June 26, 2006 @ 12:34 pm

Mark Martin: Let Me Ride!

Lacey S. Banis

It’s a somewhat modern-day Shakespearean story. On one side is a 47 year-old NASCAR driver from the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, whose sport has been seemingly mired in its Confederate roots. On the other, a 26 year-old rapper from the Bronx, signed to Kid Capri’s No Kid’N label and primed to make a name for himself in a genre that would sooner relive the height of the East Coast vs. West Coast battle.

Their respective fans may not understand the foray into uncharted territory (minus the 2004 pairing of Nelly and Tim McGraw), but to Mark Martin and Budda Early, the time has come to add more color trackside.

right The result of this unique teaming is an aptly titled rap anthem, “Start Your Engines.” Calling the track a farewell gift to Martin in his final season, it jump-starts with a revving engine and ends in true NASCAR tradition with a sample from Martin thanking his fans and sponsors.

With fair skin and softly weathered lines - courtesy of not only time, but also G-force - that bump draft his crow’s feet when he smiles, Martin looks like anything but your typical hip hop fan. “Everybody makes fun of me because I’m 47 and I listen to that stuff, “ Martin says in his southern drawl, “but I like to hear the stories that they tell.”

In fact, Martin listens so well that when Budda and his producers took the song to him for the first time, he says he didn’t need to read the lyrics to point out an error. Budda mistakenly wrote “the only driver with four IROC titles,” but as Martin told him with pride, “It’s five.” And whether it’s because Martin’s a race legend or because Budda is especially driven, it now sounds like Budda hits the “five” especially hard.

“That’s one of my most proud accomplishments. It’s very hard to do, and to someone who doesn’t know about my career, it’s what my life’s been about for the last 30 years or so,” relays Martin.

For his part, Budda was roped into the project by Derrick Garrett and Kevin Dent, owners of Round House Multimedia. Knowing Martin’s affinity for the genre, the partners approached Roush Racing Chief Diversity Officer, Sam Belnavis, about creating the track. Likely seeing the potential to appeal to a crowd that listens to more than Lynyrd Skynyrd, Belnavis had Martin listen to the first half of the song with successful results. “Mark absolutely loved it,” says Garrett, “We had to make some changes here and there, but Mark loved it from the gate.”

Though he’s not a huge race fan, Budda didn’t let that hinder his lyrical abilities. After doing a “little” research, Budda was able to knock out the 2:39 ode to Martin’s 30-plus year career within a couple of hours. “I pretty much summed up what [Martin’s] been doing out there so his fans should love it, and I still kept it real for the hip hop side.”

Real is good for Martin, who was introduced to rap by way of Eminem’s Slim Shady LP. “With Em, if you listen to each one of his songs, there are powerful messages,” he says. From Eminem, Martin naturally turned to Dr. Dre and calls The Chronic his favorite album. “It’d be cool to meet Dre someday,” Martin says, adding that he’s also a “big fan” of Snoop. “I admire those guys. They’ve done great things.”

With his old school taste, one might wonder if Martin minded having an upstart spit his life story, but he insists he wouldn’t change a thing about the track. When pressed, though, Martin does admit that if Budda hadn’t been chosen, his dream rappers would’ve been Bubba Sparxxx or who? Mike Jones! “To me, their styles are sort of similar,” Martin laughs, “Of course maybe I don’t know what I’m hearing.” He goes on to reveal that he would probably pick Sparxxx largely because the Georgia rapper had called him once. “Bubba read somewhere that I liked him, so he called. He actually left me a message that said, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you know who I am.’ It was kind of cool.”

It’s this excitement that NASCAR’s betting on to help fuel the diversity initiative in a sport that needs to attract more minorities if it ever hopes to topple the NFL in popularity. On the other hand, with NASCAR licensed retail sales totaling upwards of $2 billion, there isn’t anyone – regardless of shade – who wouldn’t want a grip on that wheel. Their only obstacle may be the monochrome faces beneath the helmets and in the stands.

While the solution to this dilemma cannot solely be found with “Start Your Engines,” it’s definitely a move in the right direction. And with Martin behind the wheel and Budda riding shot gun, the results are bound to be less tragic than Shakespeare, though Martin did say, laughing, “I wouldn’t mind running around with rappers, but I’m not really into getting shot or stabbed.”

To thine own self be true.