CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The career of Arkansas' greatest motor sports star began on the back roads near his home in Batesville.
It now has reached the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Martin, fellow driver Benny Parsons and car owners Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick and Raymond Parks were voted into the hall Wednesday.
While he eventually raced on NASCAR's largest stage for more than 30 seasons, Martin's career can be tracked to the backwoods of Independence County in the mid-1960s. Julian Martin, Mark's father, had lifted his 5-year-old son onto his lap behind the wheel of his Pontiac Firebird and told him to steer as they barrelled down a dirt road.
As they approached a one-lane wooden bridge, Mark tried to hand the wheel back to his father, who refused to take it.
"I was crying, 'I can't do it!' " Martin said years later. "Dad said, 'Well, I guess we'll wreck.' "
Martin, 57, first drove onto a race track at the wheel of a stock car in 1974 as a 15-year-old on the dirt track at Independence County Speedway, now Batesville Motor Speedway. His first car was a bright orange 1955 Chevrolet built by his father, Larry Shaw and Troy Lynn Jeffrey. Replicas of the car are now on display at the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in North Little Rock and at Martin's Ford dealership in Batesville.
He enjoyed immediate success on dirt tracks in the region and soon was racing asphalt late models across the nation, winning American Speed Association national championships in 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1986.
His exploits eventually drew the attention of NASCAR, where he made his first start in what is now the Sprint Cup series at North Wilkesboro, N.C., in 1981. His career took off when he began driving for car owner Jack Roush in 1988, and his first Cup victory came in 1989 at Rockingham, N.C.
Over 31 seasons racing in Cup, Martin had 40 victories, good enough for 17th on the career list. He made 882 starts, the last coming in 2013 at Homestead, Fla. His career on-track earnings topped $92 million.
He also won 49 times in what is now NASCAR's Xfinity Series, a record at the time, and won a record five championships in the IROC series.
But he is best known for the near-misses in his career. He never won a Cup season championship and finished second in the final standings five times (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2008). He also never won the sport's biggest race, the Daytona 500, finishing second in heartbreaking fashion in 2007, being passed by Kevin Harvick in the final yards before the checkered flag.
"I don't have a Daytona 500 trophy and a championship trophy," Martin told The Associated Press as he drove his motor coach to this weekend's Indianapolis 500. "I would ask the question, 'How would my life be different if I had one?' I truly believe my life wouldn't be different. But my life will be different from now on because I'm in the Hall of Fame now. That is my crown jewel."
Martin also said he was "humbled to no end" to be part of a class that includes Parsons.
Parsons, who died in 2007 at age 65, was one of the most beloved figures in the NASCAR community. After a driving career that included 21 Cup victories and the 1973 series championship, Parsons became a popular TV color analyst.
"This is the biggest honor of Benny's life," said Parsons' widow, Terri. "It summarizes everything he has ever worked toward."
Hendrick, the founder and owner of Hendrick Motorsports, has won 11 Cup titles on the Sprint Cup circuit -- six with Jimmie Johnson, four with Jeff Gordon and one with Terry Labonte.
Childress' name is synonymous with Dale Earnhardt, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame's inaugural class. Earnhardt won six championships with Childress' cars and 67 races between 1984 and 2000.
Parks was the car owner for Red Byron when he won NASCAR's first championship in 1949. Parks died in 2010 at 96.
Sports on 05/26/2016