Mark Martin, others prove age is just a number

Rea White, NASCAR Scene

In many ways, it is difficult to view Mark Martin as a good example of how drivers can still perform at the top level in what must be the waning years of their careers.

After all, while he may still be winning races at the age of 50, Martin has the strength and fitness routine of a man decades younger. He has managed to brush off setbacks and upsets in his career and find a way to balance his life and professional goals. He seems to have found peace and contentment in his racing career and to have found a way to deal with the grueling Cup schedule.

Sure, Martin took a couple of years of stepping back and running a mere 24 races a season instead of the full 36, but it's tough to credit his stamina to just that. Martin has long been a physical fitness buff and a man whose conditioning belied his age.

"Fitness is a lifestyle," Martin has said. "You have to live it."

His teammates and competitors marvel at his level of conditioning and his workout regimen.

Last season, after finishing second to Martin at Phoenix International Raceway, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Tony Stewart clearly seemed to think that Martin was making no concession to his age.

“I think this generation, where everybody is supposed to retire a lot earlier, the longevity seems a lot more realistic now,” Stewart said. “It just shows that a guy like him can kick our butts just like anybody else.”

Before there was a youth movement in NASCAR, drivers regularly competed into their late 40s and early 50s. Darrell Waltrip, Dale Jarrett and others have recently driven into their later years with varying levels of success.

Martin is far from the only driver to have enjoyed a high level of success at an older age in NASCAR. In fact, he's not even the only over-50 driver to have found success this season. Ron Hornaday, 51, won his record-setting fourth NASCAR Truck series title this season and also earned another piece of history when he won five races in a row during the summer. Neither Hornaday, who will seek his fifth title next season, nor Martin, who has signed on to race full time through the 2011 season, are truly unique though.

Older drivers have long been successful in NASCAR and Martin's not the only one driving over the age of 50 right now. Bill Elliott, 54, continues to race part time, driving for the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team. Elliott last won in 2003, shortly after turning 48. The former champion has driven a limited schedule since that season. Terry Labonte, 53, is a semi-retired two-time champion who runs a limited Cup schedule. Labonte last won in 2003 when he took the victory in the final Labor Day Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Sterling Marlin, 52, was also still competing on a limited schedule in 2009, driving some events for Phoenix Racing. Marlin last won in 2002, a season when he led the standings for part of the year while driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. Mike Wallace, 50, continues to compete in all three of NASCAR's major touring series, though he has never won a Cup race. Even Morgan Shepherd, 68, continues to compete when he has funding with the team that he owns.

Shepherd has his own unique place in NASCAR history, too. He's the second-oldest driver to win a Cup race, taking the victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March 1993 at the age of 51 years, five months and eight days. He's one of only four drivers to win Cup races after the age of 50, but several have visited victory lane after passing the age of 45.

Harry Gant, for instance, found renewed success at an older age. He's NASCAR's oldest race winner, taking the record with his August 1992 win at Michigan International Speedway when he was 52 years, seven months and six days old. Then there's Shepherd, followed by Bobby Allison, who won the Daytona 500 at the age of 50 years, two months and 11 days.

Among those to win past the age of 49 are Dale Earnhardt, who won in October 2000 at Talladega Superspeedway at the age of 49. Jarrett and Elliott both won at the age of 48 and Rusty Wallace, Geoff Bodine and Richard Petty each won at the age of 47.

Darrell Waltrip was 45 when he won for the final time.

For men such as Bobby Labonte and Michael Waltrip, both over 45, age is just a number.

And as Martin has shown, it is one that doesn't necessarily have much meaning in NASCAR circles.