Mark Martin Shows Us His 1993 NASCAR Ford Thunderbird: Secrets of Speed

But another thing that we did too, I say we fabricators after tech, they just pull them back up, >> back out the gas right in front of God and everybody. [laughter] >> See if Mike got the setup right. >> I'm kind of psycho. >> That's good. >> This is JR10. Mark Martin got his first win in this car in 1989. It won several races after that in different configurations until being used as a backup until 1995. and it wasn't in really authentic condition for that time. So Mark had it sent to GMS Fabrication in Statesville, North Carolina. They spent the better part of a year going over every nut, bolt, and rivet on this thing to make it as close as possible to its Raced Win configuration at Phoenix in 1993. This is the first time that Mark and Matt have seen the car since the completion of the restoration. What's >> going on, buddy? >> You doing good? >> Pretty good. How are you? >> You fine? How you doing? >> Sweet. What did it look like last time you saw it in person? >> Definitely not like this. Uh, it still looks like the uh, well, I say the Stros car, but >> it had still had the 95 rear bumper, front bumper. >> Um, had roof flaps and all that. So, Mike and his guys got it all fixed up, right? >> Good times. Yeah, I remember the good >> times and not so much of the bad times and the struggles. I just remember the good times. >> Mark Martin, 30-year-old driver from Batesville, Arkansas, driver of the Strow Light Ford, will win his first Winston Cup event. Here he is moving through turns number three and four. He sees the checkered flag ahead in the hands of Harold Kinder. He receives THE CHECKERED FLAG. MARK MARTIN WINS. I was very fortunate to work with some really, really incredible young people, >> you know, at Ralph Racing and the early years, you know, when we got started, there was just so few of us. >> You know, this team is built from from from nowhere two years ago. You got to realize that this is just a preview of the things to come from these guys. You know, they're the greatest. >> That first season, there was only about seven only about seven people, you know, work there full- time. Of course, the engines, you know, got done in Michigan, but it was a small group and we'd all pile in the vans together and uh head off to the to the racetrack. >> So, you said this was your first front steer car at Rous >> built in 1989. Um, we started, you know, building banjo cars, rear steer cars, and the first nine cars we built were rear steer banjo cars. >> You know, we tried for two years and two years to get a car that Mark would like, you know, and he didn't much like the engines a good bit of time either. I guess we hit on it today. He did a super job. He'd been ready to win a lot of these races. We just didn't have it right for him. Now, hats off to Mark. >> It was time. It was time to move into the front steer age. And so, this was the first one. And it was magic. And this car was this car was magic. There were there were times when we were down and out and this car was stuffed over in the corner. The guys would bring it back out and put a new dress on her and we'd take her and win a race with it, you know. So, it was a it a real special car. Um could have won many races in 1989 before we before we finally did get uh get the win at Rockingham. You know, this thing is is set just like it was at Phoenix. A 12 to1 steering box. You know, 900 right front, 800 left front, 275 right rear spring, 225 left rear spring, inch and eighth bar. Just just how we raced it when we, you know, and we dominated that race. Ernie pushed me hard. He raced the fool out of me. We had the car that day. You see the roof cam on top of his Valvaline Ford starting third today inside over the shoulder. The mother-in-law cam with its tilt and pan capability. And there he is from the left door post. Ready to go to work. Now for the real fun. >> I remember you talking about the intake was relative to the cowl and how you hung the body. Was any of that a factor on the way this car is? >> This is one of those initial cars, you know, that that got the body wrecked on it. You know, Jack had to make a shorter distributor. >> You know, he had to shorten the distributor because, you know, the everything had to come down for the hood to close at that time. The roof height 10 in back. They measured it 10 in back and it had to be a minimum of 50 and a half in order to get our quarters as high as, you know, the 35 36 max. These were 50 and 51 and a quarter. From here forward was just a lot higher. And the rule was I mean we were just missing all of that free arrow. When we dropped all that down, you know, we had to take, you know, carburetor spacer out of it and get the carburetor down, get the distributor cap down so the thing would would uh, you