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American LeMans
ALMS: Checkered Flag For Dick Martin
The ALMS will lose the biggest heart on pit lane this weekend when Dick Martin presides over his final race after two decades of service.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted October 08, 2009   Monterey, CA
Dick Martin (center) has spent most of his free time over the past two decades overseeing pit lane on behalf of IMSA. After an amazing body of work and friendships made, he'll suit up for the final time this weekend. (ALMS)
When the checkered flag falls on Saturday’s American Le Mans race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, more than just the 2009 season will draw to a close.

After 19 years spent controlling the action on pit lane, IMSA’s Dick Martin will remove his fireproof suit, take off his radio and headset, change into his street clothes, and return to life as a civilian after dedicating almost two decades of his life to the stewardship of sportscar racing.

Martin has been an invaluable part of the staff that organizes and administers each ALMS race, and while his name might not be well known to the average sportscar fan, he commands the utmost respect of every team that competes in the series.

His smile has become synonymous with the ALMS – a part of the foundation the series was built upon – but as Martin shared with me; it’s time for him to enjoy the rest of his life on his own terms.

“I don’t know if people know it or not, but I’m a State Farm agent in Florida. I lost a ton of friends this year. I've written a lot of life insurance and I've had a lot of people die; they just didn't get a chance to do everything they wanted to do and I guess…I've done this for 19 years and now all of the sudden you get to the point, ‘When is it time for me?’ As you know, we go from the airport, you know, you go fly out from wherever you’re from to the hotel and then you go to the track and you go back to the hotel and you really don't get a ton of time to spend with anything else.”

Martin’s choice to retire from pit lane wasn’t an easy decision, nor was it made for any negative reasons. He says there are too many things he still wants to do with his free time, and with so much of his life dedicated to auto racing, having a less structured life outside of his role at State Farm is something he’s ready to enjoy.

“I was a high school and college football and basketball referee for 20 years before I came to IMSA, so most of my life has been spent using my spare time to help or serve in some capacity. Motorsports has been in my life and my blood forever it seems like, and it's just interesting how once you get it stuck in your blood, you’re in trouble, you're hooked. I don't think it'll ever get out of my blood. I hope it doesn't. There just gets to be a point in life where you just got to say ‘it's time to move on.’ I'm not mad at anybody. I don't want anybody to think there's any animosity or any problem; If they need help, I'll be there, but every now and then you've just got to sit back and say, ‘Whoa, where am I going to be in a year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now?’”

After careful consideration, and drawing from a few personal experiences, Martin and his wife decided 2009 would be Dick’s final tour with the ALMS.
Martin started in the senior role of Pit Controller in 1995 (Left) and has continued in that role through 2009. (ALMS)

“I’m going to have to do it someday. Everything comes to an end and I might as well do it kind of on my terms. I've seen too many officials, both in high school and college football and basketball ranks, go one or two or three years beyond what they should have. I had a good friend out in Sarasota Florida that was refereeing a high school game and dropped dead on the field. You just look at that and you say, ‘Wait a minute now.’ Life is meant to be lived. God put you on this earth to enjoy it and that's what we should do. It was not an instant decision, it was a long thought out decision in conjunction with my wife. And she understands exactly where I'm coming from. I was widowed at 43 years of age and I've been there and I know what it's like to lose without having a chance. I felt so bad for my first wife because she didn't get to do experience a full life.”

Born and raised in Florida, Martin was introduced to auto racing at an early age, but despite the state’s rich sportscar heritage, Martin was first introduced to a form of racing more heavily associated with Daytona Beach.

“Well, given the series I work in it sounds absolutely crazy but as a kid my mom and dad would take us over to Tampa we'd watch stock car races. It was really just nuts but I got involved then. And before I became a State Farm agent I was a banker and I worked a little bit with NASCAR. That should surprise a few people!”

After years of wearing the black and white referee’s uniform, Martin traded in the zebra stripes for a firesuit.

“By 1989, I had done Florida state finals in football and basketball in and I figured I'd climbed those mountains. I had been as high as I could in those sports and a friend of mine, Barry Fletcher, we were talking about racing and I said, ‘Well, what is this Marshaling thing?’ He helped me, and I went over and worked the 24 Hours of Daytona as a Pit Marshal. That started me on this journey you see today.”

After his first taste of IMSA racing, Martin knew he’d found the higher octane refereeing job he was looking for.

“I went back to the 24 Hours again in ’90 and I went down to Miami and to Sebring. At Sebring a guy by the name of Bob Raymond, asked, ‘What do you think of all this? Want to do more?’ So I went to New Orleans and the guy that was supposed to work it didn’t show up, so I sat with Marty Kauffman up in the tower! From there, I got involved with the IMSA people and traveled with them.”

Martin’s voice gets heavy when he recalls the circumstances that moved him up to the role he’s held sing 1995, but he diffused the tough recollection with his typical touch of humor.

“In 1995 Bob Raymond came down with lung cancer and died. Mark Raffauf and George Silbermann started talking about who's going to take his position, and they asked me to take Bob’s place. And since 1995 I've been screwing up good races in pit lane! That’s my job…”

He’s seen IMSA transition into PSCR and for the last decade, into the ALMS. In that time, Martin has seen many teams come and go, but he says bearing witness to the rise of one manufacturer in particular has been interesting.
Listening to the questions and concerns of the teams Martin works with has been a vital aspect of his role. (ALMS)

“It's amazing. When Audi’s Reinhold Joest and Ralf Jüttner first got here, they didn't know what to expect. And all of a sudden we started talking to them about the rules and explaining how we go through a pit stop so we can prevent them from having a problem. I don’t think they expected us to work with them like friends and partners, but that’s how I prefer to do things. And that’s only improved over the time they’ve raced with us. When Ralf Jüttner was down at Sebring this year he came running down the pit lane to find me, just to shake my hand to say hello again. Ralph is just a class act.”

Martin credits his time spent working Pit Control at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the trust he’s built with the European teams that visit American Le Mans Series.

“A big advantage that I've had over some people is I've done the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Peugeot didn't know what to expect and they came over here and now I consider the Audi and Peugeot teams my friends. And they know that there's not going to be any problem that we’re going to be as fair as can be. And they actually look forward to coming over here. They were very excited about being at Petit, both teams, and competing against each other. And I hated the outcome but, truthfully, management made the right decision because when Allan McNish got out of the car, he came up to me and said, ‘That was scary and I was cruising behind the safety car!’ When someone like him knows he can give input and we’ll listen, that says a lot to me.”

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