MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Martinsville Speedway president Clay Campbell has a pretty good guess what the first words out of a NASCAR race winner’s mouth will be moments after taking the checkered flag and driving into Victory Lane.
“‘Where’s my clock?’ or ‘I finally won me a clock,'” he told For The Win, talking about the .526-mile track’s unique trophy. “They’re so excited about that clock. It’s very gratifying to see something that was thought up close to (60) years ago.”
The tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series’ 36-race schedule deliver a wide variety of prizes to the winners, from live lobsters to gladiator swords. But Martinsville’s grandfather clock is among the most coveted trophies — and a complementary fit for the only track remaining from the series’ inaugural schedule in 1949.
Winners have received a grandfather clock since 1964 when track founder and Campbell’s grandfather, H. Clay Earles, “figured if you give something to the driver that their wives would like, then it’s going to be in a prominent place in their home,” the president explained. That’s exactly what happened, and now, it’s much more than a trophy. It’s a piece of furniture that might be the first thing you see when you walk through a driver’s front door, after the celebratory champagne stains — or Gatorade or Miller Lite or whatever beverage company sponsors the winner — are cleaned off, of course.
Brad Keselowski after winning in 2017. (Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports)
“We get a lot of big trophies, and most are plastic,” Jimmie Johnson told For The Win. His nine victories at Martinsville make him the winningest active driver, and he’s tied with Jeff Gordon for third all time.
“To actually have — I don’t know if it should be called an art piece — a significant piece of furniture that you can proudly display in your home, it crosses over into that furniture category as well as a major achievement. They go right into houses because it’s not your typical trophy. Looking at that as a young driver, you think, ‘Wow, I can’t afford a grandfather clock. But I can go win one.'”
Ahead of Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1) — the sixth race of 2019 — Johnson is one of only nine active drivers to win a Martinsville Clock, which Campbell said is the official name. Denny Hamlin has five wins, Kyle and Kurt Busch have two each, and Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano — the most recent winner from October — have one apiece.
One win at Martinsville is a notable accomplishment. Two or three signals the driver has mastered the track. But more than that means they’re probably running out of space in their houses. So what do drivers do when the clocks start to add up?
Johnson — whose last Martinsville win was in 2016 — gave one away to his neighbor, Bruton Smith, the founder and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, which owns eight of the tracks on NASCAR’s schedule, although not the southern Virginia short track. But the No. 48 Chevrolet driver has the rest.
“I have a really cool man cave, and I have them all lined up,” he said. They’re in a space that houses other memorabilia from his 19 years in the sport and seven Cup Series championships, along with some cars he’s collected. “They’re just chilling and looking great.”
Jeff Gordon after winning in 2013. (Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports)
Hamlin said the decades-long tradition of the grandfather clock trophy makes it just as special as its uniqueness. Although he doesn’t think “it’s any different than maybe a clock you can probably go and buy somewhere (because) it doesn’t really have a plaque on it,” it does have a translucent sticker on the front, noting the race name and date.
The No. 11 Toyota driver — who opened the 2019 season by winning the Daytona 500 — said he has most of his grandfather clocks, but he gave one to his parents because he knew how much his mom would love it.
“We grew up with a grandfather clock in our house in Virginia,” Hamlin said. “As a kid, I remember that thing going off all the time, and my dad raising hell to my mom because that thing keeps going off. She just likes the sound of it.”
NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip won 11 clocks and is second on the all-time Cup Series wins list at Martinsville behind Richard Petty with 15. He also gave several away and joked that the most common response to the unusual gift is, “‘Are you sure you want to do that?'” He said he gave one to his mom, one to his attorney and one to the man who ran his dealership, and his race shop in Harrisburg, North Carolina has a few.
Clint Bowyer after winning in 2018. (Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports)
But Waltrip still kept several for himself too. His first grandfather clock is from his win in 1976 is in his dining room, and others are in his back room, workout room and basement, where those who attend his Bible study every Tuesday morning get to enjoy it.
“Once I had four or five clocks and didn’t have any place to put them, I just started spreading them around and let other people enjoy them too,” Waltrip said.
“There were just people that were important in your life — whether it was a crew member or a friend or someone that helped you get to where you are. You want to acknowledge them, and a lot of times, giving them a trophy or something from a win meant more to them than it would ever mean to me.”
Denny Hamlin after winning in 2015. (Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports)
Nowadays, it’s not just up to the driver to share the love.
Winning teams have ordered hundreds of additional grandfather clocks over the years for crews and team members. Logano’s team ordered 40 additional clocks after his first win at the track late in the 2018 Cup Series playoffs, according to supplier Grand Home Furnishings.
The Martinsville Clock is a gift to the track and eventually the race winner, but it’s sold to the masses for $2,599.95. However, teams that order clocks after a win get a 20 percent discount, and Grand Home Furnishings keeps plenty in stock just in case.
And even though the track has been handing them out for 55 years, drivers agreed that in some way, the challenges of the paperclip-shaped short track in southern Virginia make the grandfather clock that much more special.
“Subconsciously, it all gets rolled up into one,” Johnson said. “I know how tough it is to win here and how amazing of a trophy you receive. So there’s some correlation there deep down inside.”
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