know, all go down. And then we had to uh had to cheat the fenders pretty good, just kind of bow them to get tire clearance. >> Oh. >> Because you know the tire didn't have enough tire clearance and they have a fender template. >> And so we just built them we the guys at at the shop just built them. These are real strong, but they build them real thin metal and they just push it push them down and go through tech and they put thing on it and then after tech they just pull them back up just >> and uh and we would burn the paint, you know, off the fenders above the tires because it was so low. But I mean it was all legal. We just we were missing it by not, you know, being aggressive enough and pushing this part of it. Everybody thought that Jack wouldn't want to take carburetor spacer off because he was Mr. Horsepower, you know, and he's like, "Well, no, you hang the body." You know, he knew down force was important. No, you hang the body and then you put the engine in it. It's just a part of the car. The engine is, you know, and we ran great in 93 before we dropped the bodies. We could have and should have won a number of races, but we didn't. And so part of the Shazam thing about, well, we won four in a row once we broke those cars out was, well, things went our way, too. I mean, we dominated Michigan earlier in the year with a 50 and 51 and 3/4 or 51 and a quarter roof height, you know. So, we had the chassis already going on. We had to, you know, we we were really hooked up. It was it was a good year. But dude, when we when we got the rest of the downforce that we were missing, >> it was uh it was a really good year. >> So, you had to have dropped the whole body at an angle. If you dropped the nose, then it would pick up the back part of it, wouldn't it? >> Well, we you had to, you know, you were maxed out here. So, 36 in from here down to the floor and 35 over there. But if you but but it so everything pivoted from here. Okay. This stayed where it was. But if you dropped the roof 3/4 of an inch and nose drop >> two I mean it was a ton. I mean when you step back and look at it was like wow. >> And that was just inspection height right? So you could do with the suspension to have it sit there and then come down once you were driving it. Did you ever mess with the way that that worked? No, we never did any of that. We We weren't nowhere near on to getting the front down with the suspension. >> You know, that didn't really start for uh you know, 6 8 years later when we when that really started. And one of the stories about that is um we tested for 3 days at Vegas in 2002 and we didn't weren't running good enough. Weren't running good enough. weren't really good enough and got ready to make the last run and we I went out and I it was like I came in I says I'll win you some races if you you know if you bring that back nobody realized it but they missed the front frame heights by one inch. So the nose the whole front of the car was an inch too low. So we just said well you can't do that. We weren't we didn't just say how do we achieve that. We should have we should have tried to think how can we get the car to run down there like that and come up and go through inspection light which everybody did later on. But you know that told us we just weren't listening. We didn't hear it. >> That's interesting. Really took that long for people to to catch on like oh we can go through tech like this and then just have the suspension take it down once it's dynamic. Yeah, >> because that became everything. >> It became at one point >> and now you before that during this time mechanical grip was king along with downforce. You know, downforce was free grip, but then also on top of that, you added mechanical grip. Then when we found out it was more important, mechanical grip didn't mean near as much as getting the car to right attitude. Did they have anything else that they would push on or pull on after you went through tech like window braces or >> anything like that that you knew of? >> No. >> No, just uh you know, we did the fenders because you know the fenders were something that you know they would they would gripe about. But another thing that we did too, I say we fabricators in the shop, and you don't see it right here as much, but they also when they did this, they they pulled the back of the fenders up >> right here, cuz that's as far as the template went. So, if you if you started noticing, our cars started raising up right here, and they would be up here like this. And so that even made the the sides of the hood even more angled, but then you could run you would get more tire clearance. You see what I'm saying? If you pick the back of this up, you'd gain that clearance here. And we were having, you know, those were all things that we looked at and were doing there in mid 93, you know, to