NASCAR Legends: The story behind Martinsville's grandfather clock

Editor’s note: This story is part of our monthlong celebration of NASCAR Legends presented by GEICO. For more great legends content, visit our hub page.

You could say, it is the ultimate in time-honored traditions.

Beginning with Fred Lorenzen‘s victory from pole position in 1964, NASCAR race winners at this week‘s historic venue, Martinsville Speedway have received a grandfather clock for their effort. It‘s arguably the most unique trophy in the sport and certainly one that keeps on giving — its chime every 15 minutes reminding all within earshot of a celebrated win or cherished victory.

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The elite Martinsville clock ownership group largely reads like a NASCAR Hall of Fame roll call.

Although NASCAR legend Richard Petty is the track‘s all-time winningest driver with 15 victories, he‘d already claimed three wins before the tradition of awarding the timepieces to Martinsville winners began. His 12 clocks, however, are still the most ever won.

“And it‘s always been kind of a standing joke through all of the clocks he has in all the various rooms of his house, that it must be pretty noisy over there every 15 minutes,” Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell says with a laugh.

Darrell Waltrip claimed 11 Martinsville clocks and still keeps three in his house. As with other multi-time winners he‘s gifted some of the cherished timepieces to family and friends. Jimmie Johnson has all but one of the nine clocks he‘s won at home. Another nine-time Martinsville winner, Jeff Gordon, has kept some and shared some.

“It‘s certainly the most unique trophy and it has so much meaning behind it because it‘s a tough one to capture,” said Gordon, now an executive with the same Hendrick Motorsports team he drove for when he won the clocks.

“It‘s a very difficult race track. You have to have a lot of things go your way to conquer that place. And then the trophy itself stands out. It has a lot of meaning.”

Martinsville‘s most recent multi-time winner, Hendrick Motorsports‘ William Byron has both of the grand clocks he won last spring — in the NASCAR Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series races — strategically positioned in his Charlotte apartment.

“When we won that race last year, and won the Truck race, it was the first thing I thought about, that the clock was going somewhere,” Byron said. “I think it is the coolest trophy in NASCAR. It definitely holds a lot of meaning. I was excited to get that delivered and I‘ve got both of them set up in my apartment.

“They‘re nice to look at and remember those moments.”

That was exactly the intention when Martinsville‘s original owner, Campbell‘s grandfather, H. Clay Earles decided six decades ago to award winners with a full-sensory trophy for their performance at his half-mile Martinsville track.

“For whatever reason, granddaddy just wanted to do something different,” Campbell explained. “He wanted to have a trophy that wouldn‘t sit around on a shelf or be put off to the side and collect dust like your typical old trophies. At the time that was pretty much the regular deal.

“So, he figured if he did a grandfather clock, the driver‘s wife would like it, too, and it would be put in a prominent place in their home. That holds true today. But that was the origin of it. It was just a family-owned company with the speedway and a family-owned company with the clocks”

“My grandfather started that tradition and who knew at that time, it was going to be a tradition. That was just something he wanted to do.”

That tradition became so popular — the clock so cherished and desired — that Campbell recalls the family eventually decided to award it to all the Martinsville race winners not just the NASCAR Cup Series race winners.

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“We got to thinking, it‘s so important and so difficult to win here, we ought to give it to every race winner whether it be modified, late model, trucks, Xfinity Series, so now everybody gets it,” Campbell said. “And you‘d be surprised how many drivers have not forgotten that they won the last year before we started giving the clock to all the winners. Mike Skinner is one that comes to mind. He‘s always reminding me, ‘where‘s my clock?’ because he won the [Craftsman Truck Series race] the year before we started giving it to all winners.”

And, Campbell notes, just the presentation alone is a well-choreographed event with all sorts of behind-the-scenes contingency plans to safeguard this one-of-a-kind trophy that isn‘t formally released to the driver until after the winning race car passes inspection.

“We have the clock on stage and our Victory Lane is on the frontstretch, but our Victory Lane is actually a trailer,” Campbell said. “A trailer moves a little bit, and you also get some jubilant crew members jumping up and down so it can be a little risky for the clock.

“So, we have a guy that stands behind the clock and that‘s his primary role, ‘hold that clock and make sure it doesn‘t topple over.’ He‘s not in view of any camera shots, but he‘s back there holding the clock.”

The extra care is appreciated. It is a timeless treasure and certainly a prize to be displayed, not gathering dust on a trophy shelf. For drivers fortunate to have several of these iconic Martinsville winner‘s trophies, that has created a wonderful conundrum: where to put them all.

“They are all on display in my man cave, all but one,” shared the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Johnson, owner-driver of the NASCAR Cup Series‘ Legacy Motor Club team.

“One I gifted to Bruton Smith. Being friends with him and neighbors essentially, he would always talk about that Martinsville clock and one conversation, he said, ‘If you win another one of those things, I need that in the foyer of my home.’

“And sure enough, that next weekend we went to the track and won that race and I remembered I mentioned I would give that to him. So, when the clock was ready for delivery, I had the truck take it over to his home, met him there and put it in the foyer of his house.”

Waltrip says he‘s also shared his prize and given clocks to family members and close associates.

“I have three in the house, they are such beautiful clocks,” Waltrip said. “I couldn‘t believe it the first time I ever won one, but you can only have so many grandfather clocks in your house.”

As Gordon acknowledges, “It‘s a very good problem to have.”

Over the course of decades NASCAR competitors have really come to appreciate the opportunity for their own full-sensory Martinsville trophy experience. And the track is happy to oblige with this all-time favorite.

“It‘s pretty cool, especially for a new winner to receive that clock because he knows the history and all the greats that are in possession of that clock,” Campbell said. “For him to be receiving that I think is very special. I‘ve never seen anyone that isn‘t really jubilant over getting it.

“Most people don‘t talk about Martinsville Speedway for too long before the word ‘grandfather clock’ comes up. It‘s just synonymous with us and one of our slogans this year is “only at Martinsville.” That could go for a lot of things, but it certainly goes for the clock.”

Tune in to Sunday’s NOCO 400 from Martinsville Speedway to see who will take home the clock this time (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

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