” he said. “You’re limited to the number of time you can run these engines. Our ultimate goal is to get a second 410 engine. My schedule right now looks to have 30 410 races on it and 65 360 races. You have to be careful. You have to pick and choose. We’re just going to race for money and fun (in the 410 division).
“Just looking at the Outlaws schedule, the High Limit schedule, I had 30 races on my schedule and that was not going anywhere crazy. I think I had a two-day show at Eldora late in the year. The rest were Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri.”
With that said, Martin knows he is in the twilight of his driving career.
“To be honest, I’m on my way out,” he said. “There’s a point in your career where you decide I’ve done what I wanted to do. My ultimate goal is to build this race team to where it might be this year, might be next year, might be three years or four years, when that time comes and I don’t want to drive anymore, I’ll be the crew chief and we’ll put a young kid in it and keep winning races.
“I feel like I could race physically just fine. I just know that if the right thing comes along, the right person, the right sponsors, the right money behind the team, if they were to come and say we want to put this driver in the car, will you crew chief and manage it, financially it’s the way to go,” Martin explained. “I’ve had some conversations with guys that race currently doing it and role models who have been down this road. The right opportunity would have to present itself to give up winning 14 or 15 shows a year.”
Whether that is in the near future or a few years down the road, Martin is pleased with his accomplishments and fulfilled now that he has won a national title.
“I’ve felt we’ve had a good career,” he said. “Now we’ve won the national championship. That’s something you’re proud of, something you can hang on your wall. OK, what’s next? I don’t really know what’s next. I’ve won a lot of the races I’ve wanted to win other than the Knoxville Nationals and Short Track Nationals.
“One of the things I’m most proud of is I’m one of the guys who does it all. Early on my dad and I learned the racing together. We had to figure it out on our own. We didn’t have people to lean on. If I wanted to fix my race cars, I had to learn to take welding.”
Now that most of the boxes have been checked on Martin’s career, he is looking forward to helping the next generation accomplish a new set of goals and dreams.
This story appeared in the Jan 17, 2024 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