be able to run the car that with the body down that low. >> Yeah. Cuz remember we used to lead the nose and you can tell because you'd have this thing would be real wide right here and it'd be real narrow there. You'd have all lead in the nose like Bill's. We always, you know, and you're right. We get this up as high as we could. We're just making down force, >> right? Hey, let's walk back here, Mike. I want to ask you something because I was I was real big into bodies even in 1990. The 89 T-Ird was not great. Were you with Bill in 89 and 90? >> I was 90. >> Okay. You were there. You you know what I'm fing to say. I'm at Dover. So the Thunderbird deck goes like this. The Cougar deck went straight across. I'm sitting at Dover and a nine's parked next to me in the garage >> and I said, "That thing's got a cougar deck lid on it." >> So, I'm going to tell you how the story went. >> Is that the one that came from Martinsville for test? >> So, it was at Martinsville. We tested Martinsville on Monday after Richmond, right? >> And we were up there testing >> and Bill being a pilot, right? Arrow. >> Yep. He said, "Get a 2x4 and let's let's >> bolt it to the deck lid." And we had run like the 50 lap run. I said, "Okay, >> so we rigged it up air, taped, taped the deck lid, sealed it up." So he said, "I'm going to go run 50 laps." >> Okay. >> That's what he did. Feels so much better. >> I called the shop. Now, this was Monday evening about 4:00. I called the shop and JW that does the bodies. I said, "You ain't going to believe what happened here." And I He said I said, "You know what we did." >> He said, "I know exactly what to do." He said, "I'll call my buddy up to Lincoln marketplace. Got cougar." We got back to the shop at midnight that night from Marsville Dawsonville. Rolled it in there. They cut it from the Bost back. Bost back. Cut it. >> Golly. And uh this was got done Tuesday afternoon. Redid everything. I mean cuz Yeah. It was so much flatter. Oh yeah. >> Oh yeah. >> And so it's cuz Brewer was he was he the L car was parked beside us too. And Brewer he was is on the ground. Right. Brew said ours is here and ours is here. Right. [laughter] >> And yeah and that thing was it was unreal. It was because see the the template didn't overlap the deck. It just like the old days come right here. You come right there somewhere. >> And this was so much flatter here. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. That's a cougar deck. >> Yeah. And the corners were back further, too. >> Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. >> It was like I got a picture. >> I couldn't believe my eyes. I said like, "Dude, that, you know, cuz I'd seen it already on street cars." I was like, "Damn, I wish a T-Ird had a cougar deck lid on it." >> And it was perfect. So we and it's so it's just ironic. I just saw the picture the other day. A guy sent it to me. We won the pit crew championship deal down there at uh >> Rockingham >> at Rocking Hill and they took a picture on pit road of all of us. I went, "Holy, you can really see it now." [laughter] I mean, cuz the thing was like this, right? I mean, it was badass. So yeah, we had that and you know, they didn't, like I said, the temp I don't know what to tell you, bud. Yeah, it's like it was perfect. That thing was >> It was so much fun when you you know, you could just, you know, you could go home and cut your stuff up and and make it better. You get beat >> and you just go home and cut it up and make it better. >> I mean, you know, it's like you and Steve and your crowd and all, you know, it's like we we all fed off of each other, right? And you remember we was moving the you know, was moving the roofs over and you know, all that stuff. We had so much offset, you know, you just build a car just like that, right? >> Oh, yeah. Every week you're doing something. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, that was that was weird, too. Is one time I was in the shop along during this time in ' 93 or something, you know, give or take a little bit >> and uh Troy Martin was the body hang you made head body hanger on the surface plate >> and he told me, I didn't even know this. He told me, he says, "You like the spoiler to the right." tails like >> Yeah. >> And I I didn't know I did. >> The first car, >> but he knew it. I remember that. >> He knew it and I didn't, you know, but he said, "You like the spoiler to the right." And it was like, >> "Why would I like it to the right, you know, but you know, the wind tunnel proves it and everybody knows it now, you know, it's like putting skew in the car, >> you know." >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then that's where we got, you know, because the left for a quarter pound would be like this, right? >> And the right one would be like this, you know, cuz then we started doing the Well, you know, when you drove my truck. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Shooting fish in a barrel and letting everybody >> this sucker here, we beat them so bad on the speedway. It [laughter] was s qualify and it's oh god, this is going to be bad here. And so he come down through her. I said, "Yeah, you're good." He's already going to beat him by about a half a second or something. And and he he he backed out of the gas right in front of God and everybody rolling across the start finish line. We still beat him by three. >> Yeah, we we couldn't beat him that bad. I had to let off. >> Oh god. Hell, I'll never forget that. >> Oh man, we had so much fun. They built the most bad to the bone trucks ever, man. >> That way stuff is stupid. He told me what he he told me there with a Daytona and that thing was just stupid. I mean, it was so free. It was just only he could drive it, you know. It's like we Man, this thing's going to kill me, dude. You know, it's like I told him about this thing's built for speed, not comfort, dude. [laughter] >> He still won the race. >> Oh, we went over race there for a couple years and he just I'll never forget that day. I don't know if I even should say this, but remember coming off the two that's all lined up and he there's all behind him. They was gonna have to bunch up on him and he he he broke them all up. I ain't going to say how, but anyway, they ran behind. [laughter] >> Oh, that was a good time. >> So that that radiator, it come from Yates and them. The guy had that CNR radiator. Yeah, it's Steve Nash Mar. >> Nice to meet you, sir. >> Nice job of >> fitting everything up there. >> Yeah, we just got to get this up. You know, Mark, just the ring. >> We found a ring, but the way the base on or the top of the carburetor and I thought I tell Steve we're going to take this back off and Mloud made that base. What's kind of weird about this car, Brian told me, he said, >> "For some reason, the Ford decal on the hood looks different on this car than it does under the hood." >> Oh, really? >> Slightly. [clears throat] Yeah, cuz I think >> I think the Ford is like >> the font. It's like bolder than it is. [snorts] >> Yeah. So, I don't know which one was used there, but we probably just use the one that's underneath cuz that's what you usually see. >> That's not >> But I was looking at a picture of all these cars in the shop in 93 and they all have that decal in that spot. I just >> your one under the hood you're referring to is the one literally under the hood. >> Yeah. Yes. That's the correct one, >> right? Yeah. >> Yeah. But we keep this one, you know, cuz this is correct. >> Yeah. How many hours do you think you spent looking at pictures of this thing during this process? >> Uh, too far back. >> Probably at least probably a solid month of looking at photos. I mean, just also not just looking for them, but trying to track them down. I mean, for whatever reason, it was really difficult to get pictures of this car from the race in Phoenix. And so, I had to get it from like three or four different sources. But now, you know, I've got really good photos. It just took a while to get them all. But uh yeah, I've scrutinized the hell out of this car and I kind of feel like a having a psychotic OCD episode, but just trying to make sure that it's as close as I can get it, you know. >> You ever notice how some cars from the '9s and early 2000s had a lot of contingency decals and some of them only had a few where they didn't cover up the paint scheme? There was something that happened that allowed teams to be able to choose if they had a gazillion of them or only a few. That choice actually goes back to Penso coming to NASCAR in 1991 to sponsor Michael Walter but Bajari Racing. Penso went to NASCAR to make a deal cuz they wanted their car to be very clean, very basic, very minimal with the scheme, much like their indie cars of that era. Essentially, Penso paid extra money to NASCAR to buy that space back from them to only run the minimum amount of decals, which enabled them to place them in places that they felt didn't obstruct the paint scheme. And then after that, other teams like uh Penske, Rusty Wallace, they saw that and were like, "Hey, how did you do that?" And then it became a thing. Then teams could choose if they wanted a lot or a little. And that's today's mini history lesson brought to you by Penso. Long may we drive. Mattress me. I know. I bet you a long time ago. I was the shop foreman in the Concord Rail shop. >> Okay. >> You had your uh ASA car. >> Yeah. >> And dad was the one driving it in Atlanta. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I was there then. >> Awesome. >> Yeah. I did a bunch of work on this thing. >> Dude, you did a phenomenal job, man. This thing has turned out beautifully. >> All the duck…